Sunderland AFC: the stars in our midst

Tasmin: keeping faithTasmin

A warm welcome to anyone arriving in one of those periodic waves of fellow fans following a link from Ready To Go’s SMB forum.

The topic is famous fans of Sunderland AFC, familiar territory for Salut! Sunderland, where I have added to the work I previously did for 5573 (then Wear Down South), the newsletter of the London and Southern England branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association.

Of course, I could add that if some of the people posting to that SMB thread had already been here, and read the abundant material on Celebrity Supporters that I have built up, they would not make the mistakes evident in, for example, this comment by “Roughy”:

I think there’s a difference between supporting us and just being born near Sunderland. I knew Dave Stewart in the early days and he never expressed an interest in football, Kate Adie was born here but has never said she’s a supporter.
Heather Mills says quite often that she was a Sunderland fan in her youth (and as people who’ve seen my act will know I’m know fan of the monoped witch!)
Mensi is and always has a been a supporter
Tamsin Archer despite coming from Bradford is a fan as her boyfriend/husband John Hughes (?) who wrote Sleeping Sattallite can often be seen at away games
The Tim Rice and Peter O’Toole stuff has been done to death I think they just “chose” us as their team but haven’t really been fans.

Explore Salut! Sunderland and you will discover/confirm that:

* Dave Stewart’s support is indeed in serious doubt

* Kate Adie HAS said she’s a supporter, not least in three separate interviews with me (one for ALS years ago, one for Wear Down South and one update for Salut! Sunderland which, unforgivably, I have not yet got around to posting.

* Tasmin Archer, my most recent subject (in fact the only completely new Celebrity Sypporter interview since the launch of this site) regularly attends games, too. She’s a season ticket holder.

* Heather Mills, and the girl from the New Seekers, are among those I have yet to approach. A long description of others who may or may not be SAFC fans – and as full an account of the Peter O’Toole connection as you’ll ever find – can be seen here.

Any other suggestions – the Tasmin Archer interview happened as a direct result of a reader’s prompt – will be gratefully received and, if possible, acted upon.

And to those Ready To Go regulars again – thanks for the visit; I would already have posted something at SMB, but have just registered (I am sure I have been a member in the past, but have no recollection of my old user name/password) and am not yet allowed to add comments.

4 thoughts on “Sunderland AFC: the stars in our midst”

  1. Hello great site!
    I thought my comments were pretty close to the ones on this site possibly with the exception of Kate Adie. Do i count as an (in)famous supporter.
    I see you’ve got one of my idols Rob Kane (AKA Robinson aka Coyle)interviewed on here. He was a true inspiration to me and NEVER heard him utter a word about football never mind the lads. However on stage with the Animals in newcastle a few years back he did take great delight in revealing his Sunderland roots!

  2. “Roughy” is certainly being a little unfair on Kate Adie as she was “delighted and honoured” (her words) to become a Vice President of the London Branch of the Supporters. Hardly the comment of someone not really interested.

  3. Don’t forget Lord Puttnam. He was sat with the travelling fans at Cork and chatted about the horrors of Holywood and signed autographs. Respect to the man. Sir Anthony Eden was a Sunderland fan as well, but I suppose it’s a bit difficult to interview him. John Hurt was born in Sunderland and looks out for the results – or at least he said he did when we bumped into him in The Lamb in Bloomsbury a few years ago.

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