This season marked Sunderland’s first tentative steps beyond local football. They entered the FA Cup for the first time, losing to Redcar in the First Round; Redcar went out in the Second Round, the trophy eventually being retained by Blackburn Rovers. The Durham Challenge Cup was still entered as well, Sunderland this time losing the final to Darlington. Sunderland were very unhappy at the way the final was refereed, and even more disappointed at how their complaints were dealt with by the Durham FA; to such an extent that they did not enter the competition the following season.

The fact that Sunderland were becoming too strong for local opposition was evidenced by a record 23-0 win over Castletown. However, the first game against opposition from further afield proved a bit of a wake-up call, with a heavy 11-1 defeat to the strong Scottish side, Port Glasgow Athletic; subsequent games against 5th Kirkcudbrightshire Rifle Volunteers (Dumfries) and Sheffield were more keenly contested. A significant moment arrived on 13th December 1884, when Sunderland ran out against Castle Eden wearing their new colours of red and white for the first time. The shirts were quartered rather than striped, and a change from the all blue strip the team had worn since it's inception. League football was still yet to be thought of at this time.

SCHEDULED FIXTURES FOR WHICH NO REPORT CAN BE FOUND:

20/09/1884 - The club arranged a "Married v. Single" match between it's own players at Hendon (probably their old Blue House Field ground), but no reports are available; some of the players did not partake, as on the same day they played in a combined Bedes and SAFC team against Castle Eden at Monkwearmouth. Exactly what the rules were for the latter game is unclear, given the score was a victory for Castle Eden by two goals and three posters to one. The Bedes and SAFC team was interesting in that almost everyone involved was either a current or future Sunderland player: W.Jackson, W.Spain, J.Spain, G.Edmondson, R.Wilson, J.McDonald, W.Erksine, R.Hindle, F.Bearpark, J.Allan.

11/10/1884 v. All Saints [Newcastle] (A) - arranged at the start of the season.

6/12/1884 v. Whitburn (A) - arranged at start of season; probably played (1-0 win), see match details.

17/1/1885 v. All Saints [Newcastle] (H) - arranged at the start of the season. Probably cancelled because Abb's Field was hosting a Durham Cup play-off between Birtley and Hamsterley Rangers that day.

21/3/1885 v. Heaton (A) - arranged at the start of the season.

6/4/1885 v. Linthorpe (H) - advertised on day of match; probably played (4-3 win), see match details.

We are fairly confident that the Whitburn and Linthorpe matches occurred, and the scorelines are accurate; and that the other matches didn't happen. Using this approach, we get a season playing record of: 31 games played, 21 won, 4 drawn and 6 lost, 96 goals scored and 41 goals conceded. At the club's AGM, an almost identical record was reported; the only difference being that 100 goals were reported scored rather than 96. Two of the missing goals are almost certainly disputed goals in the match against Rosehill on 22nd November; the match was reported as 2-0 but Sunderland always maintained that the disputed goals were legitimate. The other two may be disputed from other matches - Wearmouth on the 18th April was remembered as 2-0 by an ex-secretary of the time - though it is not beyond imagination that the figure was slightly doctored as 100 goals looked better in the local press!

REPRESENTATIVE MATCHES INVOLVING SUNDERLAND PLAYERS:

29/11/1884: Buchanan, McMillan, McDonald and Allan played for the Durham FA, in a 2-1 victory over Northumberland FA at the Tyne Ground in Newcastle. McDonald scored one of the Durham goals.Oddly, there is no trace of a Buchanan playing for Sunderland in this era.

7/2/1885: Hall, McMillan, McDonald, and Allan (who scored) played for the Durham FA, in a 3-1 defeat to Cleveland FA at Sunderland's Abbs Field ground.