Somebody's pinched my sombrero wrote:We gained probably around 12 to 15k fans in the early 90's. Sunderland gained around 20k when they moved ground in 96 (I think it was) yet that's never brought up. If they say they always sold out Roker park, they're incorrect. Put me right on those figures if I'm wrong Piston, who actually seems a decent level headed bloke with no chips on his shoulders. Whatever next?
Holy bump Batman!!
Sorry for slow reply but i've only just seen the question. Either that or it's taken this long to cook up an answer!!!
http://www.toonforum.co.uk/posting.php? ... 3&p=796940#
To be honest the last few years of Roker Park were a bit strange regarding crowds. Lets be straight at the outset and say every game wasn't a sell-out. The problem was the ground itself which was having it's capacity cut every season due to Health and Safety/Taylor Report etc.
The days of 76,000(official) and 80-90,000(unofficial) packed inside were a distant memory after the Roker End was half demolished overnight in the early 80's due to safety issues. It was later cut back again. Next up came Hillsborough which led to further numerical reductions and this continued right up to the end. No more money was being spent as we were heading to the SOL. The FA were quite lenient (re seats etc) by the end with Roker Park but only because we were moving. They weren't going to allow us to play there much longer without major changes.
So, people maybe saw crowds of 20,000 plus and thought the ground must be empty. The reality was, with away supporters and segregation this figure wasn't far from being "full" for home fans. I say "full" as physically there was still the same space, the capacity was a theoretical figure.
For the record i loved Roker Park. I loved the patina and general wear from 99 years of football matches. I loved it on night games. Roker Park was a special place for many. Most of the grounds have lost their unique character which identifies them with the team and that includes us.
As for the upturn in numbers. There are TWO major reason for this. Firstly, in the 80's football in general was at a very low ebb and so were attendances for all teams across the board. The euros changed this and there was a major upturn right across the leagues including Sunderland. We got the double boost by having the new stadium and this changed the make up of fans with more females/children attending to boost numbers. Our team had a decent period to which definitely helped but it'd be unfair and untrue to say the extra 20,000 appeared just because we won a few games.
[quote="Somebody's pinched my sombrero"]We gained probably around 12 to 15k fans in the early 90's. Sunderland gained around 20k when they moved ground in 96 (I think it was) yet that's never brought up. If they say they always sold out Roker park, they're incorrect. Put me right on those figures if I'm wrong Piston, who actually seems a decent level headed bloke with no chips on his shoulders. Whatever next?[/quote]
Holy bump Batman!!
Sorry for slow reply but i've only just seen the question. Either that or it's taken this long to cook up an answer!!!http://www.toonforum.co.uk/posting.php?mode=quote&f=3&p=796940#
To be honest the last few years of Roker Park were a bit strange regarding crowds. Lets be straight at the outset and say every game wasn't a sell-out. The problem was the ground itself which was having it's capacity cut every season due to Health and Safety/Taylor Report etc.
The days of 76,000(official) and 80-90,000(unofficial) packed inside were a distant memory after the Roker End was half demolished overnight in the early 80's due to safety issues. It was later cut back again. Next up came Hillsborough which led to further numerical reductions and this continued right up to the end. No more money was being spent as we were heading to the SOL. The FA were quite lenient (re seats etc) by the end with Roker Park but only because we were moving. They weren't going to allow us to play there much longer without major changes.
So, people maybe saw crowds of 20,000 plus and thought the ground must be empty. The reality was, with away supporters and segregation this figure wasn't far from being "full" for home fans. I say "full" as physically there was still the same space, the capacity was a theoretical figure.
For the record i loved Roker Park. I loved the patina and general wear from 99 years of football matches. I loved it on night games. Roker Park was a special place for many. Most of the grounds have lost their unique character which identifies them with the team and that includes us.
As for the upturn in numbers. There are TWO major reason for this. Firstly, in the 80's football in general was at a very low ebb and so were attendances for all teams across the board. The euros changed this and there was a major upturn right across the leagues including Sunderland. We got the double boost by having the new stadium and this changed the make up of fans with more females/children attending to boost numbers. Our team had a decent period to which definitely helped but it'd be unfair and untrue to say the extra 20,000 appeared just because we won a few games.
