“Vedran Janjetovic could go down in history as the first A-League player to be booed by an entire stadium.”
I can’t take credit for that little gem – someone said it on Twitter a while back – but it neatly encapsulates the feeling going into Saturday night’s Sydney derby.
Janjetovic’s departure from Sydney FC was an opinion columnist’s dream, with the erstwhile Sky Blue accusing his former club of spreading “months of lies”.
But if Janjetovic thought he could ease back into life in the A-League following months on the sidelines, he should think again, because he and Terry Antonis are about to cop an absolute earful from The Cove.
We should thank Janjetovic for deciding that staying and fighting for his spot in the Sydney FC starting eleven was not for him, because it adds yet another element to the A-League’s most passionate derby.
It’s no surprise another sell-out crowd will be on hand at Moore Park, since the Sydney derby remains the hottest sporting ticket in town.
For anyone who has watched football in Europe or South America, the Sydney and Melbourne derbies produce the sort of atmosphere we’re more used to enjoying overseas.
Little wonder so many corporate supporters and stadium members are eager to get on board, with word having spread that the atmosphere at the derby is not to be missed.
It may take a little longer to get through to the NSW Police, who seem to be stuck in the 1980s – along with some of their attitudes.
“When there’s a local derby if people want to play up and let off flares and the like, we will conduct the normal business that way – they’ll be arrested, charged, front court, we give the information through to Soccer Australia (sic) and they’ll enact, should they choose to do so, and hopefully they do, banning procedures and the like,” Det Supt Gavin Dengate told the Sydney Morning Herald.
But while law-abiding fans should be extremely wary of the behaviour of police, there’s no reason to think the derby won’t be anything other than a massive hit.
In fact, it’s just one of a handful of mouth-watering A-League fixtures taking place across Round 15 – including Melbourne City’s unhappy trip to Adelaide last night.
Will Guillermo Amor swap Coopers Stadium for AAMI Park next season? He may feel it’s unnecessary following Adelaide’s come-from-behind victory over a frustratingly inconsistent City.
The Reds may have needed a first ever A-League goal from Mark Ochieng on the counter-attack to register their shock 2-1 win, but Amor will no doubt feel like he’s seen it all before.
The same could be said for Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar, who reignite one of the A-League’s fiercest rivalries at the atmospheric AAMI Park tonight.
If A-League fans want to talk about atmospheres, they need to keep turning up in decent numbers for games at genuine football grounds like Coopers Stadium and AAMI Park.
And with second-placed Melbourne Victory looking to make up ground on table-toppers Sydney FC, the Victory fans should be out in force for a fixture that has traditionally provided plenty of entertainment.
Victory coach Kevin Muscat is right to lament a rejigged fixture list that sees his side play three league fixtures within the space of eight days, but all his team can do is beat the opponents in front of them.
It will be a similar story on Saturday night, when both Sydney teams go into the derby desperate to win for vastly different reasons.
The Wanderers would love nothing more than to prove that they’re still in the finals race by taking all three points from their bitter crosstown rivals.
But whatever happens at Allianz Stadium, this much is clear. The Sydney derby is one of the highlight fixtures on the Australian sporting calendar – and 40,000 fans are about to prove it.
northerner
Guest
Curious. I haven't seen any comments referring to football as "foreign" or "un Australian." Perhaps like Dr. Who, you've got a Tardis and have gone back in time. That isn't the here and now, so far as I can see. I mean, football is the number one participation sport in the country, it's a popular spectator sport, though not top of the trees, but right up there, it gets decent TV audiences. Hardly the stuff of "un Australianism." Yes, it has its critics as a game. So what? There isn't a more popular game on the planet. No game is going to get 100% endorsement. Settle for the massive support that football gets. But fascist is as fascist does, and when individuals try to shut down conversations, deride anyone with a different view, belittle fans of other games as an inferior species, well, I guess I know where fascism really lies.
