The football continues at an historic Sydney derby

Yesterday afternoon, one of Australia’s fiercest sporting rivalries was played in suburban Sydney. Fans weren’t there to see the Western Sydney Wanderers play Sydney FC, not even to see the Rabbitohs play the Roosters.

This is a rivalry that stretches further back, traversing continents and generations.

The A-League season is over, but the football continues.

The atmosphere at the Bonnyrigg Sports Centre is rawer and not nearly as glamorous, although the cevapi served at the canteen is far better than your regular stadium fare.

You won’t read about it in our top-heavy sports media, but the top of the table clash between Sydney United and Bonnyrigg White Eagles in the New South Wales National Premier League ended 2-0 to the home side.

Not a lot separates these two sides geographically, but this fixture is riddled with history, passion and politics. Their home grounds are literally just a couple of streets apart, bordering the Western Sydney Parklands.

They’re so close that Mark Rudan’s Sydney United are able to warm up on their home turf, before taking the two minute bus ride into the stadium just before the start of the match.

Since the unfortunate scenes in 2005, these two sides have been prevented from meeting in regular circumstances.

Fixtures have been played in neutral venues, or behind closed doors, or in front of only one set of fans.

The lockout has its genesis in one of the murkiest conflicts of our time, in a land far away from Australia.

This rivalry began in the state league back in the 1970s, before the formation of the National Soccer League.

Back then, the Serbian-backed Bonnyrigg were called Avala, while Sydney United were called South Sydney Croatia. In those days, both sides also had a fierce rivalry with Yugal, a team backed by migrants who were sympathetic to the communist regime in Yugoslavia.

Yugal have since gone the way of the former Yugoslavia, fading slowly before finally disbanding in the early 1990s. It’s not the only thing that has changed over the years.

The players on the pitch for Bonnyrigg and Sydney United are of all different nationalities and backgrounds.

Former Sydney FC players Nathan Sherlock and Liam Reddy line-up in defence for Sydney United, while one-time A-League players Robbie Younis and Chris Tadrosse are regulars in the starting eleven for Bonnyrigg.

Of course, like all great rivalries, some old enmities remain. Despite the fact that the game was open to all members of the public, there were precious few Sydney United fans in attendance.

Perhaps Mothers Day kept some away, but it’s more likely that many United fans didn’t want to buy a ticket and give money to their arch-rivals.

More than a few stragglers were spotted outside the ground, peering anxiously over the edge of the fence.

But despite the anxious build-up to the match, the atmosphere was peaceful, the attention firmly focused on the football. Perhaps if there was violence, this match might’ve made it onto the sports pages or the evening news.

But there wasn’t, and so the mainstream media couldn’t care less. It’s indicative of the way our media treats minority groups in this country, only paying attention when something goes wrong.

What a shame.

They missed a cracking match. Bonnyrigg scored a goal in each half, the second a thunderbolt strike from their tidy central midfielder Bo Hyun Chun. United tried hard, but the home side were simply too strong.

The crowd was cheerful and boisterous in the afternoon sun, happy that their side remains undefeated at the top of the table.

There is no doubting that the atmosphere at these games is a little different to your regular A-League clash. In the stands, kids chatter away with their parents and grandparents, changing from English to Serbian with astonishing speed.

Some people in our community like to fret about this, and take it upon themselves to worry about the ‘foreign-ness’ of it all.

Not Mark Bosnich. Dressed in the customary sharp suit, ‘Bozza’ was relaxed, shedding the tie and leaving his top buttons undone.

He flashes the trademark grin and wink as I approach, perhaps anticipating the question.

A son of Croatian migrants and a product of Sydney United, the Bonnyrigg directors box is hardly the place one would expect to find Bosnich.

“I’m here as a football fan” he states firmly, “I’m also here to support my mate Mark Rudan, as I told him I would come down to watch his game. When I was here for the grand final last year between Bonnyrigg and Marconi, the people here at Bonnyrigg treated me like a king, and gave me as much cevapi as I wanted!”

Cackling with glee at his own joke, Bosnich was then prized away by a young Bonnyrigg fan wanting a photo and an autograph.

There might be a fair amount of animosity to this rivalry, but it doesn’t stop cool heads from prevailing.

As much as football can drive people apart, it can also bring the unlikeliest of travellers together.

Whether you like it or not, this is the coal-face of multicultural Australia. It’s also an important part of our football culture.

Matches like these have a level of passion and history that is unlike anything you will see in Australian sport.

It’s a credit to football in Australia to have clubs with such a unique cultural heritage. It would be naive to imagine there aren’t still some barriers, but they are gradually crumbling.

And it’s a good thing that even the more heated fixtures like yesterday’s clash are open to the public. As Michael Cockerill wrote last week, there is no point pretending that problems don’t exist.

That’s the uncomfortable truth about living in a multicultural society. If we’re going to enjoy and embrace the food, football and folk-dancing, then sometimes we’re going to have to deal with fighting and fascism.

The former is far more common than the latter.

Kevin Sheedy and his ilk might consider the good folk at Bonnyrigg or Sydney United to be ‘foreigners’. Sadly, many football fans also fit this mould. That’s fine. It’s their loss. There’s plenty to like about lower league football in Australia.

More importantly, there’s plenty to learn. Next week, there is another derby steeped in history as Sydney United play Marconi at Marconi Stadium.

If you’re a football fan in Sydney, there are few better ways to spend the long A-League off-season.