Roker Park centre-circle plaque campaign surges as thousands back plan | OneFootball

A campaign to install a Sunderland AFC plaque on the roundabout marking Roker Park’s former centre circle has gone viral, with thousands already backing it.

According to Sunderland Echo, supporters Gav Blakey and Ged Mullen-Buick, both 41 and from Houghton-le-Spring, are leading the push. Roker Park was the Black Cats’ home from 1898 to 1997 before the move to the Stadium of Light, built on the Wearmouth Colliery site, and many still view Roker as the club’s spiritual home.

Blakey says his parents met at the old ground and he had a season ticket in the Fulwell End from the age of two. His standout memory is the 1992 FA Cup quarter-final, when Gordon Armstrong’s header won it, and he recalls the noise as a seven-year-old. He believes a plaque would give younger fans a clear reference point.

The pair drew inspiration from plaques marking the centre circles at Maine Road in Manchester, at Highbury and at The Dell in Southampton. With the club leaning into nostalgia through retro shirts and a new Welcome to Sunderland sign, they feel formally recognising the site is important.

Graphic designer Mullen-Buick launched the support page on Monday after building it over the weekend. It has nearly 2,300 signatures, shared by fans’ groups and the Fans’ Museum, with feedback overwhelmingly positive. They plan to take the petition to the club and the City Council, and say installing a plaque next year would help mark 30 years since Roker Park closed.

Source: Sunderland Echo