William Clunas Benefit - Sunderland v St. Mirren (1929)

(first published in the match programme for St. Mirren v Partick Thistle, 25^th May 2026)

William McLean Clunas was born in Johnstone on 29^th April 1899. He signed for St. Mirren from Kilbarchan Athletic in March 1921, making his debut in a 0-1 League defeat against Dumbarton on 8^th April 1921. He then played in the remaining three League matches that season and also in the Renfrewshire Cup Final.

In season 1921/22, he played 39 League matches (scoring goals against Clydebank and Morton), 5 Scottish Cup ties, 2 Renfrewshire Cup ties, one in the Paisley Charity Cup and one friendly (in which he also scored). He travelled with St. Mirren in their tour of Spain and played in the match against Notts County which won the Barcelona Cup.

Despite being out of the side for most of December 1922, he still achieved 31 League appearances in season 1922/23, together with Saints' two Scottish Cup ties, three Renfrewshire Cup matches and a friendly against Rotherham County. He scored 10 goals, four of which were penalties.

In 1923/24, Clunas played in 15 League matches and one friendly for St. Mirren. His final appearance was at Love Street on 24^th November in a 0-1 defeat to Celtic, a match that was attended by local Liberal MP and former Prime Minister Herbert Asquith.

He was then transferred to Sunderland at the end of November and made his debut for the Black Cats on 1^st December 1923 against Huddersfield Town in a 2-1 win at Roker Park. Former Sunderland captain Raich Carter soon hailed him as the best penalty kick taker he had ever seen; Clunas only missed two out of 32 spot kicks for Sunderland. Overall, during his time at Roker Park, he made 256 league appearances scoring 42 goals, and also played 16 times in the FA Cup, scoring two penalties.

During his time on Wearside, he won two caps for Scotland, the first against England in April 1924 in a 1-1 draw at Wembley, and the second against Wales in October 1925 in which he scored the last goal in a 3-0 victory.

Having completed five years' service with Sunderland, Clunas was guaranteed a benefit in November 1928. The match took place against St. Mirren on Easter Monday, 1^st April 1929, thus reuniting the player, and current Sunderland Secretary John Cochrane, with their former Club.

A twelve page programme was produced for the match, priced at twopence. It was marked as Issue no. 37 of the current season's programmes and was printed black on white matt paper, with a red spot colour design on the front cover only.

The cover was dominated by an advert for Vaux's Pale Ale, Maxim and Highly Nourishing Stout. The Vaux brewery was established in 1806 and was a major employer in Sunderland until they were taken over by Whitbread in 2000.

Page two presented the anticipated teams in the traditional 2-3-5 formation. However, the hosts showed five changes in Robinson, Oakley, Clunas, Parker and Whelan who took the field instead of the listed McInroy, England, Morris, Allan and Andrews. For St. Mirren, the only change was the fielding of Kenneth Dyer in place of the injured Matta Morgan.

The Editor's Note-Book set out the circumstances of the match and explained that it had been the practise in pre-war days to set aside a League game for a player's benefit, from which the player would gather the proceeds. After a limit of £650 was established, it was now more common to arrange a separate game instead. This was an innovation that Mr. Cochrane was keen on.

The "Notes" concluded with a suggestion that the Clubs would arrange a similar return match in Scotland. This was fulfilled only three weeks later, when the Wearsiders provided the opposition for William McDonald's benefit at Love Street on 30^th April 1929.

"Football Chat" on page five provided details of the goal-scorers for all of the North-East clubs. This was followed by an observation that the day's game would provide the spectators with an excellent opportunity to compare and contrast the styles and strategies of English and Scottish football.

The centre pages were dominated by two Half-Time Scoreboards, covering no fewer than twenty-six English matches being played that day. These were topped and tailed by adverts for Sunderland's Empire and King's Theatres.

Page eight displayed a photo of Sunderland's Scottish International Bob McKay who had won the Scottish Cup with Morton in 1922 before moving on to Rangers and Newcastle United. The opposite page provided a full list of the following Saturday's fixtures in England and Scotland.

Sunderland's First Team and Reserve Team fixtures and results appeared on page ten opposite the current English First Division standings, which showed that the Roker Park side were currently in second place, five points behind Sheffield Wednesday (listed as just "Wednesday") but having played one game more.

The back page consisted of an advert for R. Fenwick & Co. "famed for their sparkling Mild and Bitter Ales".

Sunderland's poor form in the previous week's three League matches seemed to have an impact on the attendance, which was estimated at no more than 6,000. The beneficiary, of course, was already guaranteed his £650 benefit and so the attendance didn't really matter to him.

Clunas captained the home side, whilst Thomas Lilley, a former Sunderland player, was given the captaincy of St. Mirren for the day.

The home side appeared to adopt a more relaxed approach to the match, much to the ire of their fans, but still manufactured an early chance for David Halliday (another former Saint) but Willie Fotheringham had little difficulty in clearing.

Alan Gebbie was presented with an easy chance from a poor Sunderland clearance, but he failed to take advantage of an open goal. However, after twenty minutes, an attempted clearance by Sunderland's Jim Oakley was charged down and Davie McCrae's shot beat home 'keeper Bob Robinson.

Saints were the more dangerous side in the early stages of the second half and both Bobby Rankin and McCrae had good shots saved by Robinson.

There was a bit of excitement for the home fans as Fotheringham, while on the ground and covered by Adam McLean, threw the ball out. It was quickly returned, but the visiting 'keeper got back to save on the line amidst a round of applause.

As the half wore on, Sunderland's recent hectic schedule began to take its toll and they created fewer chances. Charlie Parker in defence and Halliday in attack tried their best, but to no avail and the match petered out to a 1-0 win for the visitors.

William Clunas stayed with Sunderland until 1931, after which he returned to Scotland to join St. Mirren's Renfrewshire rivals Morton. While with the Greenock club, he scored the only goal against St. Mirren from the penalty spot in the second leg of the 1933 Renfrewshire Cup Final, however it wasn't enough to overturn Saints' first leg lead.

He ended his playing career at Inverness Thistle, where he helped them to win the North F.A. Cup against rivals Inverness Clachnacuddin. In that 1935 final, he uncharacteristically missed a penalty but made up for that miss with a scorching long range counter later in the game.

He collapsed and passed away whilst playing golf in Barshaw Park, Paisley on 1^st September 1967.