Black Cats Nickname

The link between Sunderland and the Black Cats goes back almost 200 years but it was only recently that the name was adopted by the football club.

For many years the team was known by a variety of nicknames - including the Rokerites and the Roker Men. When the club moved from Roker Park in 1997 these were no longer relevant.
The club therefore decided to ask the most important people - its supporters - to choose a definitive nickname.

Fans sent suggestions which were eventually narrowed down to five final options being:- the Black Cats, the Light Brigade, the Miners, the Sols and the Mackems.
Over 11,000 people voted on the club's official website, safc.com, and almost half of them preferred the 'Black Cats' name.

By choosing this nickname the red and white army nodded firmly in the direction of tradition.
The link between Sunderland AFC and the black cat stems originally from a gun battery in 1805 on the River Wear which was renamed the 'Black Cat' battery after the men manning the station heard a mysterious miaow from a wailing black cat.
A hundred years later in 1905, a black cat was pictured sitting on a football next to Chairman FW Taylor and three years later a black cat featured on a team photograph.