If last weekend was one of the most significant in Sydney club football history, what does that make tomorrow’s Sydney derby at Parramatta Stadium?
The clash between Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC is already sold out.
Around 3,000 away fans will be wedged into a sky blue-coloured corner, with the rest of the crowd expected to paint the Parramatta Stadium stands red and black.
Never before has there been such anticipation for a domestic club game in Sydney.
There’s symmetry between the two sides with former Sydney FC defender Tony Popovic now in charge of the Wanderers – who also signed Michael Beauchamp, Shannon Cole and Mark Bridge from the Sky Blues during the off-season.
Both sides are hungry for a win, with the Wanderers collecting a point from their first two A-League games, while Sydney FC have started the season with back-to-back defeats.
Last week Fox Sports’ ‘hero cam’ was tuned in on Alessandro Del Piero, this week it will focus on the Wanderers’ marquee man Shinji Ono.
Whichever way you look there are subplots and counterpoints, yet the most salient point of all is that supporters simply want to see a Sydney derby in the A-League.
Football fans in the harbour city have waited a long time for this and hopefully the game itself lives up to its star billing.
The build-up hasn’t been without its quirks, but then it would hardly be the A-League without them.
A Football Federation Australian online poll aimed at giving the clash an official moniker went down like a lead balloon with fans, who are clearly intent on simply calling the contest ‘the Sydney derby.’
More troubling though are the rumours security company Hatamoto is considering keeping Wanderers fan group the Red And Black Bloc inside the stadium upon completion of the match.
Hatamoto hasn’t exactly shown itself to be too football savvy in the past and they’ve surely got the wrong end of the stick with this one – since the accepted practice worldwide is to hold away fans inside the ground until the crowd has dispersed.
Hopefully there’s no real need to hold either set of fans inside the ground but if security measures are to be taken, let’s hope Hatamoto has some idea of what they’re doing.
The security group has of course developed a rather poor reputation from its handling of Melbourne Victory supporters, who will surely be out in force tonight for the clash with arch-rivals Adelaide United.
There may be two bona fide derbies taking place this weekend but the rivalry between Victory and the Reds is arguably the most rancourous in the league.
Victory are another side desperate to put consecutive defeats behind them, but wouldn’t Reds coach John Kosmina love to put one over another ex-NSL stalwart in Ange Postecoglou?
On the topic of derbies though, it would be remiss not to discuss in a bit more depth the F3 showdown between the Newcastle Jets and the Central Coast Mariners.
The Jets are expecting a big turnout at Hunter Stadium and they may well need it if Nathan Tinkler’s growing financial problems are anything to go by.
Hopefully Tinkler’s money woes don’t affect the squad, who should be buoyed by their dramatic 3-2 win over Sydney FC last Saturday.
But though the F3 derby is always a keenly anticipated affair, A-League fans could be forgiven for directing most of their attention towards Sydney’s west on Saturday night.
Melbourne led the way, but now it’s Sydney’s turn to revel in the drama of an intracity derby.
Twelve months ago this fixture seemed little more than a pipedream.
Now it’s here and it promises to be another enthralling chapter in what has been a dream start to the 2012-13 A-League campaign.
mahonjt
Guest
Yep - it will have to, but only from an improved position of strength. Ultimately the A-League has a purpose bigger than copmmercial success - that is developiong footballers for the National Men's Football Team. Longer seasononly a matter of time.
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Sorry F3 Derby.
