I cannot claim credit for the idea of this topic of discussion, which was discussed at length one Friday afternoon by a number of wise men over a few beers in a pub.
The question of what it means to be a New South Welshman (or woman) arose in the context of the ancient rivalry in rugby between New South Wales and Queensland.
The rivalry probably arose three minutes after the first Aboriginal tribe crossed the Darling and proceeded to look down their noses at their northern kin. However, it is a great question.
Part of that answer lies in how New South Wales fits into Australia generally. The most populous state, the biggest and best-known city, the financial centre, and the hottest property market (at least until recently when Perth might have pipped it). Traditionally the powerhouse and engine of Australia’s economy.
It is to Australia what California or New York are to the US, London to the UK, or Paris to France. That affects how the state sees itself.Regional New South Wales often complains that ‘NSW’ stands for Newcastle-Sydney-Wollongong, but that is another article in itself.
In sporting terms, New South Wales sees itself in the same way. It was the state where many sports first started (Australian rules football excepted, but more on that later), the first clubs started, and was involved in building codes from the beginning with other states. The advantage that New South Wales had in population and money was even more pronounced in the 19th century, which meant New South Wales enjoyed success from the beginning, and got used to it.
Take cricket. The Sheffield Shield began in 1892 between NSW, Victoria, and South Australia. The next team, Queensland, did not join until 1926. New South Wales has won 45 titles, the most. How can such a pedigree and history not create a certain expectation, and a certain (mostly un-Australian, therefore reluctantly declared) pride?
Such histories of success and expectation apply in most sports.
The other factor that affects how New South Wales sees itself is how others states regard it. To put it bluntly, usually with a chip on their shoulder.
In cricket there was in previous years (and sometimes still is) the comment that a baggy green cap was given out with a New South Wales cap, such was the (allegedly biased and unfair) domination of New South Wales players of the national team.
The same complaint has often been raised by Queensland rugby about New South Wales players, although usually as part of the inevitable build up before an interstate clash.
Yet the need for Adam Gilchrist to go to WA or Ed Cowan to go to Tasmania just to get a state cap suggests New South Wales cricketer are entitled to feel it is tougher to get into the New South Wales squad than any other. Similar arguments might be raised for the New South Wales Waratahs.
Australians love to cut down tall poppies, and in state terms New South Wales is the tallest poppy of all. Biggest population, biggest playing numbers, best record and highest expectations. Australians love to support (and to be) the underdog, and New South Wales usually isn’t it. If New South Wales are winning, it’s incentive to bring them down. If they are down, put the slipper in and enjoy it while you can because the blue buggers will come back eventually.
In some ways New South Wales are the England (in cricket and rugby more than football), or the New York Yankees, of the Australian sporting scene. Respected for their ability but reviled by all.
In English football the fans would probably reply with a chant from the terraces along the lines of “Nobody likes us, everyone hates us! We’re New South Wales! We don’t care!” However, this isn’t the response Australians tend to take. Instead, New South Wales players and fans seem stuck in the worst of both worlds. Weighed down by expectation, but usually unable or reluctant to rely upon pride to inspire victories. Puzzled by the vitriol, but reluctant or unable to revel in it.
I once suggested to someone in marketing at the Waratahs (he knows who he is, and he’s the one who raised the current topic), that New South Wales was the Empire in Star Wars. We should have the team run out with the Imperial March. Have fans in storm trooper helmets, and Darth Vader marching up the sideline instead of Tah Man. Revel in the fact we are the bad guys everyone loves to hate. Embrace it and make it a badge of honour.
So the answer to the question? To be a New South Welshman is to have a proud tradition and history. To have been successful and to expect it. It also means (to revel in the role of smug bastards) to be able to look down our noses at our state rivals in the following terms.
Victoria – Usually our main rivals, but doomed to be bridesmaids. Insanely jealous of our harbour and snazzier state, trying to top it with vague allegations of better lifestyle, food, and coffee. A bunch of espresso-sipping turtleneck wearers or VB-chugging bogans un-Australianly fanatical about AFL, which no other country in the world cares about.
Queensland – Huge chips on shoulders about New South Wales, to the point their identity is mainly they aren’t us. Banjo-playing rednecks who need to realise Brisbane isn’t cosmopolitan, it has just caught up to Sydney circa 1970. Concede the chip provides passion, but XXXX? Bleh.
South Australia – Country town and wineries on the edge of a desert that seems to either want to be or reject Victoria in equal measure. People can’t seem to leave quick enough. Good thing they make Coopers.
Western Australia – Latent separatists who ignore the fact that we wouldn’t notice if they left. Respect for their pluck and ability given their small size. Queensland without the New South Wales chip. Which is to say, they hate the rest of Australia equally, not just us.
