Liverpool and United is truly the world’s derby
Roar Rookie By Tommy Smith, 17 Mar 2009 Tommy Smith is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- EPL, football, Liverpool, Manchester United
As the planet’s collective gaze once again transfixed itself upon Old Trafford for the visit of Liverpool on Saturday, another chapter was written in the history of the biggest fixture in world football.
The clash of Manchester United and their Scouse rivals surely surpasses all others for the sheer volume of interest it evokes, reflecting not the primacy of the Premier League in the football world but also the magic specific to this epic rivalry.
By virtue of the global saturation of the English Premier League, this is the match up that arrests the attention of the football public. From Dublin to Dubai, Lithgow to Lisbon, this is the competition that everybody follows.
On some recent travels, I met a Dutch Football fan who had driven from Rotterdam to Newcastle to see the locals take on Liverpool, such is the attraction of the English game.
Obviously mesmerised by the glamour of the English product, he articulated his passion: “In Spain, only two teams can win it, in France only one. Italy is boring. No one knows about Germany. The rest are crap. That is why I love England.”
Well said.
With supporters like this tuning in worldwide, it was no surprise when the dulcet tones of Martin Tyler informed his Sky Sports audience that the broadcast would reach 600 million households.
That’s how big the Premier League has become.
But why have these two teams risen above the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal, a more local rivalry than the two teams in red, to become the pre-eminent fixture in the English football calendar?
The obvious reason is the two club’s sheer success.
The combined 35 Leagues, 18 FA Cups and 8 European Cups provide enough silverware to command support from every corner of the globe – especially Asia.
Why else would United have approached Indian company Sahara and Saudi Telecom to replace their current shirt sponsors AIG?
Quite simply, everybody loves a winner, and there are no bigger winners than these prolific rivals.
But success alone does not define the character of this fixture.
As an Australian living in North West England, you can sense the hysterical desire of both Manchester and Liverpool to prove their superiority as cities. As Liverpool fans enjoy their title as European Capital of Culture ’08, on Saturday the Stretford End unfurled a banner reminding the travelling Kopites that Manchester held the far more enviable distinction of being Europe’s Capital of Trophies in the same year.
It is the same kind of intercity enmity that characterises clashes between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Ajax and Feyenoord, and closer to home, Sydney and Melbourne.
Unlike genuine local derbies between Liverpool Vs Everton and United Vs Man City which, in recent years, have assumed a David and Goliath tone, you cannot resist the lure of England’s two most successful clubs, and richly competitive cities, going hammer and tong for the three points.
This is the very best that world football has to offer, representing these two warring neighbours.
The best of Holland, France, Portugal, Brazil, Bulgaria, Serbia, Germany, Wales, Ireland, Korea, Finland, Italy, Spain, Israel, Argentina and Denmark handpicked for the enjoyment of the global audience.
Oh yeah, and England.
As Liverpool romped to a memorable 4-1 victory on Manchurian soil, one sensed that it was not just the North West which stopped to witness which city would enjoy bragging rights until the next meeting, but the entire globe.
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- EPL, football, Liverpool, Manchester United
March 17th 2009 @ 2:52am
Steffy said | March 17th 2009 @ 2:52am | Report comment
“With supporters like this tuning in worldwide, it was no surprise when the dulcet tones of Martin Tyler informed his Sky Sports audience that the broadcast would reach 600 million households.”
The vast majority of those households didn’t watch.
March 17th 2009 @ 3:08am
Tommy Smith said | March 17th 2009 @ 3:08am | Report comment
Thanks, scoop.
That doesn’t diminish the unparalled exposure the game enjoyed compared to any other regular club game on the planet.
March 17th 2009 @ 9:49am
Worlds Biggest said | March 17th 2009 @ 9:49am | Report comment
It is one of the great rivalries in World sport. What a great win by Liverpool.
Steffy, do you like any other Sports apart from League ?
March 17th 2009 @ 10:02am
jimbo said | March 17th 2009 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Do they count Clubs and Pubs, public squares and villages as households.
UK pubs were packed to the rafters.
March 17th 2009 @ 3:55pm
executive.koala said | March 17th 2009 @ 3:55pm | Report comment
I read in The Independent that the largest TV audience for the PL worldwide last year was 8 million including England. For starters, it’s only on Pay Tv in England so the audience is extremely limited. Anyone who says 600 million or 1 billion or whatever is just swallowing PR nonsense.
This article is just typical ignorance and disrespect to world football from a PL cheerleader.
