This season, the prodigy is still playing brilliantly for Sunderland.
Chris Rigg, a sensation from Sunderland, received an unexpected shout-out in the House of Commons after his stellar start to the season for Regis Le Bris’ team.
Since establishing himself as a first team regular for the Black Cats this season, the teenager has been in outstanding form. As a result of his quick ascent to fame, numerous European and Premier League powerhouses are apparently showing interest in him. However, the academy graduate seems to be making an impression outside of the football community as well.
Lewis Atkinson, the newly elected Labour MP for Sunderland Central, gave his first parliamentary speech on Wednesday. In his extensive speech, which celebrated the city’s history and future, the ardent Mackem made sure to highlight several exceptional players the Black Cats have produced recently, including Rigg.
“Innovation and hard work have always been the foundations of Sunderland’s economy,” he stated. Sunderland has always been a place of invention, from the beginning of glassmaking in Britain at Bede’s monastery of St Peter’s to the training of Joseph Swan, the creator of the lightbulb, to its current status as the UK’s top digital smart city. Things have always been made by us.
It meant ships for 600 years. We were perhaps known as “Mackems” because, at our height, Sunderland residents were hard at work “macking” a quarter of all ships built annually worldwide. Sunderland was made wealthy by shipyards and mining, but because these jobs frequently left people thirsty, it was convenient that the nation’s most well-liked stout was made in the heart of the city at the Vaux brewery until the Second World War stopped production.
The people of Sunderland have always been courageous and strong, but far too frequently they have had to deal with the challenges of economic transformation without the support of the government. The shipyards, the pits, and even Vaux were gone by the time I was a child. However, the people’s spirit and quiet resolve persisted, and it is because of them that our city is currently improving.
“I’m not just talking about Sunderland AFC, the best football team in the league, which has caused me more pain and joy than even the Labour party has.” Where the Monkwearmouth colliery once stood, our Stadium of Light now produces a wealth of gifted athletes like Chris Rigg, Lucy Bronze, Jordan Pickford, and Jill Scott in place of coal.
“We are seeing new beginnings in other parts of the city where there was previously decline,” Atkinson continued. There are no longer shipyards on the banks of the Wear, but there is the Crown Works studio site, which is prepared to become a historic movie studio. The most ambitious city centre rehabilitation project in the UK, Riverside Sunderland, has cranes in the sky where the brewery formerly stood.
We have a top-notch university with specialisations in media and healthcare, as well as a fun-loving city with a burgeoning hotel and cultural sector that offers lots of enjoyable days and evenings. One of our many great British-Bangladeshi restaurants, a performance at the Sunderland Empire, or a performance at one of our independent venues may be the event.
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