Saturday night’s Sydney derby was the same sort of thrill-a-minute intracity slugfest we’re used to watching week in and week out in the biggest leagues across Europe.
Western Sydney Wanderers may not have won a trophy since 2014, but they’ve certainly dominated the Sydney derby of late.
The Wanderers were deserving 3-2 winners over Sydney FC in front of a raucous atmosphere at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday, with the hosts stunning Sydney FC with a couple of goals on the counter barely a quarter of an hour in.
The Sky Blues had bossed proceedings up until that point, but the defending champions had a mountain to climb once they fell two goals behind.
They still should have finished with at least a point, only for Brazilian veteran Bobo to blaze a late penalty high over the crossbar.
He still had time to become the fastest player to score 50 goals in A-League history when he hooked home in stoppage time, but the Brazilian’s spot-kick miss proved costly – particularly when Sydney FC substitute Anthony Caceres almost snapped the crossbar in half at the death.
Instead of Bobo it was another veteran in Scott McDonald who conjured the winner, with the recent arrival from Brisbane Roar heading home from a corner despite being the most vertically challenged player on the pitch.
You have to go back to December 2018 to find Sydney FC’s last win in the derby, and there’s a growing feeling that the Wanderers are starting to find their mojo once more against their crosstown rivals.
But the best thing about the derby wasn’t Bruce Kamau or Mitch Duke’s smart finishes, or Milos Ninkovic and Luke Brattan flying in to defend their team-mates in what was a typically heated affair.
It wasn’t even the TV broadcast on the night, which for all the recent criticism of Fox Sports, once again made the game feel like a big-time showdown.
It was the atmosphere in the stands.
With the Red and Black Bloc back behind the goal at one end and the Sydney FC fans turning out in their usual big numbers for the derby, the two sets of supporters produced a fervent atmosphere that simply blows other codes out of the water.
Anyone who has ever attended a big A-League game knows the atmosphere produced inside the ground is second to none. Trouble is those games are too few and far between.
We had one a week ago when the Central Coast Mariners held Sydney FC to a 2-2 draw in front of a big crowd in Gosford, only for much of the media focus to revolve around the minuscule crowd that turned out for a Western United game on a Monday two nights later.
Here’s the thing about that sort of scrutiny. It would disappear overnight if those who are passionate about football in Australia decided to unify and start pulling in the same direction.
It’s ironic, then, that just about the only thing that has produced a united front in the A-League in recent memory is a widespread and visceral dislike of Video Assistant Refereeing.
The use of video assistance has been dreadful these past few weeks. Maybe Bobo wouldn’t have skied his spot-kick had he not been forced to wait minutes for referee Shaun Evans to confirm a decision he had already confidently made.
It robbed us of a glorious winner from Dylan Pierias in Western United’s 0-0 draw with Adelaide on Friday, then had no role to play when Jonathan Barreiro chalked off Rudy Gestede’s perfectly good goal in Melbourne Victory’s 1-1 draw with the Mariners yesterday.
The clubs who say they want VAR would do well to start listening to their fans, because it’s precisely by ignoring them that the A-League has been brought to its knees.
And the fair-weather fans who only show up for derbies had better wise up as well.
The A-League is what we make of it, so why not make every game a big game on a much more regular basis?
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
No Marcel, what I wrote was that administrators needed to use the six months between when I wrote that column - which was two-and-a-half years ago, mind you - to fix some of the problems with our broadcast deal, ticket pricing and national teams so that we didn't end up with a situation where no one but a small hardcore group of fans watches football. Which is precisely what we have now.
U
Roar Rookie
So why worry about Hadley then if he’s so irrelevant?
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
We just need a broadcaster that will pay a heap of money but have no input at all into fixturing and the timing of games. And if you believe such a broadcaster exists, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Sydneysider
Guest
AdelaideAndy I understand your frustration with the east coast bias, but Winter A league is awesome, is right. NSW have the most registered players. In South Australia, the game of football gets treated like garbage. Just take a look at Hindmarsh Stadium (great little ground), but the upgrades for the Women's World Cup are miniscule. No increase to capacity. The South Australian government treat the game like garbage over there. Sorry mate, I feel for you. In NSW we have 3 football codes that play on rectangular pitches, so we have several stadium options across the city (which is only going to get better once the NSW state budget is announced in July). Stadiums like Penrith, Kogarah, Campbelltown, Brookvale etc... all in line for upgrades. Then you've got the plethora of footballing infrastructure across the city. Not dominated by AFL in Sydney like it is in Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. I hope things get better for the game over there.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Exactly, before AA, the boys from the Roar were top of the class when it came down to the, ‘forget EastCoast bias’ just the ‘Sydney FC Bias’. I follow Derby County in England so I understand the small club mentalities, I too hate the Man United & Liverpool biases & how they win the trophies. What was the theme to this thread unity, the unity of all against SFC, I embrace it.
SlashThingy
Roar Rookie
“Even in that poor debut season, they never got an attendance that low at their former home at Olympic Park.” People bring up that first season a lot, and I don’t think they actually remember the season, they just remember that Victory finished second last. But it was a close second last. They were only five points outside of finals, three points off 5th, two points off 6th, and a huge 20 points ahead of last placed New Zealand.
