I traveled north from Sydney on Saturday to see the fascinating match between the Central Coast Mariners and the Newcastle Jets. This is not a slant on Melbournians, or Victory and Heart fans, but this is the A-League’s first and real derby.
Anyone who knows NSW geography or with ties to this part of the state, is aware that the Central Coast is a region stuck neatly between Sydney and Newcastle; it’s a place that many people head south or north from for university and to find work, and it’s a place that has an often tenuous relationship with its south and north neigbours.
Essentially, the Central Coast is an area that struggles for a strong identity – it’s a collection of beachside suburbs with no real CDB or centralised heart (sorry Gosford), and with little infrastructure.
It’s a place of terrific seaside beauty, with a growing population but also with high unemployment and a high suicide rate.
Deprived of an NRL spot with the Bears, the Mariners are the Central Coast’s only professional sporting team in any code, and one they are rightly proud of.
Considering their current position on the table, and the fact they have reached three grand finals in six seasons, they should be.
For a number of reasons the rivalry between the Mariners and the Newcaslte Jets is a long and fierce one. Certainly the crunching tackle executed by Nik Mrdja on Andrew Durante in pre-season before the debut A-League season, which broke Durante’s leg, has had an impact.
Then there are the transfers of Mariners players to Newcastle, like Sash Petrovski and vice versa, and former Coasties starring for the Jets such as James Holland, or Newcastle-developed Daniel McBreen leading the Mariners’ front line.
Also coin-throwing and flares by supporters has played a role, and the close proximity of both towns and the areas where their fans live, not to mention decades of competition at junior and amateur levels of football, as well as every other sporting code imaginable.
Suffice to say, the feelings between the Jets and Mariners and their respective fans runs deep. Hatred and contempt are often emotions that are displayed.
Controversy breeds in F3 derbies, and the immensely controversial and tight Newcastle 1-0 2008 grand final win over the Central Coast is a case in point.
So I jumped on the train at Central station on the weekend looking forward to a great match. Pre-match drinks at the adjacent Central Coast Leagues were downed before heading to Bluetongue Stadium, which is named after the beer, and used to be owned by John Singelton (a man with strong links to both the Central Coast and Newcastle, but that’s another tale).
Expectations of a bumper crowd were dashed – there was just under 11,000 there, which was a tad disappointing for a derby game with a 5.30pm Saturday kick off in a stadium with a 20,119 capacity, particularly when you have the table-leading team in the league against a club desperately needing a win. Maybe the forecast for potential rain had an affect.
We were met by a large police presence at the ground, customary after the incident involving Jets fans at the last F3 derby at Bluetongue. A crowd of about 2000 Newcastle supporters were nestled in the corner of south eastern stand, but they seemed fairly well behaved, ‘We Love Kasey’ sign and all.
It was the Marinators, not the Squadron, who weren’t happy at half-time with their team behind 1-0. A security guard I spoke to said it was the Mariners fans who were fighting amongst themselves and drawing most of the attention.
I won’t talk about much about the on-field action, of which there was plenty, because others have done that and more eloquently than me.
Suffice to say it was a tense match, a tactical one filled with plenty of talking points – the penalty decision that shouldn’t have been, Ben Kennedy’s great save, an impressive fightback from the Mariners, John Hutchison and Michael Bridges’ spat, an improved performance from the Jets and much more.
It might have been the Mariners fans unhappy at half-time but they were much happier at full-time after gaining a point.
Many of the Newcastle supporters, on the hand, weren’t too happy if the display on the short walk between the stadium and the train station is any indication. The heavens opened in the second half of the game, and the rain poured down.
As we darted towards Gosford station, things turned a tad ugly. A lot of the Jets fans, the very young ones it seemed, started to play up a little. Squadron members or not, some of the display was unnecessary – interfering with cars on the road, annoying police, abusing old women in Mariner’s shirts and the like.
The provocative banter and chants were fine, measured passion is great. But acts of stupidity and youthful naivety are not.
The vast majority of it was within reason and well-contained, but common sense and some semblance of respect is required. As the A-League grows, so does its fan base and its target of enticing young people and new football followers seems to be working.
But these people without strong knowledge of the game’s background in this country need to learn that the antics common in Glasgow or Liverpool don’t need to be transplanted here.
We need to make sure a few bad apples don’t ruin it for the rest of us. All-in-all, the latest incarnation of the F3 derby was a great experience, a great atmosphere and a see-sawing contest. One that I enjoyed, and one I’ll be back for again.
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