History Roker Park
roker park (top left) pictured above in 1967 in 1890s, sunderland chairman , brother decided build bigger ground club, replace club s current ground @ newcastle road. club had negotiated buy farmland belonged mr. tennant , part of agreement sunderland have build house on site new stadium. until house built, sunderland still had pay rent on land. within year of land being bought, roker park had been built, wooden stands taking 3 months build. clock stand had 32 steps, no seats , crush barrier safety. turf brought ireland, , lasted 38 years. pitch designed have slight drop of 1 foot centre of pitch each corner drainage. on 10 september 1898 roker park officially opened charles vane-tempest-stewart, 6th marquess of londonderry. first match @ roker park friendly against liverpool sunderland won 1–0, jim leslie scoring stadium s first ever goal. the roker end concreted in 1912, , 1913 capacity had risen 50,000. in 1929 old wooden grandstand demolished , replaced new main stand, designed arc...