So here it is again. Sydney Derby IV, or the latest version of – as Giants’ coach Kevin Sheedy prefers to call it – the Battle of the Bridge.
Sydney’s Swans versus the Greater Western Sydney (although not as west as they once were) Giants.
All Sydney football fans can hope for, is that this is just the teething infancy of what will one day be the annual grudge match of the city. Our Carlton-Collingwood, our Adelaide Showdown, the eastern variety of the Western derby.
But right now for those fans, despite concerted efforts from both clubs to make it more, it’s sadly just another match with only four competition points – not bragging rights – at stake, and we all know where those points will be headed, east not west, on Sunday afternoon.
It is a hard sell for the marketing departments at both clubs. One team on the bottom of the ladder, winless, one near the top and looking to line up all their ducks in place before the finals begin.
There has been the unusual sight of television ads in Sydney this week, there has been some coverage in the media, but not the sort of publicity you would get with a ‘real’ rivalry.
And that’s hardly surprising. They are competing for air time and column space with the Ashes, rugby league’s upcoming State of Origin decider, the departure of one and appointment of another Wallabies’ coach, Manchester United are about to hit town, and the British Open golf starts next week.
A potentially lop-sided AFL game between two clubs that haven’t built up that intense a rivalry and hatred for each other isn’t going to attract too much attention in this town at the moment.
Port and the Crows had that instant rivalry when the Power entered the competition in 1997. They even won four games apiece in their first eight clashes. In Perth, when the Dockers arrived, the Eagles dominated – not unlike the Swans right now – winning the first nine clashes during Freo’s first five seasons, but there was a rivalry there, and Perth is a footy town.
Unfortunately, while there is definitely a bit of dislike of each other behind closed doors, not surprisingly it hasn’t translated to the field.
In the first three clashes, the Swans have solely been about getting the four points and getting back home from ANZ Stadium, while the Giants have battled hard, but are still a step off the pace of their Sydney rivals. So, to most the ‘rivalry’ looks like it only exists for the sake of PR.
I know that most good rivalries take time, but the sport in Sydney, or more specifically the Giants, really could use it to blossom right now.
After the initial intrigue with the Giants in their debut season, and naturally the interest in Israel Folau, this year it appears that they haven’t attracted anywhere near the coverage they did in 2012.
What the rivalry badly needs is a dramatic upset win.
When it comes, it will be the best thing to happen to the Giants and be a real boost for the game.
People talk about Sydney being all about loving and supporting winners. You don’t have to win every week, but you have win sometimes, and you have to win the ones that mean something.
A derby – or Bridge Battle – should be the most important game outside of finals. When that is the case for the fans of both clubs, and for AFL in Sydney, then, the Giants will have really arrived.
The sooner the better, because lop-sided ‘derbies’ barely make even Swans’ fans smile.
Terry
Guest
If league had a 2 horse race where one team was paying $21 the media would go ballistic. no criticism again for the Giants?
john scoppa
Guest
Who won the Battle of the Bridge 2day?? was it a cliffhanger??
Allan
Guest
The battle for Sydney has already been won.
Allan
Guest
I hate rugby league too btw but these people who keep thinking swans are some kind of success story should think again.
bob
Guest
NQF folded the year before, and the majority of the Gold Coast team were either 1) Already signed by other clubs when Wanderers were announced and 2) Not senior at all. They were around the same age and experience that GWS is in the AFL, and it showed in both team's results. Both last.
mark
Guest
Gotta agree about Ian Syson, laugh a minute at his irrational obsession, and unreasoning zeal.
clipper
Guest
Thanks, Redb - I always try to stick to the reality of the situation.
Redb
Roar Guru
Talking sense.
Redb
Roar Guru
rationalise anyway you like.
Redb
Roar Guru
albatross, Your attempt at rewriting history is curious :) Rugby union has a long history in Melbourne maybe you're confusing the two. Both Sydney and Melbourne establishments at various points have shunned the 'other' code. Melbourne at least was protecting its own code rather than an imported one. Ian Syson - bahaha
Norm
Guest
Allan...I think you need new glasses/lens. AR did not say the Swans were the most popular - he said they "have the biggest crowds and highest membership in Sydney". Of course if you total all the Sydney NRL crowds they do prove that NRL is more popular. However, for Australia's biggest city & the home of RL - attendances at club games are pathetic. Good luck with spinning the facts
clipper
Guest
Allan - it's not what AR thinks, it's a fact. The Swans have the highest membership and biggest average attendance in Sydney. Maybe the rl teams can lay claim to many fans, but until they attend games and knock the Swans off the No. 1 position, it doesn't alter the fact.
Allan
Guest
What makes you think the swans are the most popular team in Sydney ? The rugby league teams can easily lay claim to 100,000 fans each - minimum.
clipper
Guest
If, after 10-15 if the Giants are in the same situation as the storm, will they be considered a failure? That is - bottom of the average attendance in the city, crowd more or less the same over the last few years, at or near the top over all those years, being given $8million a year in extra help and no home grown stars. Will be interesting to see what happens if the Rebels ever start doing well and the Storm slip.
The High Shot
Roar Pro
The given is that you and people like you are always the first ones to throw code comparisons and get the usual, boring code war started. Then you paint anyone who disagrees with your nonsense as insecure or whatever. Case in point, I echoed a comment made by the author in this article: it's a shame for the prospects of this match that it's occurring while Origin is on. This is self evident. But you immediately did your usual thing of bagging rugby league in Melbourne - a complete non-sequitur - such is your blind rage that there could ever be something negative said about AFL (no matter if it's true or not). I gave you the benefit of the doubt considering what a hard year you must be having with your team being exposed as alleged users of banned substances but your continued holy crusade in this thread just shows you deserve no credit at all.
The High Shot
Roar Pro
If it weren't for people talking hard truths about this club no one at all would be talking about them. You're welcome.
albatross
Roar Pro
Rugby League did have a pulse in Melbourne and Victoria it's just that the VFL and latterly the AFL did their level best to exclude all "foreign" codes from the media and even from having grounds to play on. Ian Syson over at Neos Osmos has documented the efforts to steal the oxygen from Association football by the footie Hansonites. Likewise the Rugby codes. I have pointed out previously the shabby treatment of Australian Rugby coach, Bryan Palmer, at the hands of the VFL in the sixties. I'd like to have a dollar or two that you, Redb, are in some way related to the xenophobes who used to write scurrilous letters to the Melbourne papers warning of the insidious infiltration of "soccer football" and rugby into the hearts and minds of pure Victorian youth. I think we should be told.
Redb
Roar Guru
AR, Take it as a given, no matter what the Giants do or don't do, there will be negative comments on the Roar. As soon as a second AFL side in Sydney was mooted insecure RL fans & media started to beat the drum, quoting participation numbers but forgetting their own inherent weakness in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, etc Whilst Storm are winning a bandwagon will exist, once that success fades they will meet indifference. How the Giants fare when they do start winning will be interesting. It is easy to put them down now and say they have no fans & should move to Canberra,etc. It always astounds me how quickly RL fans forget that when Storm started in Melbourne there was barely a grass roots comp in 1998 and its only after News Ltd plouged millions into the venture that RL even had a pulse in Melbourne. Compare that to the Giants. Expansion is difficult how easily they forget.
Redb
Roar Guru
Punter starting a code war, he is a soccer fan.
Australian Rules
Guest
Another 150+ comments Giants article. ...mostly from folk whining about how irrelevant they are. Irony anyone?