according to Andy it does, yeah - Sunderland were at Roker Park since 1897, so the date just about tallies up
like I say tho, nobody really seems to know for sure & it could be either good or bad, but it is almost certainly linked to some sort of criticism, either directly at Spurs or, more likely in my opinion, London clubs in general.
What I do like tho, & is typically "Spurs", is we've taken that criticism and used it positively. If it was an actual, valid criticism, it certainly didn't stand the test of time. In fact, it barely lasted at all!
1 thing worth saying tho is that when I researched the clubs early years in the old, amateur Southern Leagues, our support was often commented on as being amongst the most lively, and certainly the largest, of the southern teams. It was 1 of the main reasons we moved off of the Marshes and into Northumberland Park, because there had been run-ins with "hostile" fans on matchdays &, in the 1901 cup final, we brought a staggering amount of fans along with us considering we weren't even in the top flight. There were about 110,000 fans crammed into Crystal Palace for that 1st game and the vast majority were Spurs
It is also 1 of the main reasons those slimey South London urchins moved onto our patch - they, like most other London teams, were jealous of the support we had and the gate revenues we were generating and they wanted a slice of our pie. W4nkers