SOL Turns 10
By: Lucas | August 2nd, 2007
It was exactly 10 years ago - give or take a week - that the Stadium of Light opened for business, as SAFC played Ajax on July 30, 1997. This Saturday the Black Cats celebrate the anniversary with a friendly against another huge European club, Juventus (perhaps “friendly” won’t be accurate if Juve keeper Gianluigi Buffon tries the same antics against us that he did last weekend against you-know-who).
Said Chairman Niall Quinn (who scored the first goal at the SOL): “I’d played at Highbury with Arsenal…. I played in front of full houses at Maine Road, but somehow the stadium was a bit different. There was a crescendo of noise everywhere. You came out of the tunnel and there was a sea of red and white in the opposite stand. It gave you an immediate lift.” I get chills just thinking about it. I had the good fortune to visit the Stadium of Light in 2006 for the last Wear-Tyne derby (pictured, with my gal, before the game). The result of the match was awful, but the place itself is magnificent, a real gem, and I’m looking forward to my return trip (2008?).
Let’s see the boys give Buffon and his friends a rude welcome to Wearside, ahead of the big opening match to their Premiership season, August 11 against Tottenham Hotspur.
Category: Team News
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