He began his senior football career with Southern League club Norwich City, and made his first-team debut on 21 December 1912 against Reading.
[4][5] He was a regular in the side, making 61 appearances and scoring 4 goals in all senior competitions in the one-and-a-half seasons he spent with the club.
[8] He helped them reach the first round proper of the 1914–15 FA Cup, in which they faced Bradford City of the First Division.
Although Darlington paid Bradford too much respect, the Yorkshire Post picked out Sutcliffe and Eddie Hanlon as "effective spoilers of their opponents' tactics".
"[10] Ahead of the next round, against Second Division Birmingham, the Daily Express described the Darlington half-back line – Sutcliffe, George Malcolm and Hughie Dickson – as having acquired "a reputation for upsetting opponents' designs".