Kasey
Guest
Nurenburg Rallies? Godwin's theory lives! As far as I can tell the only fascists here are those with their panties in a twist that football fans dare to like a sport they deride as foreign and un-Australian. So of course they argue endlessly trying to make us all like their "more Australian" sports. They've been doing it for the better part of a decade and still the A-League grows!! You'd think they'd just give up and stop wasting their time wouldn't you. Football will never again be the marginalised wogs-only sport they so wish it still was.
concerned supporter
Guest
@Nemesis, Are you wearing your jackboots?Click both heels together.You can wave no one good bye. This is Australia mate, this is a democracy.
pete4
Guest
I hear the GWS woman's team is looking at getting a couple of W-League and WNBL players into their team. Player talent pool must be pretty thin
Nemesis
Guest
"Too much for the casual fan" Well, given that I have scant interest in what casual sports fans think about ALeague, I'm more than happy to wave you "good bye" & hope we never hear from you again during ALeague discussions. Alas, like the kid with no friends, I guarantee you'll be hanging around the Football tab every day for the rest of your life desperate for company & attention.
concerned supporter
Guest
@Nemisis, I respect Mr Football's opinion, but certainly not your blatant bias. Last season I attended a Wanderers game.Again the pitch action was a bore,but their supporters with one arm raised and loud chanting reminded me of film of the Nuremberg Rallies one sees on the History Channell.Too much for the casual fan , ok if you were born in Brazil.
Nemesis
Guest
@concerned supporter AFL/NRL/Rugby/Cricket are crap games to play & tedious games to watch. That's probably why football wins every time. Even people who don't like it that much, they still have a peek. Alas, no one has a peek at the other sports. But, don't give up, I hear the first 2000 years are always the hardest.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Nail on head here. Football has by far the biggest portion of exciting games of all the sports I watch. The gap is enormous to the next most exciting. Probably MMA. But other sports offer up enough close encounters to keep me interested and following.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
cs I will not have that, it's simply not true. A good proportion of soccer games are not tedious.
concerned supporter
Guest
@Nemesis, You are the epitome of a bigot. You might as well face it Fuss, soccer is a good game to play, but a tedious game to watch
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Kasey being of non-English speaking background, I'm more a numbers man than a wordsmith. But let me say, in my own defence, that I am here on the Roar, during the live call, every Friday night giving my expert opinion as the game unfolds. As a general rule, I think my expert comments are very well received.
Kasey
Guest
Mister AFL do you watch any sport or just monitor TV ratings post event? Whatever makes you happy champ.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Just noticed the WBBL got ratings of 277k (played earlier in the day). Apparently, it was the game to watch yesterday, by all reports.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
SVB Don't we watch it first and foremost because we enjoy the game (or not, as the case may be)? As Melissa Barbieri notes in her excellent article on the SBS website, no one overseas will pat you on the back for watching or playing soccer.
northerner
Guest
Frankly, Marron, I find the code wars extremely tedious. I see no difference whatsoever between the AFL types making jibes about football, and the football types ranting on and on and on about "crash and carry ball" or bogan fans. When I see someone making fun of the BBL for having elephants wandering around at a game, while conveniently overlooking the fact that many football teams have mascots wandering the fields, I see nothing but hypocrisy in action. I don't care whether the AFL and football and the BBL have both borrowed elements from other countries and other sports. This is a global world, after all, we're exposed to global influences, and I'd regard it as pretty insular to ignore what is going on in the rest of the world to engage spectators just because it isn't "Australian." What I object to is the criticism of a sport one doesn't follow for engaging in populist practices which one's own sport engages in - and I don't care which sport we're talking about here. Football, NRL, cricket, AFL, whatever. The hypocrisy is what I object to.
c
Guest
hey fuss not just the aus media but many aussies
c
Guest
that's it enjoy
Nemesis
Guest
Sunday morning reading that there were 2 pitch invaders at the Cricket. They exposed themselves to kids. They resisted arrest. Print media reaction? They laughed it off. Last season, or season before, at Sydney ALeague Derby after the wining goal, the fence surrounding the playing area collapsed and some fans in the vicinity spilled onto the pitch. None of the ALeague fans that day attempted evade Police. None of the fans took off their pants to expose themselves. Print media reaction? Called for lifetime bans for soccer hooligans. Mainstream media in Australia are bigots.
Parra
Guest
I missed that game but will try and watch one soon. Why not
c
Guest
try soccer parra go to channel 505 now