For all of their dominance and success in the first few years, Sydney FC was still missing a local rivalry to truly take football to the next level in the city.
Football Federation Australia’s decision to form a club based in the region of Western Sydney in 2012 is still to this day one of the best decisions ever made.
Unlike previously failed clubs like North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United, the Western Sydney Wanderers had a market they could tap into whereby it has always been a strong footballing community.
That includes producing top-class Australian talents such as Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill, Brett Emerton, and the inaugural Wanderers manager, Tony Popovic.
Popovic was handed the responsibility of organising a squad of unknowns. With that, his philosophy was successful very early as he guided the newly found club to Asian Champions League glory in 2014.
Sydney FC suddenly realised that they finally had a new arch-rival in their backyard.
Since the very beginning, the Sydney Derbies have lived up to expectations. From the Alessandro Del Piero and Shinji Ono showdowns to the most recent bitterness of former Sydney star Milos Ninkovic joining the Wanderers, this fixture has shared many emotions.
Milos Ninkovic of the Wanderers with fans (Photo by Steve Christo/Corbis via Getty Images)
Those emotions originate from the fans, who are arguably the most passionate supporters in the A-League.
The Cove (Sydney FC) and the RBB (Western Sydney Wanderers) have time and time again delivered a brilliant atmosphere, serving up great advertisements for Australian football.
Despite crowd trouble in recent years tarnishing the RBB’s reputation and breaking up the active support, you can get the sense that it is slowly coming back to what it once was.
Tifos created and held up in both the first derby this season and last night proves the overwhelming passion of these two groups.
Steve Corica famously scored the winning goal in the inaugural A-League Grand Final for the Sky Blues and has won multiple championships at the helm, whereas Marko Rudan grew up in the west and understands how much people love the game in that area. The passion is evident on the touchline from both tacticians.
New stadiums built for the pair have contributed to the spectacle and are something that football in Sydney needed to progress.
CommBank Stadium (30,000) and Sydney Football Stadium (42,500) are two modern stadiums designed for football along with rugby to help attract bigger crowds.
Supporters of both Melbourne clubs won’t want to accept this, but the Sydney Derby has overtaken the Melbourne Derby, which quite frankly has been the case for some time now.
Although the Melbourne derbies have produced some epic and memorable encounters along with the Victory always up there for the best active support in the league, Melbourne City is still lacking an identity with the fans they want to attract.
Sydney does not have an identity crisis. Even with Steve Corica’s men hovering around sixth place and struggling for form, last night’s derby was further indication that this fixture is the A-League’s No.1 entertainment product.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Actually, it’s possibly the most passionate fixture in all Australian sport, not just the A League.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Well you need to find another team…….Ex Holden workers FC perhaps?
Christian Montegan
Roar Pro
For me, a derby is when 2 teams are from the same state. That is a true ‘derby.’ Rivalry and derby are 2 completely different things in my opinion. Take the El Clasico for example between Barca and Real Madrid. Just because they are both historically great teams and share a rivalry doesn’t make it a derby. If a derby isn’t from the same state, then the term can be thrown around to freely for any game really
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
humor me, why is it not a derby? because they're not in the same state? im assuming you're fully aware of the history between victoria and south australia
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
adelaide city will not even be in the second division, financially they are a mess.
Christian Montegan
Roar Pro
They need to embrace it if they want a future in the league
Cameron Handley
Roar Rookie
there's gonna be mergers (it's the only way), which makes you wonder how the cultural groups that support these clubs will react
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
I suppose that is what the current EOI process is all about. Finding out who can (when push comes to shove) realistically support a team. The idea has been floating around a while and I suppose this is the only way for clubs to finally "put up, or shut up". I assume there will be funding coming from FFA, but as you said many teams struggle as it is, but there are also a few clubs out there that have very good, stable avenues of income, plus local support, connection to their community and also local government. I really hope they can make it work.
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
I would love to get to a Brisbane Derby, but no...wait.. they took our only other two teams away. Even when Clive closed part of the stadium they were still getting better crowds than Macarther and WU.
Sydneysider
Guest
I respect your opinions on scouting of players, football tactics etc... but on this one you are wrong. this is a proper derby. a clear divide in this big city. One team based at Parramatta, the CBD of western Sydney, and the other at Moore Park in the eastern part of the city. I know you won't accept it, but it is. if you aren't from Sydney, you will never understand it.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Yeah possibly. But I’m not sure a yearly promotion/relegation system will work in this country. And most of the current A League clubs are barely hanging on financially, so I’m not sure how a second division would be able to be realistically funded.
Christian Montegan
Roar Pro
I agree with Garry on the point that WSW were down to 10 men. When that occurs, it’s important to spread the width of the field and move the opposition around with the extra player. They didn’t do this and kept inviting pressure which they didn’t use the extra man to good effect. Yes, the tactic worked and got the result which I guess is the only thing that matters in a results-based business, but Corica was playing with fire
Garry
Roar Rookie
“If he had subbed on players like Segecic, who hasn’t got a serious defensive bone in his tiny body, WSW would have punctured the Sydney defence and probably won with 10 men.” or Sydney wouldve scored another and made things safer. Instead they sat back and invited attacks, a very dangerous move. To quote a cliche ‘the best form of defence is attack’ For gods sake they had an extra man, they shouldve been able to attack quite safely
Christian Montegan
Roar Pro
Honestly, no location will seem to help boost the crowd figures. Only thing keeping that club alive is the city investment group
Christian Montegan
Roar Pro
Which is why the decision to create a second division is going to attract more interest with the new NPL clubs coming in. It’s just what the game needs
Freddy Jones
Guest
Corica took Burgess off and he subbed in 6 foot plus Yazbek and Girdwood-Reich to set up a defensive block aid and it worked because they did the job and did it very well. Both midfielders play CM/CDM and are tenacious, physically able and skillful defenders when given the role. Corica won with a conservative this tactic. Mak had nothing left in the tank for defensive work required that late in the game. If he had subbed on players like Segecic, who hasn't got a serious defensive bone in his tiny body, WSW would have punctured the Sydney defence and probably won with 10 men. I am no fan of Corica but on this occasion he succeeded tactically to get a much needed win.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
City will surely relocate to Dandenong soon
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Previous engagement - not sure about the other 4,999
Josh
Guest
No he didn't, he grew up in different areas but he's primarily a South Sydney person.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
It does prove the point that if you give people a good enough reason they will come out and support local football. But I think it’s clear there are too many teams in the A League with little genuine support - and consequently too many games that nobody cares about.