Just under seven years (2,555 days, to be precise) since the outbreak of war put an abortive end to the 1939/40 Football League season, August 31, 1946, saw the resumption of the competition. There was much anticipation from the public as, though football had continued to be played throughout the war years, it had been on a regional basis, teams often filled with ‘guest players’ and often in grounds which had been damaged by enemy aircraft strikes (as the Osmaston End of The Baseball Ground had been in January of 1941). As things turned out, if anything the demand was greater than anyone expected with total Football League attendances exceeding 40,000,000 for the first time ever (despite a winter severely blighted by the weather). Even that record, however, didn’t last for too long with season 1948/49 aggregating 41,300,000.

Derby had, like almost all their fellow League clubs, only played three games in that abortive 1939/40 season and the first of those had been a trip to Sunderland (resulting in a 0-3 defeat). The Football League had decided to use the 1939/40 fixture lists for 1946/47, so it was off to Roker Park once again to commence the new season.

The gap of seven years had seen many players miss out on the best years of their career whilst engaged in more important affairs. Even so, half of the Rams XI who had played at Roker in 1939 remained on the club’s playing staff – Jack Nicholas, Tim Ward, Dally Duncan, Jack Stamps and Wilf Walsh. Derby, as reigning holders of the FA Cup, were expected to draw a full house to Roker Park and that was exactly what transpired.

Although the war itself was over, rationing was still very much in place (and would be for several years to come). This didn’t just apply to food, petrol and clothing but also to paper. As a result, clubs were unable to return to the pre-war days of multiple-paged programmes. 8 pages was a luxury – many clubs could only print a single sheet folded in half to make a four page issue and Sunderland were one of those clubs. The throwaway nature (they only cost a penny) of these publications has made these very collectable and it took me many years before I could track one down.

The team line-ups on the front cover now have both teams listed under numbers 1-11, as opposed to the pre-war custom where numbers 1-22 were used (the Football League had decided that this season, 1946/47, would be the first season where it was mandatory to do so). There is one solitary advert on the cover which is for Binns who must have been very well-known as it doesn’t include an address.

Page 2 has ads for Afrikander pipe tobacco and Oxo (not Bovril?) whilst the lengthy editorial on page 3 apologises for the admission price increases, states that some of the club’s “budding stars” won’t be on show due to military service and that only Newcastle could have been classed as a bigger opening-day attraction than cup-holders Derby. Page 4 has an ad for a local beer and a half-time scoreboard. All very basic but, at only a penny, it could barely be cheaper.

Onto the match itself and the Derby side was not quite as per the programme. Reg Harrison and Dally Duncan were both out injured so into their place came Wilf Walsh and Angus Morrison. For Walsh, who had been signed by Derby in June of 1939, it would be his one and only first team appearance of the season. He would join Walsall 8 months later.

Jack Howe’s handball allowed Eddie Burbanks to give Sunderland an early lead from the penalty spot though Jack Stamps soon equalised after Raich Carter and Peter Doherty “got weaving” (to quote Derby Evening Telegraph reporter Charles Mann) but Cliff Whitelum retook the lead for the home team, netting virtually on the half-time whistle.

Derby found themselves two goals behind when Vic Woodley allowed a shot from Whitelum to squirm out of his grasp within a minute of the second half commencing and, though Peter Doherty converted the game’s second penalty, Sunderland held on for the two points.

A crowd of 48,466 had squeezed into Roker Park (despite the admission price increases) and seemed to have witnessed a highly entertaining match. I’ll let the florid prose of Charles Mann sum it all up:

“Sunderland were swept to a 3-2 victory over Derby County…on the crest of a crashing wave of sound that surged from more than 50,000 frenzied football fans with one-track minds. In the most thrilling start to a football season I can remember, the Roker Roar inspired the home team to pull out a little better than their best.”