Rare Sunderland AFC memorabilia from as far back as 1882 up for grabs

Memorabilia from as far back as 1882 – three years after the club was formed – will be up for grabs at an auction on Tuesday, November 14. The items are expected to fetch almost £1,000 when they go under the hammer at Graham Budd Auctions, in London. Among the gems on sale are three telegrams sent to Francis ‘Frank’ Cuggy, who was Sunderland’s right-half in the 1913 FA Cup final against Aston Villa. Two of the telegrams were sent before the final, with the third coming after Sunderland’s 1-0 defeat in what was their first FA Cup final, which read: “Hard luck, great disappointment to cafe staff canny lasses.” Cuggy made 166 Football League appearances for the club and also played for England twice. After ending his football career, he worked in North East shipyards. He died on March 27, 1965. Another memento for sale is an invitation from the club issued 135 years ago, eight years before the Black Cats became a Football League side. Perhaps the rarest item among the SAFC treasures is a printed invitation from FJ Trewhitt, then honorary secretary of Sunderland, inviting a Mr GE Gales to an evening event and dance at the Garrison Hall, Sunderland, on November 16, 1882. That was the same year the club moved to a new ground – Groves Field, in Ashbrooke – and 16 years before the eventual move to Roker Park. The Cuggy telegrams and the 1882 invitation – which will be auctioned together in one lot – are expected to sell for between £500 and £700. In another lot, at the same auction, six Sunderland publications are set to fetch between £200 and £250. They include a 1924 pamphlet-style early club history by J Anderson titled ‘The Sunderland Football Club’, ‘Let’s Talk About Sunderland Football Club, by Tom Morgan’, and two Black Cats handbooks from the 1950s. Also for sale is a Jim Charlton fixture booklet from the 1923-1924 season, and Rutter’s football fixtures from the 1934-1935 campaign.