​Our family story of following the Lads begins on November 22 1952.My paternal grandfather was from Burnley and was a Burnley supporter. Unfortunately I never met him as he died before I was born but I’m in the very fortunate position of still having my Dad around — in fine health and fitter than me, truth be told!AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBurnley were playing at Roker Park and my grandfather took my dad, his nine-year old son, to watch the match. This was presumably to cement his love for Burnley but it didn’t work like that.Sunderland won the game 2-1 and from that moment on my destiny was formed eighteen years before I was born. Tommy Wright and Willie Watson scored the Sunderland goals that day; the former a renowned Welsh international and the latter a legend at the club.Watson played over two hundred games in red and white whilst juggling county cricket, England Test cricket and England international football call-ups. In the course of my research, I came upon an article by Kelvin Beattie that I urge you to read. Wonderful stuff!AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMy dad’s recollections of that November day in 1952 are of the hordes of supporters streaming to the ground, thousands all heading in the same direction and being swept along together. He mentions that upon entering the turnstile and going out into the open, he was taken aback by the sheer size of Roker Park.The attendance was over 40,000. Burnley were a very good side at the time and on that day began a love for this club that spans over seven decades, three generations and counting.Time moves on without pause and we arrive in March 1977.I’m only six years old (nearly seven), so my memories of my first game are understandably lost in the haze of growing up. It’s a home game against West Ham and my dad is charged with amusing me for the day. I have vague recollections of being in the family enclosure but having been to Roker Park on more occasions than I can count over the years, I had to rely on my dad Ian to fill in the blanks.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHe insists I was more interested in the half time Bovril than I was in the football and to this day the smell of it takes me back through the years. Sunderland won 6-0 that day and I assumed that was how it would always be, but it turns out that it doesn’t work like that, either.If you’re allowed any regrets in life then maybe, as time moves on again and my own son attends his first game, it’s that I wasn’t actually there.My eldest son Tom has never been bothered about football, as much as I tried. He prefers chasing a large peanut and trying to work out which way it will bounce. Between rugby and his talent for jiu-jitsu, I’m prepared to let it lie for obvious reasons.His brother, on the other hand is a talented footballer and passionate Lads fan.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMy mum and dad took Sam to the Stadium of Light as an eleventh birthday treat on 21 November 2009