North East fans have their club loyalties, of course, and many of them also support the national team. But there was once a third side they could cheer for, which sat somewhere between the other two, and which even took on England from time to time.
This side was drawn from clubs across the north of the country, and ever since the 1870s it had been playing matches against a similar side representing the south. The authorities considered this a good way of selecting players for the national team, and the matches took place in cities such as Sheffield and Manchester. One of them was played in Sunderland, on the old Newcastle Road ground.
Gradually, however, as northern teams became more numerous and the standard of their football improved, the fixture became less and less competitive and it was decided that the North should now play England instead.
The teams faced each other for the first time in the North East on 21 January 1914, with Sunderland again the host. The town was currently home to England’s champion club, whose Roker Park stadium was being refurbished at great expense.
Five million pounds
Among the players chosen to represent the North that Wednesday afternoon were ones from Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers. And four others had strong North East connections. Harry Martin and Walker-born Frank Cuggy had been part of Sunderland’s recent success, while full-back Frank Hudspeth was a Newcastle United star. And Middlesbrough’s George Elliott, already a full international, would end the season as the First Division’s top goalscorer. The England side, meanwhile, included George Holley, who hailed from Seaham and was a club-mate of Cuggy and Martin.
The teams could boast a hundred international caps between them, and the local press estimated that they were worth at least £50,000 (or £5mn in today’s money). England’s players were placed into the hands of Sunderland’s revered trainer Billy Williams, and the North’s into those of his assistant, Billy Dunlop.
The town, meanwhile, was in a state of excitement ahead of the match, and when the players made a visit to the Empire Theatre, a large crowd of people turned out to greet them. The acts which entertained them that evening included the ‘Cycling Buffoons’ and ‘Captain Frank Taylor’s Wonderful Dog & Monkey Actors’.
Borrowed shirts
Inside the ground the following afternoon the crowd was almost 19,000 strong. And there was mist in the air as England, wearing their customary white shirts, kicked off towards the new terrace at the Roker End. The players of the North, meanwhile, wore red-and-white-striped shirts borrowed from their hosts.
Sunderland’s pitch was a notorious quagmire, and it had only been made heavier by recent rain. That didn’t spoil the spectacle, however, and the match that followed was fast and flowing. Darlington’s North Star newspaper, indeed, called it “one of the finest games of football that have been seen in the Far North for many a long day”. And the crowd was good-humoured, too, even if it did very firmly favour the North.
England took an early lead, but amid great cheering and hat-waving their hosts came roaring back. Cuggy was applauded, and so was Elliott after he scored an equaliser. England regained the lead, only to see the North draw level again and then go ahead themselves. But two late goals won the day for the national side.
Frank Cuggy would be called up for England’s next proper international – against Ireland at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park – although the cap he was awarded then would be his last. His football career would take him to America and Spain, before he came back to Wearside to work in the shipyards. George Elliott would be capped as well, for the second time, and so would Harry Martin, for the only time.
Towards the Gallowgate End
Like the last England v the North game before the war, the first one afterwards was also played in the North East – on 25 February 1920, at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park. The club had been League Champions three times by now and FA Cup winners once, and their ground had hosted two full England international matches.
The team representing the North included George Elliott and Harry Martin again. Martin had two different Sunderland colleagues alongside him this time – the full-back Bert Hobson and the forward Charlie Crossley – while a fourth Sunderland man, Charlie Buchan, played for England.
In front of 30,000 fans, the North kicked off, playing down the hill towards the huge open terrace that now graced the Gallowgate End. The weather was good, the match was again exciting and, the absence of Newcastle players notwithstanding, the crowd still sided with the hosts.
More exotic opponents
It was England, however, who took control, and quick-fire goals – including one from Buchan – put them 2-0 up. The North pulled a goal back, only for Buchan to score again. But a penalty narrowed the margin once more, and early in the second half, the hosts equalised through George Elliott. England went on to convert a penalty of their own, however, and a late fifth goal gave them a comfortable victory.
The next proper England match was against Wales, and it saw Elliott win his third and last international cap. Charlie Buchan played in that game as well, winning his second cap more than seven years after his first. In a long career with Sunderland he would end up the club’s all-time record League goalscorer.
Charlie would swap sides, turn out for the North and score a hat-trick in the next trial match. Another game would follow, in Bradford. But after heavy snow forced a cancellation in 1923, the fixture was abandoned for good. England would find themselves new and more exotic opponents. And the team the whole North East had once been able to call its own would be consigned to the history books.
