Sunderland's 1973 FA Cup winners to be given the 'Freedom of the City'
They'll be honoured on Thursday (13th January)
Sunderland AFC’s 1973 FA Cup winning team are receiving the Freedom of the City.
The socially distanced ceremony is timetabled for Thursday 13 January from 6pm at the Beacon of Light.
The event will be available to view online on the City Council’s YouTube site.
Freedoms are traditionally given by the City Council to citizens who make ‘significant contributions to the wellbeing and community spirit of Sunderland.’
Winning team members Richard Philip ‘Dick’ Malone, Ronald George ‘Ron’ Guthrie, Michael Frederick ‘Micky’ Horswill, David Vernon ‘Dave’ Watson, Richard Ernest ‘Ritchie’ Pitt, Robert ‘Bobby’ Kerr, Victor Lewis ‘Vic’ Halom, Dennis Tueart, and David Young are all due to receive a Freedom.
Members of the cup run squad also receive a freedom: Jackie Ashurst, Brian Chambers, John Lathan, Mick McGiven and John Tones.
Two members of the team, William ‘Billy’ Hughes and John Ian Porterfield have passed-away.
Leader of Sunderland City Council, Councillor Graeme Miller said:
"It's right and correct that we honour and continue to recognise the achievement of Sunderland’s 1973 FA Cup winning team.
"The team are held in great respect across Sunderland and these freedoms are appropriate recognition for this enduring pride."
Sunderland AFC were victorious in the Football Association Challenge Cup Final, also known as the FA Cup Final, on 5 May 1973. The Division Two side faced Division One’s Leeds United, who were the current FA Cup holders as well as playing in their third final in four seasons.
Sunderland won 1–0 in front of a crowd of 100,000 fans. They became the first Division Two side to lift the Cup since West Bromwich Albion in 1931.
In 1974 the council conferred an Honorary Freedom to team manager Robert 'Bob' Stokoe.
Since then the team’s goalkeeper James 'Jimmy' Montgomery BEM, received the Honorary Freedom of the City in 12 May 2016.
He received it “as a token of the honour and esteem in which he is held by the citizens of Sunderland and in recognition of the example of achievement he sets to the city’s young people and his personal contribution to the wellbeing of the city and people of Sunderland”.
Other freedoms of Sunderland include the late John Hays, founder of Hays Travel; Nissan’s chief performance officer Trevor Mann; Niall Quinn MBE and Joël Batteux the Mayor of Sunderland's twin-town St Nazaire.
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