The Earl of Durham, speaking at Sunderland on recruiting, regretted the time wasted on football, and said he much preferred that Sunderland players should be wearing khaki rather than football colours. He was almost hard-hearted enough to wish that the Germans would drop shells onto footballers on some Saturday afternoon. He thought that that would be the best method of waking up the young men of Sunderland. It was no idle threat to say we were in danger.