Latest news with #KevinBall
BBC News
27-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ball and Bolton make fans' cut for Sunderland hard men
We asked for your views on former Sunderland player Martin Smith's top-five list of Black Cats hard men after Kevin Ball was handed top are some of your comments:Lee: Bally was solid! Great leader and gent. Played against him in training for an under-16's Sunday League club match (his son was part of it). Five of us couldn't get the ball off him when we were messing around after bothering him to join Kevin Ball was always going to be number one. He tackled someone on the halfway line during the derby with such force the ball hit our own bar! John Kay breaking his leg and paddling off his stretcher, and Gary Bennett's handling of David Speedie are real moments of Sunderland folklore Raw meat Joe Bolton used to leave his bite on many good wingers, and pretty much anyone else that came near Joe Bolton should be in the top five hardest players - a local lad who was left- back from 1972 to 1981. Absolutely as hard as Joe Bolton, left-back who played 300+ times for Sunderland over 10 years from 1972-3 was solid in the tackle and tough player for They were before Martin's time, but Billy Whitehurst and Mick Harford would be in my top five. I can verify what Martin says of Vinnie Jones. I was staying in a hotel in Guildford, at the bar having a pint before dinner when in walks Vinnie Jones. We got chatting and I asked him who was the hardest he had ever faced. Vinnie didn't know that I was a Mackem. He said a guy at Sunderland, Kevin Ball, I just burst out Dave Watson must be on the list. Further back Len Ashurst used to put wingers on the gravel!
BBC News
26-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Like being hit by a cannonball' - who Smith sees as Sunderland's hardest
Throughout Thursday, we have been revealing the players that ex-Sunderland attacker Martin Smith has picked as the Black Cats' all-time toughest the top spot goes to...?Well, in the former player's words: "There can only be one number one" - and that is former captain Kevin Ball."I think some of the hardest players in the country have said that he is the hardest player they have ever played against," Smith explained on BBC Radio Newcastle. "As soon as you mention hard men, it has to be Kevin Ball."I remember Vinnie Jones saying he was the hardest opponent he ever played against. It has been said many times that he trained the way he played, which was horrendous for us fair players!"Unless you have been on the end of one of his tackles, it is hard to describe what it was like. It was like being hit by a cannonball. The force he could tackle with used to just send shivers through you."So here is the final list of Sunderland's top five hard men, according to Smith:Kevin BallJohn KayGary BennettLee HoweyLee CattermoleDo you agree with this list or is there someone else that ought to have been thrown into the mix?Let us know hereListen back to the full discussion on BBC Sounds
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ball's advice for Sunderland in second leg
Sunderland legend Kevin Ball has imparted wisdom for Regis Le Bris' side ahead of their Championship play-off semi-final second leg against Coventry. The former Black Cats captain told BBC Radio Newcastle, "I would imagine the players are really looking forward to it. I'm really looking forward to watching the game. "Nerves? I think the result they got down at Coventry was outstanding. I think the team's performance was excellent. "How I'd like to think they feel now, possibly is nervous, but nervous excitement and really looking forward to the game. I think it's natural."He added: "Some players it doesn't phase at all and I think they deal with it in the way they do and you have to commend them on that. "Other players will have a feeling of (nerves), sometimes it inhibits them to want to be the best they can be. There's all different emotions players go through. "The biggest thing you've got to do in my opinion is literally forget about the last game. Learn from it but forget about it and just do your best in the next game."[Former Sunderland coach] Bobby Saxton used to say to us: 'Do what you do best and do it well'."And if they do that tonight, they'll win the game."Listen to more from Kevin Ball on BBC Sounds.
