Being a hero isn’t so great for Stan
Oct 24 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal
A tap-in in a Division Two match earned Stan Cummins a place in Wearside folklore. Now he wants rid of it.
APRIL 5, 1980 was a hugely significant day in the history of Sunderland Football Club but for entirely different reasons to what it is now remembered for. Just as its original relevance has been forgotten, so their hero that day hopes its new-found one will soon be.
Stan Cummins’ 73rd-minute goal sealed the Rokerites’ first home victory over Newcastle United for 13 years but if they fail to beat the Magpies tomorrow, there is a very real danger it could be 30 years before the next.
Cummins’ place in Sunderland history has also been rewritten since. In 1979 the attacking midfielder-cum-striker was the club’s most expensive player, now he has given his name to what chairman Niall Quinn jokingly calls a curse. It is one Sedgfield-born Cummins, who now lives in Kansas, would like to finally see lifted this weekend.
“Niall Quinn has called the run ‘the Stan Cummins curse’,” he says. “It was a tongue-in-cheek remark but I know where he’s coming from. I must be the only player in history to have scored the winner in a derby and it’s known as the curse.
“I’ve heard Bobby Kerr, the 1973 Cup-winning captain, say he doesn’t want to be known as the last Sunderland skipper to lift a trophy. Bobby Moncur says the same when people talk about Newcastle’s 1969 Fairs Cup win. I’m beginning to know how they feel.
“After this weekend, I’ll be quite happy to be known as a derby match-winner, rather than THE derby match-winner.”
There is a growing belief on Wearside that the miserable run can finally end. “I think they’ve got a great chance of winning this time,” Cummins comments. “But I seem to remember saying that 12 months ago. And when Peter Reid was here and Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn were scoring all those goals, Sunderland were well fancied to end the barren run, particularly since they’d won at St James’s Park and were probably the better team at the time.
“If they don’t do it this time, it could stretch to 30 years if the Stadium of Light derby next time is during the second half of the season. That would be frightening. Thirty years – that’s a whole generation of fans starved of such a special feeling. You’ve got to be almost 40 to remember my goal.
“I don’t think there’s a statistic like it in any other derby. Just imagine Spurs not beating Arsenal at White Hart Lane for 28 years, or Liverpool staying unbeaten at Goodison Park for that length of time. It would drive the fans mad.”
The 50-year-old, who began his career at Middlesbrough, is proud of his unspectacular goal but wishes people would stop talking about it.
“For the past few years, I’m always getting phone calls ahead of the derby at Sunderland,” he says. “It’s nice to hear voices from home but hopefully, I won’t be getting them next season because that will mean I’m no longer the last Sunderland player to score the winner against Newcastle on Wearside.
“I can remember that goal as if it were yesterday but above all, I can remember the scenes of utter joy which followed. It certainly wasn’t the best I’ve ever scored – just a tap-in from six yards out but the Fulwell End exploded when the ball hit the back of the net.”