Tasmania – Inbred cousin-marriers barely worth paying attention to, except when they occasionally cough out legends like Boonie, Punter and Errol Flynn.
ACT – An interconnected bunch of roundabouts past Goulburn notable only for porn, pot and fireworks. Only exist as Melbourne wouldn’t let Sydney be the capital.
Northern Territory – Where?
New South Wales, in response, seems to stand around trying to look cool, waiting for everyone to come up and tell us how good we are, and wondering why they keep kicking us in the shins whenever they can.
Well, enough of that confused humility. As far as I’m concerned, New South Wales should embrace its status. New South Welshmen should stand shoulder to shoulder, wearing the sky-tinged colours of the state, chanting “We’re big, we’re blue, and we’re going to beat you!”
Let the ripostes commence.
Australian Football Fan
Guest
New South Wales has nothing on Victoria, Melbourne has just won for 3rd consecutive year (The Most Livable City in The World) award Sydney has never won it (Once). We have also been named several times the (Sporting Capital of The World) something Sydney has never been named (Once). And speaking of un Australian Victoria wasn't traitorous and soft and played a English sport we created our own game Australian rules football. Victoria has better and more culture, arts, fashion and sport, New South Wales has nothing on Victoria.
crip
Roar Pro
You're right about Victorians being insanely jealous about Sydney Harbour. Check out footage of the closing ceremony of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games if you can find it - A huge flying tram dropping a turd on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. An event being showcased to the world and that's what they choose to do with it. Hundreds of Victorians must have been in on it at all levels and thought It was a great idea.
TJ
Guest
Link - fair call challenging any loose claim, which there are too many of on the roar. So to source my definition of 'busiest', which may not be the right term, please refer to the Financial Review, dated 22nd of Sept, 2011, which ranked Australia's business districts based on number of people employed.
The Link
Guest
Actually by Sydney being the leading international city in Australia, that's precicely what it has in common with London and New York. What a shame its CBD is not the 'busiest' though, that one's up there with being the worlds most 'liveable' city
B.A Sports
As someone who was born in Sydney, grew up in the western suburbs, has lived in the West, the sutherland shire and in Wollongong, I can honestly say that i have never reffered to myself as a New South Welshman. Even when playing interstate sport, i was just playing in a "rep team". Sydney has no identity. Sure it has a few iconic structures and a few decent beaches, but 99% of us wouldn't know what the state flag looked like, or what our state emblems and animal were. There is no one thing that the majority of New Southwelshman can say they have in common other than to say "we all live in a state which has been run into the ground, is over hyped and way too expensive". I hate living in NSW and having to work in Sydney. I can't wait to get out.
Redb
Roar Guru
Oh this is about sport. I dont want to embarass you with the Victorian comparison of sports teams achievements.
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
AR, see my note below about sporting success. That chewy enough ... :)
Nathan of Perth
Guest
He wasn't lying when he said we had latent separatist tendencies :)
Jonny G
Guest
I'm going go out on a limb for WA here, we would definitely notice if they stopped being apart of our country, so much is there importance in our economy. What surprised me most is that a lot of the people I've met from WA support to a degree, an independent state.
Australian Rules
Guest
Oh Bay...I was hoping you'd respond with some meat! Instead it's just more flaccid, vague, wishful thinking...disappointing.
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
Redb: Where has Melbourne moved onto? My Restaurant Rules? BTW: Sheffield Shield, NSW won 2002-3, 2004-5, 2007-8 NRL - NSW teams won 2001-5, 2008 & 2010 AFL - Sydney won 2005 A League - NSW teams have won it 3/6 NBL - NSW teams won 4/10 in 2000-2001 through 2009-2010 We do all right in sporting terms .....
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
Mostly Sydney as opposed to NSW, but anyway. I'll bite. The great think about Anna - she was always fun, and didn't mind keeping the older men entertained!!! A NSW could argue all those things, and he'd be right. They're all in the same state!!! Just pick and choose what state you have to go to to supposedly best us in. Last time I checked we still had the ASX too. And Sydney does all right in the food stakes - you appear to be basing your opinion on the match up 15 to 20 years ago. When we ask that Queenslander, we'll have to ask how long he's lived there first. I'll give you the crowds. Despite the fact NSW seems to play just about every bloody sport, crowds in Melbourne are always good. By sheer population Victoria and Queensland should be close to what NSW is, which is where they are. This isn't 1856 any more. We are a beacon - for barbs. Anyway, back to the topic, about what it means to be a NSWman. Perhaps we should segregate the comments into "Chest beating/cringing by Blues" and "Brickbats from Other States".
