George Herd was a fan favourite during his playing days at Roker Park and is still revered at Sunderland AFC nearly sixty years after making his final appearance for the Lads.
A hugely energetic and infectious character, plus a popular face on the local non-scene in later years, when he passed away in 2024 there was an outpouring of emotion that proved just how much the community loved him —yet in 1966, it was a very different relationship that was being confirmed.
Barbara Wright, a shorthand typist
in a Sunderland office, had obviously taken a shine to George, for on Monday 24 October, the pair got married at St Luke’s Church in Pallion.
Wanting to keep the ceremony secret, it wasn’t until the following day that most people got to find out about it, when the happy couple appeared in the local press and confirmed that following about six months of planning, everything had gone just as they’d hoped.
After the ceremony, they’d gone to their new home in Cleadon before heading to a reception at Barbara’s parents’ house on Westmoor Road, rounding off the celebrations there.
The newlyweds had first met at a dance around two years earlier but wanted a low-key event and the only other footballer at the service was George’s fellow Scot Bobby Kerr, who’d previously shared with him club digs on the appropriately-named Hampden Road behind the Fulwell End and Clock Stand.
Exactly who it was that had invited him was not clear — maybe Kerr had been invited by the bride, keen to find out what living with her fiancé was going to be like!
Whereas the nuptials and gone without a hitch however, the honeymoon period was much shorter than anticipated.
Originally given leave of absence until Thursday by manager Ian McColl, Herd was disappointed to learn that his first full day of married life would instead see him having to report back to work, with the previous Saturday’s scheduled fixture against Stoke City having been rearranged at short notice and set to take on Tuesday evening.
Initially called off due to a number of international games taking place that weekend, it was the Football League that insisted on the game taking place at the earliest opportunity, and that meant an early end to whatever the Herds had in mind.
If there was to be any consolation for George, it was that he at least got to be part of victorious team, pulling off an impressive result against league leaders Stoke City, and that he had a direct hand in the winning goal.
Now enjoying service of a different kind, his gift to his teammates was a perfectly-placed corner that was flicked on by George Mulhall and converted by Neil Martin in a 2-1 success. Herd was subsequently given a mark of seven out of ten in The Journal’s match report, and there are more details on the match available here.
