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Like anyone repulsed by violence and the ugliness of the herd mentality, I was disgusted to see the video footage of Western Sydney Wanderers fans attempting to intimidate Sydney FC fans prior to the team’s match-up on the weekend.
To see an admittedly small pack of mindless thugs indulge in this behaviour was both bizarre and extremely worrying. One can only assume men of this type are the result of poor parenting and extreme emotional neglect.
One can also only hope that this is the last we see of this caveman-like display.
What is most perplexing is trying to understand the origins of it all. As far as I can tell, it can only be attributed to two things.
1. WSW fans are copycats searching for an identity
Are Australian football fans merely exhibiting behaviour they believe is occurring overseas and beginning to copy the actions of fans from more high-profile, richer and (dare I say) more reputable football clubs? Are they are, in effect, just being copy cats?
Australia has a history and habit of latching onto trends outside our shores, sometimes years after they have come and gone in the countries from which they originated, despite the presence of our own culture right here.
The glacial pace at which our cultural identity was established (and is still being established) meant we have always been very eager to merely copy whatever was happening overseas in the ill-founded belief it was inherently better, rather than create our own traditions and practices.
We didn’t embrace Australian literature or theatre until about the 1960s. Australia had almost no film industry for about 40 years until the 1970s and we still don’t watch our own films in significant numbers.
We still only acknowledge many of our sportsmen and women, artists and actors once they have achieved overseas recognition. In other words, we don’t rate our own thoughts so we just copy what happens overseas.
From the weekend’s episode, it appears football hooliganism has now been exported to Australia. Long the preserve of clubs both high-class (Chelsea) and low-class (Milwall), hooliganism never quite got the foothold in Australia that it did throughout most of the rest of the football world.
Certainly there were numerous incidents in the “bad old days” of the NSL, but these were not the result of organised hooliganism.
Based on the footage available, the WSW fans appear to be merely copying the actions of what they may have seen other overseas football fans do on television in the belief this makes WSW a “legitimate” football club.
Their actions appear to be an attempt to manufacture a rivalry with Sydney FC fans, similar to the well-entrenched and often sectarian or politically- based rivalries such as Celtic-Rangers or Barcelona-Real Madrid.
For WSW fans to think their hatred for Sydney FC is comparable to the passions stirred between those mentioned is just plain stupid, misguided and childish.
WSW are still yet to complete a full season and have played SFS only a handful of times.
Neither club is rooted in religious history (like Celtic and Rangers), nor is there any political sub-text or history to their rivalry (such as with Barcelona and Real Madrid). Outside of the geographical distinctions, there is no comprehensible factor explaining why passions would be stirred to this level.
2. WSW fans have engaged the politics of class warfare
Do WSW fans believe they are part of a maligned sector of Sydney? Are they tapping into the bubbling resentment towards other parts of Sydney which exists in the western suburbs?
This can be the only possible explanation for a group of men to be so aroused in their passions for their team that they will direct it at a small group of opposing fans who, up until a year ago, would have felt their club represented ALL of Sydney. If this is the case, it is extremely short-sighted and ignorant.
Football in Australia has never been the game of the elites, in the same way rugby union has for example. It has always been the game of the marginalised and immigrants.
Sydney FC also has almost zero impact on the so-called “Big End of Town”. Despite attracting the inaccurate moniker of “Bling FC” in their early days, Sydney FC could never be given the “over-priviliged” tag.
Their fan-base is a very diverse mix of ethnicities from all areas of Sydney, most of whom were just over-joyed to have a team to call their own. While there would no doubt be Sydney FC fans who do reside in areas perceived to be privileged, these would be in the minority.
My point is this, if WSW fans believe they have a right to be angry due to a perceived social injustice, then the last people they would be directing that at should be Sydney FC fans. If anything, they should be brothers in arms.
Football is still struggling for its place in the Australian sporting landscape and is often derided by fans of other sports.
The best thing Sydney FC and WSW fans could do would be to generate its own passionate and spirited rivalry, devoid of violence and with unique characteristics developed over decades, much like those rivalries mentioned above.
WSW fans appear to be trying to generate 50 years of rivalry into a single season. A pale imitation of something of an overseas culture.This only ends up looking sad and a little pathetic.
The events of the weekend are, more than anything, a real shame and a disservice to the thousands of true WSW fans who appear to have embraced a team from their region in the right spirit.
Unlike most sporting teams in Sydney across all codes, WSW fans are vocal and have added much-needed colour to a sometimes bland sporting landscape.
But like the dark days of the Canterbury Bulldogs, it is always just the few bad apples which spoil it for all. Let’s hope this is the case here and that the true WSW fans sing in voices loud enough to drown out these hooligans with nothing to say.
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