Western Sydney Wanderers are the best supported club in the A-League. Not in terms of sheer numbers, but in the vociferous way their partisan fans get behind the team.
Yesterday some 16,387 fans turned out at Parramatta Stadium (aka Wanderland) for the showdown between the Wanderers and league leaders Central Coast Mariners.
On television the sight of thousands of jersey-clad supporters chanting non-stop in unison was an impressive one and the fanatical support is clearly helping to inspire the Wanderers on home turf.
They were a tad unlucky to lose 2-0 to the Mariners on a sunny afternoon in Parramatta, though it must be said in-form Mariners striker Daniel McBreen took both his goals extremely well.
But it was the packed stands which left an indelible mark on the match and if the Wanderers can maintain a semblance of form away in Wellington and Brisbane in their next two matches, they should go close to selling out Parramatta Stadium for the Australia Day clash against Melbourne Heart.
It has taken a while for the Wanderers to generate the sort of crowd figures many assumed would be automatic in Sydney’s west, but the Wanderers have discovered the secret ingredient to keeping the turnstiles clicking over – winning.
They’d have come closer yesterday had some crucial refereeing decisions not gone against them, though midfielder Jason Trifiro deserved to be sent off and his dismissal made it doubly hard for the Wanderers to get back into the match.
Mariners coach Graham Arnold will be relieved to have taken all three points, though one wonders why the club are so keen to let goalkeeper Mat Ryan head to Scotland for a purported 10-day ‘trial’ with Rangers.
For one thing the A-League is virtually a better standard than the Scottish Premier League – let alone the Third Division – and Ryan will miss key games for Central Coast at a crucial time of the season.
It seems like a harebrained idea from all concerned, though the Mariners have got a more than handy replacement goalkeeper in the form of Justin Pasfield.
They’ll have a harder time replacing Tom Rogic should he jet off to English club Reading, and while Ryan’s potential move to Rangers seems short-sighted at best, Rogic is better placed when it comes to his next career move.
He’ll hope Reading don’t suffer relegation from the top flight but even if they do, the Championship is still a significant step up from his current level.
Should Ryan and Rogic both leave the club it could lead to a similar situation to last season when the Mariners fell in a heap and missed qualifying for the Grand Final after both Matt Simon and Rostyn Griffiths left midway through the campaign.
That’s something Cental Coast will be desperate to avoid a repeat of, however it’s a fact of life for the A-League that European clubs are always going to look to sign reinforcements during the January transfer window.
But for the time being it’s the Wanderers’ European-style atmosphere which deserves praise and fans in Western Sydney are leading the way in terms of active support.
Melbourne Victory might have the largest crowds but as it stands the Wanderers have thrown down the gauntlet when it comes to being the loudest and most passionate fans in the A-League.
Robbie
Roar Pro
i thought this article was meant to be about the WSW fans and then it goes on to talk about the CCM transfer market situation. Maybe save it for another article?
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Yes it was particulary crap the other night but as i said before the shed itself is just too small, there will never be anything like what is posted above as long as its still there.
Crown
Guest
Must not forget Portugal too! Especially Benfica, Porto, Sporting and Braga all have great training facilities and develop great players. They also have B Teams where the players can play if they are not playing in their main team, not to mention that Portugal produces the best Talented players in the world.
Crown
Guest
My I just alert you that the Wanderers played without 4 Major players in an already small squad. Hersi, Beauchamp, Kresinger, Poljak did not play if the did thing would of been very diffident. Not impressed with the CCM to be honest... but they are a strong team no doubts but that's it, lucky day for CCM and a Ref that wanted WSW to loose!
Crown
Guest
RBB Passion Well Said Sir! We Love Our Wanderer's, that's what separates us from the Smurfs!
