Research highlights football teams' historic links
Heritage UnlockedTwo football team's long-standing connection to the industrial heritage of the North East have been showcased at a conference in Spain.
University of Sheffield Research Associate Dr Tosh Warwick presented research on the links between industry, Sunderland AFC's Stadium of Light and Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium at the INCUNA International Conference on Industrial Heritage in Gijón.
The historian revealed how the football clubs had helped preserve memories of steel, mining and other industries at the heart of Teesside and Wearside.
Warwick said the research highlighted the "benefits of showcasing the area's industrial heritage through football".
He said he hoped the research would encourage making use of the area's industrial heritage in the future and its cultural and economic benefits.
Warwick said: "Profiling and articulating our industrial heritage at football stadiums and matches helps share the region's industrial history and culture with new audiences.
"This in turn can help promote the area, encourage wider awareness of the opportunities of the region."
Tyne & Wear Archives & MuseumsWarwick's talk, Football and industrial heritage in the North East of England, focussed on the history of the sites on which the clubs' stadiums were built.
He said: "The role of the beautiful game is bringing the manufacturing past into the present."
Sunderland's Stadium of Light opened in 1997 on the site of the former Wearmouth Colliery, less than four years after its closure.
Sunderland incorporated the site's mining history into the identity of its new home, through the Stadium of Light name, the giant Davy Lamp sculpture, the pit wheel outside the stadium and the Men of Steel sculptures.
Warwick also said the Coals to Goals community heritage project by the Foundation of Light was "inspiring young people and encourage pride in the area".
