Gary Rowell (born 6 June 1957) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

—most notably with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

—and a current local (North East) newspaper columnist. Born in Sunderland and raised in Seaham, h.e left school and joined

as an apprentice in 1972. His career was split (1972–84) between playing as a striker (albeit often coming from deep) and in midfield. He scored 102 goals for ''The Rokerites'' in all competitions, surpassing the previous record post-war goalscorer, Len Shackleton, who had scored 101 goals. Rowell's record stood until it in turn was beaten by Kevin Phillips in the early 21st century. Gary was a talented player who many supporters felt was destined to become 'fully' capped by England. Unfortunately, his career was severely disrupted by a serious knee injury that he sustained during a game against Leyton Orient (in which he had already scored the winning goal) during March 1979. Following a lengthy recovery, Rowell continued to score goals in the First Division at a healthy strike-rate, but he always looked likely to struggle to maintain full fitness for the whole of any season. Sunderland manager

Len Ashurst Leonard Ashurst (10 March 1939 – 25 September 2021) was an English football player, manager and administrator. He spent most of his playing career with Sunderland, making 458 appearances, the second most in the club's history. He retired a ...

forced Rowell out of Roker Park as part of a huge rebuilding plan in 1984, part of the slide which would ultimately take them to the third tier of English football for the first time in the club's history. Rowell moved to Norwich City, but never recreated his goalscoring exploits because of a knee injury he picked up on his first pre season tour with the Canaries. The injury would ultimately blight the rest of his career, although he did go on to play for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, Brighton & Hove Albion and

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

before finishing his career with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. Rowell is remembered by Sunderland supporters for scoring a hat-trick for Sunderland in a 4–1 win away at local rivals

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

on 24 February 1979. Describing the match later, he said "When we hit the 4th I had a chat with Kevin Arnott about whether to try for a fifth or just to take the piss. We decided to take the piss." He now works as a radio summariser on Real Radio, commentating on all Sunderland games. He previously spent seven years covering Sunderland's games on Metro Radio and

Magic 1152 Greatest Hits Radio North East is a local radio broadcasting, radio station serving North East England, as part of Bauer Radio, Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. History Great North Radio (also known as G.N.R) was formed in March 1989 ...

. In 2005, he was voted Sunderland's all-time cult hero on the television programme Football Focus, whilst in 2006, Sunderland fanzine ''A Love Supreme'' voted him their Best Player of the 1980s. Such accolades reflect his almost 'iconic' status on Wearside, which has led him to recently be inducted in to the

Sunderland A.F.C Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six ...

hall of fame.

External links

*
Gary Rowell Column - Sunderland EchoGary Rowell featured at sporting-heroes.net - Sunderland AFCCareer information at safc.com
*https://web.archive.org/web/20080902150721/http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sectionhome.aspx?sectionID=5849

References & notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowell, Gary 1957 births Living people English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football forwards Association football midfielders Sunderland A.F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Dundee F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Sportspeople from Seaham Footballers from County Durham