Sunderland v Middlesbrough (1904)

Sunderland
1904-01-09
Silent
1m

A hard-fought North East derby in the Edwardian First Division.

Shot on 9 January 1904 at Roker Park - Sunderland's home ground from 1897 until a century - this film captures a typically competitive Tees-Wear derby, watched by 14,000 spectators. Sunderland, kitted then as now in red and white striped shirts and black shorts, emerged 3-1 winners. By the early 1900s football had grown in popularity thanks to reduced working hours, making Saturday 'match day'.

Play in progress. The crowds can be seen in the terraces. A very animated section of the match with shots at goal. The image quality is a bit poor.

Edwardian Football

The beautiful game, Edwardian style, in some of the earliest ever film of League, international and amateur football

For Blackburn-based filmmakers Mitchell & Kenyon, the attraction of football was at least as much the swelling crowds - who they hoped to lure to paid screenings - as the game itself. With only a few hundred feet of film on hand and far less mobile cameras than today's, their cameramen could only hope to sample the action on the pitch; catching a goal was a rare bonus.

The crowds' passion and energy are almost spectacle enough, but these films also survive as priceless football history - preserving, among other trophies, the earliest known footage of Manchester Utd and probably the first 'international' games captured on film.