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Saturday night I sat in the commentary box for 2GLF at the A-League Sydney derby between Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers. Thinking of descriptives for what I witnessed probably wouldn’t do the event justice.
But what I saw was not just another soccer (okay, it is football) match.
The week before was my first A-League game and I thought the crowd at Pirtek Stadium last Sunday was crazy.
I was told constantly through the week that the Sydney derby would be a whole new level.
They weren’t wrong.
As a rugby league man through and throug, I sat behind my laptop and could only marvel at the sea of humanity that engrossed the players on the field.
If anything, from a neutral stand point, you find yourself watching the crowd more than the game itself.
These weren’t just supporters. They were football fans.
It is ridiculous to think the A-League and rugby league are in direct competition. The argument falls on its own sword as soon as you realise one is played in winter and the other in summer.
These aren’t rivals and the people I saw flock to Allianz Stadium on Saturday and Pirtek Stadium a week prior aren’t NRL converts finally given successful A-League teams to cheer.
There is obviously and clearly room for both.
But this piece isn’t about A-League versus NRL.
Perhaps it was the summer air, the noise inside the ground or the smiling faces of everyone inside Allianz Stadium, but sitting there on Saturday night, I had a realisation.
Sydney has a legitimate case to be called the sporting capital of Australia.
Scrap that!
The sporting capital of the southern hemisphere!
In winter, Sydney has the NRL and Melbourne has the AFL.
But when that final siren is echoed around the Melbourne Cricket Ground on grand final day, the AFL and Melbourne fade into memory.
While Victorians still have A-League franchises in the Victory and the Heart, those two sides couldn’t tie the Sydney derby’s boots on their best day.
Sydney FC versus the Wanderers is quickly becoming a must-watch television event, no matter what part of the country you live.
Then you have the Sydney Swans.
The 2012 AFL premiers are one of the most professional sporting clubs in Australia and continue to thrive and keep a competitive side on the paddock.
There is also a young team called GWS Giants, who will probably win a flag in the next five years.
There is the NSW Waratahs in the Super Rugby. The less said about them the better, but at least they’ve got the Melbourne Rebels covered!
There’s NSW Cricket (who have won over 40 titles and just made the decider of the Ryobi Cup) and their crazily entertaining and sometimes eccentric spawn in the Sydney Sixers and Thunder.
NBL’s Sydney Kings, netball’s Swifts and baseball’s Blue Sox.
How could we forget State of Origin rugby league?
One of the biggest sporting and television events annually, with record numbers constantly pumping the series to higher levels.
We have the Olympic Stadium, the Sydney 500, New Year’s Test match, All Phones Arena, Randwick and Rosehill, Australian Open golf, the Sydney to Hobart, Sydney’s carnival of racing, Major League Baseball, Bledisloe Cup and, yes, even the Australian badminton championships!
All of that is built around the heavyweight champions of Sydney.
Long live the winter warriors in the National Rugby League and long live Sydney’s summer nights in the A-League.
That isn’t just pollution in the Sydney air.
That’s excitement.
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