| Match Pictures | Matches: 1937 – 1938 | 1937 Pictures |
Trivia
- The 1937 Sunderland team was managed by Scot and ex-St Mirren manager Johnny Cochrane who had led the Buddies to victory in the Scottish Cup final over Celtic in season 1925/26.
- Sunderland had 5 Scots in their ranks, but the main goal threat came from Bobby Gurney, who went on to have 388 league appearances for Sunderland, scoring 228 goals, making him the club’s all time top scorer.
- Centre forward Raich Carter was the captain and pin-up boy of Sunderland and England but the Wearsiders, with a wealth of talent in a team that had won the League in season 1935/35 for the sixth time and the FA Cup in 1937 failed to score against Celtic.
- Celtic’s 21-year-old stand-in goalkeeper, Tom Doyle, kept a clean sheet while McGrory and Buchan beat 20-year-old Sunderland keeper Matson.
- Celtic and Sunderland were united in the 1930s by tragedy. Both clubs lost their young goalkeepers as a result of footballing incidents. 22-year-old Johnny Thomson died as a result of an accidental collision with Sam English at Ibrox Park in September 1931 whereas Sunderland’s young goalkeeper Jimmy Thorpe, also 22, had died following a match with Chelsea in February 1936, during which he was the victim of harsh treatment by the Chelsea forwards. There was so much anger following this match that the F.A. changed the rules and banned the practice of kicking the ball from the keeper’s grasp. Like our own Johnny Thomson, Jimmy Thorpe is not forgotten and in 2011 when Chelsea met Sunderland on the 75th anniversary of the tragedy both goalkeepers wore black armbands as a mark of respect to a man whose death changed the game for the better.
Review
Teams
SUNDERLAND:
Johnny Mapson, Jimmy Gorman, Alex Hall, Charlie Thomson, Bert Johnston, Les McDowall, Len Duns, Raich Carter, Bobby Gurney, Patrick Gallagher, Eddie Burbanks.
CELTIC:
Doyle, Hogg, Morrison, MacDonald, Lyon, Paterson, Delaney, Buchan, McGrory, Crum, Murphy.
Scorers:
McGrory, Buchan.
Referee:
Attendance: 12,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