Marcel
Guest
Seriously...pot/ kettle/black !!! Mike...may I suggest you print this article, laminate it, hang it immediately adjacent to your monitor....and read it twice before you write any further contributions. Of all the football media that I read you are by far the most guilty of writing exactly the sort of needlessly inflammatory, sky is falling type articles. Was it not yourself who wrote the A League had only 6mths to live. Am I missing some kind of postmodern irony here...is it still April 1
BennoFootball
Roar Rookie
Thanks MIDFIELDER for the JJ Link. Great read. One thing .... JJ would be better off Not referring To FOOTBALL as “ Our Code “ .... Remember “ WE ARE FOOTBALL “. The reference to codes should be rugby ie .... games played with EGG SHAPED or Elliptical shaped objects, hence ‘ Codes of Rugby ‘, FOOTBALL was born Foot-Ball and the WORD Football was invented in ENGLAND. FORZA BRISBANE ROAR FOOTBALL CLUB!!!
BennoFootball
Roar Rookie
WHY Chris??? So that I can ONLY Watch ONE Football Game per week on that ABC??? FORZA BRISBANE ROAR FOOTBALL CLUB!!!
Buddy
Roar Rookie
agreed. If I lived in Melbourne, I'd be turning up to watch their games. As it stands, I just try and make sure I don't have any clashes when their games are on television.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
AA - the first derby this season at Kogarah was pretty poorly attended and I'll be surprised if the third one in a few weeks time is well attended as some dipstick decided the SCG should be the venue and I don't know any self respecting football fans that have the slightest inclination to go and watch a game of football there!
Buddy
Roar Rookie
RB - I'm not disagreeing with your point about winning and losing clubs attracting more and less patrons - but thought you might like to know that in 1974 Manchester United were relegated from the old division 1 to div 2 - it was unthinkable at the time but the club was not in good shape. In division 2 the next season they smashed all kinds of attendance records. They took thousands to away games and by that I'm talking 10-15000 fans by bus train and car across the country. It was pandemonium everywhere. Games were not all ticket affairs in those days and this was a time of hooliganism and thuggery. There were fights all over the place, pitch invasions, smashed up shops and pubs - that was the downside, but their vocal support was amazing and their home games even against lower opposition attracted huge crowds - and they did bounce back in one season! - just an fyi very unusual!
Buddy
Roar Rookie
well when I grew up we supported our local team...it was always like that in the UK but then it changed when George Best attracted global attention and Manchester United started finding support in all sorts of places. However, as far as A League is concerned, I live in the far North West of Sydney so I started supporting WSW once we had a team in our area. I reckon Melbourne is more problematic. Personally I'd have had real difficulty with that one. I'm old enough to cringe at the "Victory suffix" and remember feeling quite ill at the idea of a team called "Heart". I was quite happy that they found new owners and were given a traditional name - but that's an age thing I'm sure. I can't fathom the naming "Western United" - it makes no sense to me at all unless somehow it is future proofing the western part of Melbourne, maybe Victoria as a whole. I don't worry about the invention as such. Every division in every league in the world has to start somewhere. In the UK in the 1870's you had Wanderers, Royal Engineers, Old Etonians and the like; I wonder what the discussion was like at that time or did people just part with their penny and go and watch and just enjoy it?
NoMates
Roar Rookie
When a side like SFC can only avg 7k crowds after winning so many titles some 1 has to think do they really belong in the league as much as Western United who on a agv day only get 1500 to a game. If the A-League was to expand it would have to be %100 Auckland then Canberra that would double if not triple Campbelltown crowds.
jbinnie
Guest
Towser - Nice to see your comments again. Some interesting observations. You get into the second division discussion whilst different comments spell out the difficulty of filling the A-League with owner owned, or conglomerate backed clubs when in fact 16 years has passed when it could be said that an endless search has been underway since the beginning to increase the size of the comp. You mentIon the second division being run by the FFA who at this point in time are probably the "poorest" they have ever been. You see that has always been a problem I don't fully understand, if the "big" NSL identities like Apia, Marconi, Heidelberg, Preston, Sydney United etc, etc, have access to a spare $ 20 millions, there really isn't any reason why they can't apply. I think you have to accept that they do NOT have access to that kind of money so they are ever so hopeful that a p/r competition would give them the opportunity to get in without having the fiscal means and I put it to you that football and the A-League in particular can't really stand in another "dog-fight" at this point in time. Cheers jb.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
normal season schedule is done pre-season, you know what I meant but otherwise I agree with you
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
from another perspective, Sydney fans are the most parochial in the country, by a long shot
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
and we been saying it for a lifetime, and on here for about (how old's the a league again?) 15 years.
Towser
Guest
Headline speaks for itself. However let’s face it the A-league this season , despite some entertaining matches has been a dogs breakfast, in fact more like 5 wolfhounds attacking a dog bowl containing a couple of pork chops. Lots of reasons involved, the build up seasons to Covid time were not looking pretty, Covid plus dodgy owners, new clubs, Kiwis pretending to be Wollongong only exaggerated the pick a date scheduling, FFA vs Owners, indifferent TV partner, lack of star players, since Del Piero, Ono,Heskey , therefore lack of momentum for a new league as so on. Next season(Covid allowing) is the real test of how much the Owners have learnt over the short life of the A-League. Unity is not negotiable but if achieved how best to manage it, that cannot be achieved IMO unless a format is found to make sure the A-league is not a closed shop. What puzzles me is even if a second division is up and running will it have any say or clout regarding the A-league. Surely it’s better to have an A-league division One and Division 2 under one umbrella sharing the load,rather than A1 Owners and A2FFA, which is how it appears to me at the moment.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
So can you please explain why Italian clubs in the NSL lost most of the supporters once they could watch Serie A from Italy. Why they have huge crowds to watch Italy in world cups here, but they couldn't support their local team.