Charlie Hurley

At Sunderland: 26 September 1957 -  2 June 1969

SAFC career  400+1 appearances / 26 goals.

Club Historian Rob Mason pays tribute

The passing of Charlie Hurley at the age of 87 is an enormously sad moment in the history of the Club. Voted by supporters as Sunderland's Player of the Century in the Centenary Year of 1979, Charlie was a giant in the story of Sunderland AFC. 

Sixty years ago this season Charlie captained the club to its first-ever promotion and despite playing in the second tier was named as runner up to England's future World Cup winning skipper Bobby Moore as Footballer of the Year. Celebrated at Sunderland as, 'The Greatest Centre-half the World Has Ever Seen' (the title of his 2008 biography), Hurley had a then 20-year-old goalkeeper in Jim Montgomery playing behind him. Monty remembers, "Charlie was brilliant. He always looked after me on the pitch and always had good words for me off it. All the lads always had great respect for Charlie. He was a magnificent player and it was great playing behind him. Anything that came into the box was Charlie's so I didn't have to come out much to take crosses because Charlie would deal with situations. He would be great in today's game because he could bring the ball out of defence. He would love modern football where defenders are encouraged to play out from the back. He was so dominant as a player and fans will remember that whenever we got a corner he would just saunter up late and then appear in the box as the ball came across and score some vital goals for us. I'll always remember that. He was a fabulous player and great for me."

For opponents, the mere sight of Charlie could cause panic. For example, former Coventry City defender Dietmar Bruck remembers, "We were playing up at Roker Park. We got off the coach. I was walking along and I'm looking around and there was this guy who seemed about 6' 6" and built like an out-house and I thought, 'Goodness me, who on earth is that?'  Of course, once we got changed and the teams came out, he had a number 5 on his back and it was Charlie Hurley. He was huge, what a figure of a man he was. I always had such admiration for him. I just stood there mesmerised the first time I saw him. What a guy to have playing for you."

Inducted into the Sunderland Hall of Fame at the inaugural dinner in 2019, Charlie carried an aura about him. His charisma meant that not only did the fans idolise him, but players looked up to him too. Charlie lapped this up with a smile. On a pre-season tour of Ireland when acting as the club's ambassador in 2007 he got into a taxi in his native Cork with chairman Niall Quinn and manager Roy Keane. "I've got the King of Cork" beamed the taxi driver delighted to have Keane as a passenger. "I'm the King of Cork" Charlie instantly informed them. In 2016 when the club re-sited the gates of the former training ground, 'The Charlie Hurley Centre' at the Stadium of Light, CEO Martin Bain attempted to give a speech to the assembled company in the boardroom. Barely had he began when 'King Charlie' took over, his booming voice informing everyone that when he went to heaven he'd definitely be captain. All this with a cheeky glint in his eye. 

Manager Alan Brown made Hurley the kingpin of the new Sunderland side he was building in the late 1950s. A fee of £20,000 brought Charlie from Millwall. Hurley had grown up in London having moved to Rainham in East London when just six months old, but he always remained a fiercely proud Irishman. He was discovered by Bill Voisey while playing for Rainham Youth Club and joined Millwall as a professional in 1953 having had trials with West Ham and Arsenal. Charlie made his debut in a 2-2 draw at Torquay United in a Division Three South game in January 1954. Hurley's first international cap for the Republic of Ireland arrived in May 1957 in a World Cup qualifying game with England in Dublin. 

In total Hurley turned out 110 times for the Lions, scoring twice. Charlie also had experience of European football before he came to Sunderland. With continental competition in its embryonic stages, a London XI took part in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In October 1955, Charlie lined up alongside such stars as Danny Blanchflower and Bobby Robson for a 3-2 win over a Frankfurt XI. London went on to reach the final where they lost to a Barcelona XI, but by then Hurley was at Sunderland.

His Sunderland career did not get off to a good start with 7-0 (with an own goal)  and 6-0 defeats in his first two games. Undaunted, Charlie gave an early indication of his wit and supreme self-confidence by telling doubtful pressmen that he had made an improvement already! In reality though it took some time to see the improvement as at the end of Hurley's first season of 1957-58 Sunderland were relegated for the first time in the club's history.

Charlie went on to become a hugely-loyal servant. One of only 10 players to reach 400 appearances for Sunderland, he missed just one match in the 1963-64 promotion campaign. Pictures of Hurley leading the lap of honour at Roker Park are amongst the most iconic post-war images of SAFC. Once promoted, Charlie effectively ran the team ahead of the coaching staff for almost half a season as the directors did not appoint a successor to the departed Alan Brown until the 20th game of the campaign. The King's farewell appearance in 1969 came 55 years, almost to the day, before he passed away. Charlie's debut in 1957 came the day after his 21st birthday.

Now chairman of the Senior Supporters' Association, Malcolm Bramley knew Charlie better than most and recalls, "Charlie was a giant of a man in so many ways. A great player loved by his teammates, staff and fans. Those lucky enough to have watched him play will never forget the huge roars of, 'Charlie, Charlie' as he strode up from defence when we won a corner. During my time as Assistant Secretary he never refused the many requests I made on behalf of fans for autographs or visits to local schools and hospitals. He always had time for everyone. I was a regular babysitter for his daughters. As a thank you, he lent me his car one weekend and I repaid him by crashing it and demolishing a neighbour's garden wall! Over the years, he never ceased to remind me of the damage I did to his beloved Ford Zephyr!"

         When Roker Park closed in 1997 Charlie dug up the centre-spot to be re-planted at the Stadium of Light which has the Charlie Hurley Suite adjacent to the boardroom in homage to the Player of the Century. After leaving Sunderland, Hurley completed his playing days with Bolton Wanderers where he scored three goals in 45+1 appearances, the very last at Birmingham City on 20 February 1971. By January 1972 Hurley had become manager of Reading, a position he held until February 1977. Paired with Sunderland in the FA Cup in 1973 Charlie received a rapturous welcome on his return to Roker Park. He later scouted for Southampton after leaving management and worked as a sales manager for a packaging company in Hertfordshire where he settled after retiring from football. His brother Chris played five times for Millwall in the mid-sixties. Charlie sometimes played as a centre-forward, even at international level. In total Charlie won 40 full caps, 38 of them with Sunderland making him the club's most capped international until overtaken by Seb Larsson. 

Unquestionably a true giant of Sunderland AFC, the favourite-ever player of a huge number of supporters and a man who loved Sunderland as much as Sunderland loved him, Charlie Hurley's place as a legend will last for evermore.