On This Day (2nd Dec 1899): New Boys Hogg The Headlines

There was a Sunderland old boy back on Wearside in the shape of Notts County’s Jimmy Chalmers but this latest game was about a new arrival – debutant Billy Hogg.

Chalmers had scored twice for the Lads during their final ever match at Newcastle Road, but since embarked on a wandering career that saw him make a number of transfers. Back at Sunderland meanwhile the club had moved on too and made a number of their own purchases, with Hogg the latest arrival to be handed a first team place. No relation to his new teammate Bobby, who had made his debut exactly two months earlier, Hogg was born in the town but had moved away from the area as a child, due to his family searching for a new start in the aftermath of the heart-breaking death of older child Robert, who had lost his life in the tragic Victoria Hall disaster in 1883.

Bought from Willington Athletic, Hogg’s inclusion in the team meant that he would be donating a proportion of his wage to the Reservists on a day where the club sought to boost funds for the ongoing Boer War. It was reported in the local press prior to kick-off (scheduled to be 14:30, or 14:15 in the case of bad light) that uniformed soldiers would be collecting monies from around the stands, doing so to a backdrop of trumpeters that would be there to ‘stimulate the patriotic feeling of the crowd’. Sunderland’s directors had agreed to hand over a share of gate receipts also, with the players said to be subscribing 25s a week until the war ended.

Played in what turned out to be ‘fine weather’ the game itself was somewhat one sided, even though it took the Rokerites a while to open the scoring. Bill Raisbeck had pulled off a last gasp clearance to save his side following a rare County forage and was then the man to break the deadlock at the other end, scoring from distance with a remarkable header that bounced in off the bar when he met a punched clearance from Sam McCappin. A second then followed, with Colin McLatchie taking in a clever pass from Tommy Becton and hitting home from what various sources described as a ‘difficult, oblique shot’ as much as 50 yards out to leave McCappin understandably ‘surprised’.

With a comfortable advantage and superior fitness levels, Sunderland were able to press ahead further in the second half. Excellent close control and a determined run led to Bobby making it 3-0, and then his namesake Billy capped off an ‘athletic’ introduction to senior football with a strike of his own – Alex Mackie watching his side capitalise on goals one and three with follow ups that came just minutes later.

Although the Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette in their report the following Monday was rather dismissive of his talents, Chalmers was one of the few visiting players to put up any resistance against his old club. It was not nearly enough to make a game of things though, with James Crawford’s late success giving a fair reflection of how things had gone in this dominant display.

Notes

Jimmy Chalmers sometimes went by the name of Jamie

Billy Hogg was often referred to as W. Hogg (William) whilst Bobby was R. Hogg (Robert). In some early instances, articles put the names of the clubs they had signed from in brackets after their surnames, instead of initials.

On Monday the 4th of December, the Scottish Referee newspaper claimed that £29 was raised at Roker Park and implored teams north of the border to follow Sunderland’s lead. The Echo meanwhile broke down some of the larger donations that had been recorded by club secretary Watson, with Miss Andrews, Miss Todd, Miss Hastie, Sergt. Stacey, Sergt. Richards, Sergt. Mousfield, Sergt. Barrett, Sergt. Todd, Sergt. O’Neill, Sergt. Dean, Sergt. Mayer and Sergt. Hammond all being name checked.

Saturday 2 December 1899

Football League Division One

Sunderland 3 (Raisbeck 40’, McLatchie 43’, R. Hogg 56’, W. Hogg 58’, Crawford 85’)

Notts County 0

Sunderland: Doig; McCombie, McNeill; Ferguson, McAllister, Raisbeck; Crawford, W. Hogg, R. Hogg, Becton, McLatchie.

Roker Park, attendance 10,000