Sunderland fans’ museum mushrooms to work wonders in the community

The Fans’ Museum, in an old Sunderland railway station, has mushroomed into a community hub, using football as the springboard for a whole range of activities.

SUNDERLAND’S first railway station is now home to a community-focused football fans’ museum – which is growing to become so much more.

The museum, located in the old Monkwearmouth station at the north end of the Wearmouth Bridge, is not only home to an impressive football memorabilia collection but is also reaching out to support Wearsiders in numerous ways.

It all started when Sunderland super-fan Michael Ganley started displaying his remarkable collection of memorabilia in August 2014, hosting a three-day event at Villette Road Library in Hendon.

Conventionally, at this kind of affair, the displays would be kept behind glass to prevent people from touching them – but this was different, with fans allowed to wear match-worn shirts and hold the awards their heroes had received.

Inside the Fans’ Museum, Sunderland is a world of football memorabilia … and so much more.

These displays continued at numerous city venues, including The Bridges and the City Library, until 2018, when they were able to move into a more permanent home; the old Monkwearmouth station, next to St Peter’s metro station.

When entering the Grade II-listed building, you are met with a vast array of footballing memorabilia, mainly Sunderland-related but also from further afield.

Mr Ganley has over 4,500 shirts in his collection and countless other items, including boots, photos, match programmes and medals.

One of the museums more unusual items is the beach ball famously involved in striker Darren Bent’s controversial 2009 goal against Liverpool, and Bent’s shirt from that day (see below).

The iconic ‘Darren Bent beach ball’, amongst other memorabilia.

But the museum has become far more than just a football collection: it has evolved into a community space supporting a variety of projects to empower people, including:

• an ‘inclusion league’, organised to give people with disabilities more opportunities to play football;
• a weekly meeting focused on men’s mental health, through Andy’s Man Club,,  hosted every Monday from 7-9pm;
• a Fans Hub where males meet once a week to play football in a ‘safe, non-judgemental space’, and;
• Laura’s Ladies’ Club every Tuesday from 5:30 pm to 7 pm, a mental health club for women.

Furthermore, the museum visits care homes with some of the collection, using football memorabilia to provide memory and enjoyment for elderly residents.

Harry Collinson, the commercial lead, told me the museum’s slogan is “passion with purpose,” and there is indeed plenty of passion among the amazing volunteers who make this happen.

Former Sunderland star striker Kevin Phillips is an ambassador for the museum, while the team of directors includes 1973 Sunderland FA Cup-winning captain Bobby Kerr and Sunderland-born rock star Don Airey (famed for playing keyboards with bands such as Rainbow and Deep Purple).

The museum also hosts events such as charity gigs; the week before last, punk band Slalom D performed to raise money for Vision Appeal.

In June, they hosted a Windrush Day Celebration, with Sunderland legends Reuben Agboola, Gary Bennett and Howard Gayle attending to tell stories from their careers, during a day of food, music, dance, and football memorabilia.

The Fans Museum seems a brilliant example of football being used as a tool for community engagement – whether it be beekeeping with their hive of over 300,000 bees, offering employment opportunities and fresh starts, or just someone to talk to.

This is an organisation that is combining football and community outreach to educate and improve the local community.