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
I'm sorry, I thought I was using similar or metaphor as an easy way to explain it. I wasn't aware people might take it is an invitation to engage in detailed arguments about geography, demography and economy. Each country is different. That was an easy way of explaining we see ourselves as the biggest swinging d!cks in the country, correctly or not. Heaven forbid we might debate the main issue of the article, which is what it means to be a NSWman. To you it appears to mean being deluded. PS Sydney is Western Sydney. As opposed to Melbourne's untrammelled miles of sophisticated chardonnay sipping, macchiato sipping culture vultures. My grandparents live near North Coburg. It's just as much wogs and bogans as Western Sydney.
Redb
Roar Guru
NSW and Sydney in particular are so 1990s. That was your heyday. Australia and in particular Melbourne has moved on. Stop living in the past - very sad :)
BennO
Guest
Zing! Did someone just rain some reality on this parade???
TJ
Guest
You Sydney people are so deluded. I lived in London for eight years, I've lived in Sydney for the last three, where my wife is from. I've been to New York a dozen times over the last decade. Firstly, Sydney is not what New York and London are to their respective countries, despite the number of Sydneysiders who keep trying to make the comparison. Sydney's population is not that much bigger than Melbourne's. You also realize that Melbourne CBD is also the busiest business district in Australia followed by Sydney CBD then North Sydney. Melbourne is also HQ to six of Australia's top ten public listed companies. I could go on but I won't, as you should get the point. Don't get me wrong, Sydney is Australia's leading international city, home to Australia's media and finance sector, but any comparison to London and New York is typical Sydney delusion much like the hero of the city, Kyle Sandilands or Lara Bingle. You also realize that Sydney as a majority is Western Sydney. People on the Lower North Shore, where I live and in the Eastern Suburbs keep telling me that isn't Sydney. Guess what, it is! Don't proclaim your city when you aren't proud of three quarters if it. Perhaps you should really be comparing your city to Joburg or Rio.
The Link
Guest
Less Victoria v NSW and more Melbourne v Sydney. People from Melbourne are obsessed with saying how great Melbourne is, in particular why its better than Sydney. Sydneysiders are too busy whinging about their own city to worry about anyone else. But this is typical of largest cities in a country (think London / New York etc..)
Australian Rules
Guest
Haha great piece...will note with interest how many posts this gets. So, I'll delve into it... Sydney is much like Anna Nicole Smith: - looks great from afar with 2 notable assets (Bridge and Opera House) but when u get close up, realise its overrated, costs too much, trashy, is difficult to move around, doesn't actually attract the crowds that it thinks it does, is (in reality) loved by no-one but itself...and has had more dodgy seamen in its port than it can handle. A New South Welshman may argue: - "great beaches"... but WA and QLD have much better beaches and many more of them. - "best culture"... but reports from 2010/2011 show that Victoria is the clear leader in cultural activities (museums, art galleries and theatre), and even Brisbane and Perth have a greater attendance rate per capita for these pursuits than Sydney. - "great wine regions"...WA and SA have it covered easily. - "best food"...Melb and then daylight. - "financial centre"...maybe in theory, but the entire state has been wobbling for years whilst the other smaller states surpass it for growth and stability. Besides, only 2 of the 4 big banks reside there (the other 2 in Melb). - "political powerhouse"...for Benny Hill-style comedy maybe. - and finally..."best sport"...? Well that's so easy it seems mean. The token Sheffield Shield history aside, talk to a Queenslander about what he thinks of NSW's sporting ability. Ask a Victorian what he thinks of Sydney's sports crowds. The other states could also mount arguments but by sheer population NSW should dwarf the other states completely...and it doesn't. And that's the thing, given it's size, population, resources and stated enthusiasm, Sydney should be the beacon of sport in this country, yet it lags behind the other states and cities like an unemployed, overweight ex-highschool star who still talks about the goal he kicked in 2000. Sydney is, without question, the greatest disappointment for sporting culture in any developed city in the world. That should do it.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
What does any of that have with the myth of NSW-Victoria rivalry in the consciousness of the Victorian public? It doesn't. Honestly, Victorians don't care for it. We live the good life, and we have always lived the good life.
sheek
Guest
Very enjoyable read Bay. NSW's downfall is also due to its success - its size. It's evident particularly in the rugby codes of union & league, that the state team is often torn apart by private agendas, particularly politically driven. There may be 2-3 or more 'camps' pulling in different directions at any one time - be it regarding playing style, personnel selection or some plum administrative post. I love the state/provincial system, but sadly it now appears to be an anachronisim. The states/territories have grown at different speeds. The future for sports like cricket & rugby union is a national club based comp. This is easy enough to do. NSW becomes Sydney Blues in cricket & Sydney Waratahs in rugby. Qld becomes Brisbane Bulls in cricket & Brisbane Reds in rugby. The history & traditions are transferred seamlessly. And so on.....