Sunderland AFC

Sunderland AFC has been a member of the Football League since 1890. They have won the league six times and the FA Cup two times. They have also been runners-up in the Football League Cup a final once. The club is also known under a few nicknames, The Black Cats are one of them.

History

Sunderland was established in 1879. The “AFC” stands for Association Football Club.

Together with Preston and Aston Villa, Sunderland was among the dominant football clubs in England during the 1890s, winning the First Division in 1891–92, 1892–93 and 1894–95.

Fourteen teems was novelty, to the fourth edition, the Football League had expanded with two extra teams. The top goalscorer during the season was John Campbell, a Scot who played for Sunderland until 1897.

Both teams were reinforced by imported Scottish players and they also played a passing game which for the time was typical Scottish opposed to the dribbling game that otherwise was an English trademark.

Sunderland was, however, not as successful in the FA Cup, in which the participate for the first time in 1884-1885 season. After being the runners-up in 1923 they finally claim its first title in 1937.

The Roker Park stadium served Sunderland AFC for almost a century and had a 75,118 record attendance from a FA Cup match in 1933. But after the all-seater rule made by Football Association in the 1990s, the capacity was decreased to 22,500. The construction of Stadium of Light solved the problem with a capacity beyond 40,000 when it opened in 1997 (the capacity expanded already the next year to 49,000).

By Oscar Anderson

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderland_A.F.C
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sunderland_A.F.C._Grounds
Image sources:
Thomas MM Hemy's painting "Sunderland v. Aston Villa 1895"