RBB Passion
Guest
For months many have sung praise to the RBB and the passion and atmosphere we create. Yet you cannot have it both ways. With joy comes anger. I do not throw bottles or flares nor will i but stop the grandiose moralizing. We love the Wanderers and despise Sydney FC. Sometimes passion 'spills over' on to sacred ground but having a home fortress means passionate fans becoming the twelfth man in the game. This ain't the U.S dropping bombs on Pakistan or Israel killing Palestinians. It's plastic bottles at Parrammatta Park. Pa pa paranoia.
mahonjt
Guest
On topic: WSW fans have started well, but get back to me in 8 years and we will see if they have caught, let alone passed Melbourne Victory fans. Head and shoulders the best in the league since Round 1, Season 1. Off topic: The SPL is tosh. Have watched it as a Celtic fan my entire life. It has gone to the dogs and is barely watchable - particularly now Rangers are where they deserve to be! Lol
Nathan of Perth
Guest
You occasionally get some dissonance in the chants but the Sydney game was something of an extraordinary situation as one of the supporter groups was down behind goals in the FOTS rather than in the Shed in protest to some sanctions from the club.
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Well to be fair that was the first time the teams have played, so naturally the MVFC fans still seeing everone as mere Sydneysiders, but obviously over time as the rivalries develop their different pathways the chants evolve accordingly I actually think it is fairly difficult to compare in some ways, as we have a mix of continental and British style support and two ends, whereas WSW fans focus exclusively on continental style. The only comparison I have made was of the 'away' support at derbies which was more about putting the WSW love in into perspective given we are starting to get these type of articles. I think it will get interesting to see how WSW fans evolve, and how they negotiate their way through a security clampdown of sorts that will probably comeand how the MVFC and WSW fans battle it out over the coming years
Australian Rules
Guest
I realise that Dingo...but I also think people should be held to task for what they post...even if we are all "anonymous" on this site. This is the same guy who stated he'd been to more VFL/AFL games than any person on the Roar ... he also asserted that Paris was a city of 2 million people. And yet the arrogance continues unabated.
Chop
Guest
Bottle throwing and flares represent EVERYTHING bad about idiot supporters and common criminals. If you idiots did the same thing on the streets you'd be charged with assault. Thanks for helping mainstream media continue the sterotypes that the real football supporters are trying to dispel.
Poutsa
Guest
Paraskos has a point IMHO. Sydney's fans are only quieter as their team is failing. As they have been a topsy-turvy club their misdemeanors go unnoticed during the odd successful season.
Paraskos
Guest
i highlighted just one incident to make a point but that's the problem wth the Cove - been around since the beginning but no-one really notices as they are irrelevant even you think they have only been around for 7 seasons...
AVictory
Guest
Weren't Sydney FC the standard bearers in season 1? Except they were gone before you could say "Yorke"!
Kylesy Sky Blues Fan
Guest
Not really like for like, that was one flare compared to the how many incidents that is now for Wanderers? We've been around for 7 seasons before and nothing happened, too. Your point is irrelevant without greater sufficient evidence.
Dingo
Guest
A.R don't take his bait. You and 99% of Roarers are of the same opinion about this bloke. It's obvious that he is hoping to start a code war, just leave to him wallow in his own refuse.
Paraskos
Guest
my pleasure! you have been doing some thinking? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA now that was funny no seriously...
Balkanite
Guest
The Core RBB Team have been there since day dot, some others have joined in but to say where were these "Best Supporters in the land" 4 weeks ago .. my answer in the RBB ... GO WANDERERS!!
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Best fans? Much of a quality vs quantity issue here. I think that different clubs are dealing with different social dynamics and this affects each fan base. Certainly Perth & Adelaide have a parochial element which makes the crowd dynamic somewhat different (you'll get a lot of supporters turning up not because they are passionate football fans but because the local boys are taking on some heathen invaders who smell funny and could spell the ruination of all that is good in the World). For me though I take my hat off to the 'Nix fans who managed to put together a football scholarship (just finished), take their shirts off in freezing conditions and generally madly follow the sport in a country full of skeptical rugby fans (skeptical until South Africa, that is). The West Sydney supporters are fully of pageantry, the Victory fans big in numbers yet nothing quite matches the sight of a young kiwi lass taking her top off in a 20 knot breeze :)
Titus
Guest
Thanks for the encouragement! I've been doing some thinking, what if we sharpen branches into pointy sticks and stab people who aren't from our more passionate tribe in the eye with them?