Record goal-scorers Bobby Gurney and Charlie Buchan are to be inducted at Sunderland AFC’s first-ever Hall of Fame Dinner on 14 June.
Scoring over 200 goals each for the Black Cats, both fired the club to the league title and the FA Cup final as well as playing for England while with SAFC.
Silksworth lad, Gurney, is the club’s record scorer with 228 goals while Buchan holds the record for league goals with 209 of his total of 222 coming in the first division – what would be the Premier League now. The pair are also the only two men to score five goals in a top flight match for Sunderland.
Thirty-one of Gurney’s massive total came in the 1935-36 title winning season – including four on the day the title was sealed. A year later he netted Sunderland’s first-ever goal at Wembley as the FA Cup was won.
Buchan bagged 30 goals in the club’s greatest-ever season of 1912-13, top scoring with 27 as the league was won, with his three cup goals including one in the quarter-final against Newcastle and another in the semi-final. England’s centre forward in the first-ever international at Wembley, Buchan’s fame continued after his playing days as his magazine ‘Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly’ became the top selling football publication in the world. As a founder member of the Football Writers’ Association Buchan also came up with the idea of the Footballer of the Year Award.
Buchan’s renowned autobiography ‘A Lifetime in Football’ was later re-published by his granddaughter Frances Klepp, who will receive her grandfather’s induction to the Sunderland Hall of Fame as she did for his induction into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame. Bobby Gurney’s grand-daughter Jill Barton will receive his award.
Buchan and Gurney join Niall Quinn, Charlie Hurley, James Allan, Jim Montgomery, Len Ashurst, Raich Carter and Bobby Kerr as nine of the inductees, with the final duo for the inaugural dinner to be announced shortly.
The Sunderland Hall of Fame dinner is set to honour 11 of the greatest names in the club’s history. It will be a unique occasion which will bring together some of Sunderland’s finest ever players, along with the descendants of the most significant people from Sunderland’s early and highly successful years. Being part of this extra special occasion is an opportunity to be part of a gathering of a who’s who of the greatest players in the entire history of the club.
To take your place alongside the Red & White royalty at this most prestigious first Hall of Fame dinner contact the commercial team on 0371 911 1555 or email commercial@safc.com. Tickets cost £75 +VAT
