Roker Report reader Keith Davison has shared his memories of Gary Rowell with us.
Gary Rowell’s greatest moment was probably the hat trick he scored against Newcastle in a 4-1 win for the Lads away at Sid James Park.
In 1979 I was just a naïve teenager scared of my own shadow and definitely scared of football ‘hooligans’. But football was my obsession, and when my older and much more street-wise brother (who had a bit of hooligan experience himself) suggested that the best way to watch the derby at Sid James was to go incognito amongst the bar codes, I jumped at the idea.
We’d then be able to travel to and from the ground amongst them and be safer than if we went in the away end and then had to get away home as being obviously from Sunderland.
Younger readers will be shocked to hear that in those days you could just turn up to a ground on the day of the match and pay at the gate. No all-ticket matches, no purchase history required, no BCPs. This was a reasonable enough idea and did work in terms of getting us to the game safely.
What we hadn’t contemplated and planned for was the Lads winning 4-1 and Lord Rowell scoring a hat trick.
You can imagine what the atmosphere was like among the mags at seeing their team dismantled by Rowell that day with a clinical display of finishing. You will also be able to imagine what it was like to be a Sunderland supporter being amongst this angry mob and not being able to celebrate.
I was later to discover that at 4-1 up Rowell had a discussion with Kevin Arnott about whether to go for a 5th goal or to just to take the piss. Apparently they decided to take the piss and annoy the locals more. Thanks lads.
Anyway, we did make it out of the ground safely and went back to the multi-storey car park where we had parked up. We got into the car park lift alongside an old couple returning from a shopping trip, and finally, much to their shock, we were able to celebrate the Lads’ success properly after 90 minutes of bottling it up. They must have thought we were crackers.
When I think of Rowell I find it difficult to describe him and his attributes. He wasn’t fast and skilful like Marco, he couldn’t dribble around teams like McGeady or even Nedum Onuoha. He wasn’t a tackler like Cattermole or Bally.
What he did do was score goals. He always seemed to be in the right place or just be able to create the right amount of space to get a shot away. He never seemed to blast the ball into the net – it was always more of a pass right into the corner of the net and out of the keeper’s reach. I don’t recall him scoring many spectacular goals – I just remember him scoring lots of goals.
I remember when he first came into the team I thought he was just going to be a fairly steady midfield player. He didn’t particularly stand out, but gradually, as Stokoe began to shake up the cup-winning team from 1973, and then Stokoe himself left, Rowell went from being a bit-part player to our leading man and top goal scorer. When he was joined in the first team by Arnott and Elliott the sudden burst of youthful enthusiasm totally revived the team.
I never met the man, but nothing I have heard about him would lead me to think anything other of him than – Gary Rowell, a true Sunderland legend, one of our own, and a boyhood hero of my generation.
Rest in peace Gary.
Category: General Sports