March 17th 2009 @ 3:57pm
executive.koala said | March 17th 2009 @ 3:57pm | Report comment
And here it is.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/tvs-great-viewing-mirage-768839.html
“Or how what was said to be a global audience of a billion turned out to be just eight million. Nick Harris distinguishes between fact and fiction in the 2007 television viewing figures”
March 17th 2009 @ 4:14pm
True Tah said | March 17th 2009 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
jimbo
isnt the A-League final watched by an average crowd of 85million?
March 17th 2009 @ 6:18pm
Tommy Smith said | March 17th 2009 @ 6:18pm | Report comment
Just relaying the broadcasted facts.
Executive Koala if you dont like the Premier League, and you think any praise for it is cheerleading, no one is forcing you to read this article. You can read all the articles on the Spanish and Dutch leagues on this website…despite the fact they are fewer in number because the Premiership is unmatched in its global appeal, precisely the point of my articlle.
March 17th 2009 @ 6:20pm
Grant said | March 17th 2009 @ 6:20pm | Report comment
“bviously mesmerised by the glamour of the English product, he articulated his passion: “In Spain, only two teams can win it, in France only one. Italy is boring. No one knows about Germany. The rest are crap. That is why I love England.”
Well said.”
Well… not really. He’s not really much of a football fan if he thinks these generalisations are true. It’s a fair comment that Lyon are currently 7-time champions, scratch the surface a little and have a look at the final tables. It was far from being cut and dry.
Italy is boring? If that’s not your thing, then fine. I find it quite exciting when I get the chance to watch it, and more often than not the season is only decided in the last month.
No one knows about Germany? Tell that to their countrymen who must come close to having the highest average attendances in Europe, when you look at the top 10 clubs, 4 are german. There are 2 spanish, 2 english, 1 italian and Celtic from Scotland. If that doesn’t convince you, just have a look at the table. The top 5 teams are within 6 points of each other, including 3 teams level at 2nd place. 3 of which, leaders Hertha, equal 2nd Vfl Wolfsburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim are all surprise packets this year. And please tell it to the hordes of English who, disillusioned by the ridiculous matchday prices in their homeland, are flying across the channel to Germany to watch their adopted teams where they can not only get a great match of football in arguably the best stadia across Europe, but also a bit of a foreign experience all for the same price as going to see Blackburn play Wigan at the JJB stadium.
But then at the end of these ill informed generalisations, this Dutch fella says “they’re all crap, that’s why I love England”
I fail to see how you can criticise countries for only having one or two teams that can win it, then “love” England. The reason why I don’t love England is because it is invariably the same 4 teams fighting it out every bloody year, even then it’s sometimes quite easy to see who will take it out. Honest truth is, you have to go back to 1995 to find the last team outside of Chelsea, man U and Arsenal to actually win the league title in England.
In Spain, Valencia, Deportivo and Atletico Madrid have all won the title since ’95.
In france, even despite Lyon taking out the last 7, Auxerre, Monaco, Lens, Bordeaux and Nantes have all won.
In Italy, admittedly, there hasn’t been so much difference. Maybe just the two years that the two Roman clubs stepped up and recently as Inter have become a resurgent force.
and in Deutschland, Borussia Dortmund, Kaiserslautern, Bremen and Stuttgart have all managed to usurp the championship from perennial contenders Bayern München.
I’m not trying to doubt that the EPL is the most popular league in the world, it is extremely popular because the head honchos at the FA have been working overtime to make it that way through media saturation. It just pisses me off to no end when people who have what seems to be an interest in only the glamourous side of football can make such sweeping statements that discredit all the different and captivating forms of the beautiful game- and still be heralded as a “football fan”
I guess I’ll just resume my place as the only Australian standing in the nordkurve for “shitty” and “unknown” MSV Duisburg in the NW of Germany.
March 17th 2009 @ 6:39pm
Duff said | March 17th 2009 @ 6:39pm | Report comment
Britney Spears was the most popular musician in the world 5 years ago. It means she must have been the best.
Because these people, not unlike lemmings, are over-saturated with a one-team league, a team who will occasionally lose to any of the 3 other pereniall EPL brides-maids (as they did on Saturday), does not make it anything more special than it actually is. Infact, this leagues “popularity” is killing football, and anyone who has been associated with the sport longer than foxtel has been around would know that.
Glorifying gloy-hunting is all you are doing.
Give me an AFC Wimbledon v mk dons, Celtic v rangers, Fenerbache v Galatasaray, hell, even a Sydney v melbourne game over standing in a pub full of Asians, Londoners wishing they were from up norf, and people that actually believe Anfield Road has any low lying fields anywhere close to surrounding it.
Passion shouldn’t be defined by how many plastic supporters watch it to me.