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
This is a derby,unfortunatley sometimes a very small minority can take things too far.But before you get on your high horse and starting calling soccer fans uncivilised you might wanna check what goes on at equally charged games of other codes. State of Origin has had some shocking eviction and arrest statistics in the past,i can assure even if there is a little trouble tonight it will pale in comparision to what has gone on at a few of those,though it will be reported to be ten times worse. I've supported Collingwood since i was a little boy and had the pleasure of attending the ANZAC Day game in 2005.There were spot fires kicking off all day including a nice all in brawl as people were filing out to get their pies at half time,i had a great view from above in the Great Southern Stand.After the game i was refused entry into the pubs around the ground and near Flinders st/Fed square because i had on my Collingwood jersey,obviously there's been trouble in the past. Internationally there can be trouble at a big College Football game or Ice hockey game,its the nature of the beast.Why does it happen,who knows,some people feel they have to represent their area/State with physical confrontation.From all accounts there has been meeting between the two Sydney supporter groups to quell any bad feeling after the incident earlier this season. I cant wait for the game though,two of the best players to grace our league going head to head,a sold out stadium for a 6 month old club plus theres the M3 derby and my team the Glory in action on Sunday,good times.
Marc
Guest
Ian, enough already. It's getting boring ...
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Brick, If you do that, Fussball will scream abuse at you, as you arent being sufficiently loyal to the code he likes.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Damiano. If you want to follow the Fussball school and jam your fingers in your ears and shut your eyes and scream la-la-la-la-laaaa against reality you're welcome to .... but the various VFL clubs came very very close to having their own Ultras, with gang wars and everything, back in the bad old days. Read this, and see what another code did right and did wrong about using and taming fan passion http://alf.magpies.net/thesis/Chptrnine.pdf
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Fussball, Vlad might have said that, but thats Vlad for you. If HAL moves to the very very dirty air of Finals Season, then you can forget about the nice clear aiir the A-League is breathing in now, and you can expect the first couple of months of the A-League to be ignored by the mass media. In short, pass the ball into the empty space your player is about to occupy, not into the strength of their defense. Unless you want to be really, really stupid. Oh, it's Fussball. Yes, acknowledging objective reality when it presents difficulties for football is to think about failure, so we will continue to advance at all costs ! The position will be held ! Never a backwards step !
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@ Ian Whitchurch I thought Fat Andy said "AFL is a 12 month game nowadays"? No one on the train discussing "the Draft" or "Trade Week" or "who will be in the Top 8 next year"? That's all they discuss on SEN Radio. Very shortly HAL will be be moving to a mid-August to mid-May season.
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
But whats to stop a football fan catching a bit of cricket before a game,the only cricket anyone gives a crap about these days in finished in an hour.The tennis and horse racing is another story all together,its a world wide epidemic that when theres any tennis or horse racing on football fans just stop going to football,who can say why?
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Meh, he's a professional. If they can cover his pay packet, good luck to him.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Which is a plus, as he usually sounds like Fussball.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
By the way, on the Sydney train tonight, the only sport being talked about in the giveaway paper was association football. Geez but it was a good move to take the A-League into the clear air of October and November :)
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Frickn uppity soccer fans how dare they enjoy their league being healthy,im gonna put those scumbags in their place,yeah you tell em Chris and james.
gawa
Guest
Some of the player and crowd violence in those sports you mention are quite frankly shockingly common especially when you consider they only have one or two elite leagues around the world.
langou
Roar Guru
Lets not forget the very first A-League rivarly - Victory vs Adelaide
Damiano
Guest
Media bias plays a part. Any trouble at a Football match is reported in sensationalist tones, but like Fuss says above I've never personally seen any, I've witnessed plenty of fights at the ALF, but never seen it reported in the media. Naturally with this kind of coverage, the FFA needs to be prudent about its management of fans, in order to minimise negative media attention.
Damiano
Guest
Fuss, it sounds like you are channelling Chips Rafferty.
Cappuccino
Roar Guru
Yeah, and the Telgraph website is finally calling it football, rather than "soccer".
AVictory
Guest
I can't wait to see the Sydney derby in action since the moment Western Sydney was announced. I was looking more forward to this in the pre-season than any marquee signing, can't wait and I hope it's a good spectacle! As for me, I'm leaving to go to the game tonight, expecting a thrashing from Adelaide tonight but oh well, you never know for sure.
Punter
Guest
Mahonjt, but you can't do much better than a full house, not sure what us Sydneysiders can do, apart from building a bigger stadium.