One of football’s greatest unwritten rules is never to sign for a direct rival of a club.
In 1964 Phil Chisnall made history when he crossed over from Liverpool to bitter rivals Manchester United. Since then the likes of Paul Ince, Peter Beardley and Michael Owen have all followed suit.
The Old Firm derby between Scottish giants Rangers and Celtic is one of football’s most passionate and it’s deemed almost sacrilegious to play for the other side. Alfie Conn, Mo Johnstone and Kenny Miller are just a few of the brave souls to have crossed that bridge.
Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the biggest clubs in the world and have a loyal fan-base to suit. A pig’s head narrowly missed Luis Figo in a match when he made the move between the two enemies. Others like Luis Enrique, Bernd Schuster and Michael Laudrup fared better.
In Italy, the hollowed turf of the San Siro that cross-city rivals AC Milan and Internationale share has seen 27 players make that infamous switch. Football royalty in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Clarence Seedorf, Ronaldo, Christian Vieri and Roberto Baggio are all on that list.
(Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
The above-mentioned teams have long storied rivalries that have gone on in some case for over a hundred years and have been passed down from generation to generation.
It’s difficult to have any rivalry like this in a relatively new league like the A-League. Rivalries in Australian sports tend to be based on neighbouring states.
The rivalry between South Australia and Victoria has raged on for over 120 years and transfers between sporting teams normally will not happen.
Adelaide United fans this past week have been quick to voice their displeasure at the club signing Victorian-born and former player of arch rival Melbourne Victory, Nick Ansell.
Ansell is a talented centre back and said all the right things at his initial press conference.
However the move has left a very sour taste in many fans’ mouths – especially as he is replacing a local South Australian mainstay Jordan Elsey.
To get supporters onside Ansell will need to work twice as hard, because if things start going wrong in defence he will be the first name parochial Adelaide supporters will boo or whistle.
If Ansell needs any insight in how to win over a fan-base being a Victorian, all he has to do is talk to current goalkeeping coach Eugene Galekovic.
Galekovic also transferred across from Melbourne Victory and local fans at the time were not happy.
Through sheer hard work and determination, Galekovic went on to have a legendary career with Adelaide United that puts him in the conversation of greatest ever goalkeeper in the A-League.
All throughout the A-League players have moved between rival states.
Antony Golec and Liam Reddy have been involved in several rivalries due to playing for more than half the clubs in the league.
(Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
Kosta Barbarouses made the move between interstate rivals Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory while there has been fierce social media uproar aimed at Joshua Brillante, who had previously represented Sydney FC, Melbourne City and transferred recently to Melbourne Victory.
Loyalty is a thing of the past in football – even more so in the A-League, where players will routinely leave each season searching for the highest salary.
For the players that make the risky move to a direct rival, they need to make sure they do everything possible to buy into not only that club’s culture, but the new state or city they reside in.
Passionate rivalries between the states or cities are one of the best things about football anywhere in the world.
Much like our counterparts in Europe and South America, fans adore a player who was born in the same city as them or an adopted one that is willing to work hard for the badge.
For any player in NSW interested in a move to Queensland or any Victorian wanting to play in SA, or vice versa, a move to a bitter rival can be successful albeit fraught with danger. The divide is sometimes too great to conquer.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i would be expecting bernado and ethan alagich to make there debuts this season, both have looked very good in the NPL and are training with the senior squad for preseason - johnny yull looks to have shot up an inch or 2 in height and is a lot more commanding for the NPL team, so he'll definitely get more minutes. kane vidmar might get fast tracked this season and thats because our great hope at centreback alex popovich has picked up a couple of concussions this season - the club are really concerned as you can imagine when the same player has picked up multiple concussions blackwood is a squad player, he wont start. Ansell will definitely start and i'd say this is his last chance saloon as an a league player, he doesnt make as many mistakes as elsey, but he has a terrible injury record. pacifique had no end product, that was the only thing missing from his locker - unfortunately it cost him his job, he's trialling in perth currently
Franko
Guest
The front 3rd is good, I hope Yengi stays injury free as he has all the attributes. Huge hole at AM, CB and LB. What are the club thinking? Bernardo and Vidmar fill these roles, these kids aren't on their P plates yet. Saying that, I'd rather the youth get a run than more Ansell types. I don't get how we have money for Blackwood but not Pacifique, Ansell but not Elsey.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
depends if you like lobster or caviar rather than mcdonalds :football:
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Money talks But it can't sing and dance and it can't walk... Its hard being a professional player... a contract comes up and you either eat meat or sleep on the street... However the fans also want results and if a players forms drops ... the loyalty is not there to a player for that long... Matty Simon went to East Sydney FC because we kicked him out... he never danced and yelled when he scored against us ... Interesting discussion... but as I said Money can't sing ... but it puts food on the table...
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
we’ll be functional but unspectacular this upcoming season, if we keep the playing group fit; we have a fighters chance ????
Franko
Guest
Terrible work from AU here who look to be losing their compass. Blackwood and Ansell in, Elsey and Pacifique out. Smith out and not replaced, this is a huge concern.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
moving to a different continent is different though. moving to a direct rival in your own league is where i draw the line at haha
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
I kind of agree but if clubs give out 1 season contracts, there is zero loyalty from clubs to players. If there were 5 to 7 season contracts than we could talk about loyalties. If someone made $150M in that time than at least they could buy a studio apartment in Sydney and could live out their days there :stoked: . Plus a lot of players would happily make the move to europe or asia for cash as well.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
absolutely, money talks as the saying goes - especially in today day and age of football. australian rivalries arent even comparable to the ones in europe/south america where blood, violence and even in some cases death can happen. it appears as though im not the only one who's uncomfortable with moving to a direct rival as there was a lot of anger aimed at brilliante from sydney and city fans over his move to victory. kosta copped a lot of flak with the move from victory to sydney as well. victorian players have rarely been recieved well in Adelaide. Lots of different examples of player movement to a rival where it hasn't gone down as well as you would expect
Winter A League is Awesome
Roar Rookie
You have Coaches and Operational staff all moving between clubs as well. I dont think the derbies count for that much anymore to stop people from continuing their career in the A League.