Are derby chants just in jest?

Sydney derby weekend is here! Last night the Wanderers hosted Sydney FC at Marconi Oval in an exciting W-League season opener.

Next, on Saturday, Western Sydney will travel east to play A-League premiers Sydney at the SCG in the men’s Sydney derby.

I relish the derby. There is always a bubbling effervescence escaping the stadium that makes you want to jump the ticket barriers to get in. I wrap myself in sky blue and indulge in voodoo-like hexes on the players that pose threats. The Wanderers’ Red and Black Bloc are, as always, inspiring in their loud and unwavering unity. This is serious business.

The Sydney derby is not like the Melbourne derby, a clash of two teams arbitrarily based in the same region. It is instead the manifestation of the city’s east-west divide, a battle for ownership. You don’t get to choose the team that you like the most; you’re born or bred into it.

I myself am a tentative Sky Blues fan because I live in Sydney’s south-east, but I’m waiting for league expansion to include a south coast team that will represent my roots. Still, there’s no neutral territory on derby day; the atmosphere of the rivalry is infectious.

Last year I attended a derby in Wanderers territory. The stadium was electric, but in the second half Sydney FC were trailing one goal to nil and it looked like they were headed for their first loss of the season. The Sky Blues supporters were understandably unimpressed, and passions were exploding. They began to chant ‘F*** off Western Sydney scum, ole ole’.

(Jack Thomas/Getty Images)

If you know Sydney, you’ll know: the west is traditionally more culturally diverse and historically working class. Bearing this history in mind, I couldn’t help but feel that the word ‘scum’ had been poorly chosen, a reminder of the class and cultural difference that traverses the city and the affluence that is localised in certain areas of the east and north. The friend I was with, whose family is Western Sydney-raised, stood beside me wincing and uncomfortable.

Was this choice of word, ‘scum’, too far? No doubt it bears similarities to some of the chants involved in classic football rivalries. Arsenal’s ‘What do we think of Tottenham? Shit! Wha do we think of shit? Tottenham!’ comes to mind.

No doubt the Red and Black Bloc would have spat some vulgar words in the Sky Blues’ direction during the night. I generally think of these chants as playful and fairly harmless.

But in the moment of hearing the word ‘scum’ said with all the spoilt vitriol of sore-losers, I couldn’t help but remember that Sydney FC emerged as the A-Leagues first ‘glamour club’, a shiny new enterprise to distract from the grassroots barbarians of the NSL. It was designed to increase football’s popularity and accessibility but looked down upon the history of ethnic clubs that had made this possible in the first place.

The Wanderers, on the other hand, was a labour of love for a community that wanted to be included in top-flight football and who together determined the club’s name, colours, values and culture with some help from a Julia Gillard government grant.

(AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)

I don’t advocate outright that anyone changes their tack when it comes to chanting at the derby. Emotions run high, and they do so because of Sydney’s unique history of class and cultural difference. This is what makes the occasion such a juicy one, and one I look forward to all season long.

But I think it’s definitely worth thinking about for any active fan of any club. Are these words just all in the name of good fun? Or do they stay with some people days or weeks after the game, reminding them of all the other times that they’re not exactly in the city but on its outskirts, undeserving of true ownership?

A good rivalry can make a club. Sydney is lucky to be a city with an excellent rivalry, one that has been compared to some of the biggest rivalries in European football. So even when my team is trailing and I am hating so heavily on our rivals, I can’t help but feel a little bit of love for the Wanderers as well – that they are there, facing up to the challenge.

I’m also a little bit envious of the Bloc that chants in such moving unison: ‘From all the places we’re from, in this city we own, we call West Sydney home’.

It would be nice for all supporters to feel this little bit of gratefulness as well. But don’t get me wrong – my sky is still blue.