Malta-based fan travels 2,000 miles for Sunderland’s Europa League tie, then heads straight back | OneFootball

A Malta-based Sunderland fan set off at 3.30am today on a 2,000-mile trip to see the Black Cats face AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League at the Stadium of Light. He will turn straight around on Thursday.

According to Sunderland Echo, Colin Backhouse began by flying from Malta to Manchester on a 5.45am departure, then planned to take a train to Durham. The return will include a train to Edinburgh before a flight back to Malta.

Backhouse, who has followed SAFC for 53 years and lives in Sliema, said: "I wasn’t going to miss this. It really is the icing on the cake."

He has travelled to Accrington Stanley and Plymouth, plus night games at Norwich and Ipswich, and has visited 73 away grounds. He wants to add some European ones and says, aside from family, he most misses Sunderland football club.

Backhouse has lived in Malta for 12 years. The former Penshaw resident still reaches the Stadium of Light at least four times a year, at a cost of more than £850 each trip.

When he cannot get to Wearside he watches with up to 30 fellow Mackems at the Salisbury Arms in Sliema. "We’ve had hundreds of Sunderland fans visit us over the years. We even have a Mackem cocktail."

"Four of us who are based here have season tickets which is not bad I’d say." A former Shiney Row Comprehensive School pupil, he worked for Barclays Bank for 13 years before moving to Malta. He invites holidaymakers to join their match-day gatherings at the Salisbury Arms in Sliema.

Source: Sunderland Echo

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”