Tunstall Hills

The mural depicts Raich Carter, who played as a forward for Sunderland during a successful period for the team in the 1930s. Like many players of his age (he was born in 1913) it is impossible to say how big he might or might not have become had the Second World War not intervened; he was, nevertheless, a famous enough player at 23 to have had a sitting at Madame Tussauds. 'Raich' is short for Horatio, a first name that wouldn't have raised too many eyebrows a century or two ago, and is based on the Latin for 'timekeeper'. Online images indicate that he was nowhere near as dark-skinned as the picture suggests - he was definitely white, and it looks like the reason he appears darker on the wall of the hand-drawn mural is due to it being based on a picture of him posing in his strip with a bit of shadow going on. Raich Carter won 13 England caps in the days before big tournament qualifiers were a thing - in the 1930s England averaged around 6 games a year. He also scored almost a goal every other game while at Sunderland, which was apparently pretty good for an inside forward. With the advent of continual tactical analysis of football matches across the media in the last two or three decades these tactics have, to most, become ever more confusing! Even though players are today allowed to pick obscure numbers that they can wear on their backs forever (e.g. Phil Foden, of Manchester City: 47), back in the day the 11 players on each team were only numbered 1-11. And the analyses always assume people have prior knowledge of these 1-11 days, when a number would generally indicate a certain position. An inside forward is basically a name for an old position when teams set up in a different way from today, but is still occasionally used to describe a secondary striker - traditionally a Number 10 - who is instructed to drop deep occasionally (i.e. alternate between the back of the attack and the front of the midfield). It is also used sometimes to describe either of the wide players in an attacking three who don't play wide enough to be considered wingers. Mo Salah of Liverpool, who at the time of writing usually operates a little bit behind and to the right of the main target man - who traditionally wears the Number 9 shirt - is the best example of this right now. In Carter's day, however, the teams set up in formations that would seem completely mad to today's football fans. There was something called a 'W-M' formation which was made up of five forwards and five defenders. If you can imagine the preamble to a televised football match today, with the players' names shown in their starting positions in their own half of the pitch with the goalkeeper at the bottom, the 'W' would have appeared at the top and the 'M' at the bottom. The 'W' went: left wing - left inside forward - centre forward - right inside forward - right wing. The 'M' went: left full back - left half back - centre back - right half back - right full back. Despite the fact that it is almost always the left and right 'full backs' that are the most attacking defenders of today's football teams, they usually keep their old name, unless extremely attacking, in which case 'wing back' is used. The central defenders of the team, however, who rarely venture forward except for corners and free kicks due to their height, still get referred to as 'left half' and 'right half' in the now standard four-man defence. In the old days of W-M there was still a midfield - the bottom of the W and the top of the M would drop back and move forward respectively when needed. Raich Carter has the distinction of being the only player to have won the FA Cup either side of the Second World War: for Sunderland, then Derby County.

Running south, from Sunderland docks.

This path forms part of the National Cycle Route 1 as it runs through a green area between Grangetown and Ryhope

looking along the bank at the Green area between Grangetown and Ryhope

View down the old freight line towards Sunderland. The other direction is shown in NZ4154 : Old freight line The private Londonderry, Seaham & Sunderland Railway opened in 1854 to give access to the Hudson Dock at Sunderland. It was built to relieve pressure on Seaham Harbour which had become fully occupied by a successful coal trade.

Heading east.