[Football] The Sydney Derby

[Simster]

Massive game tomorrow in the second week of the Australian A-League.

It's remarkable how the introduction of the Western Sydney Wanderers to the A-League gave the whole competition a big shot in the arm 3 years ago, especially in Sydney where the derby is now genuinely one of the biggest sporting fixtures in the city. This is the third year they competed and only the 7th derby and all but one of them have sold out. 45,000 expected tomorrow for this one.

Any Albion fans going? If so, who are you following?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I was thinking about it, but I hear the queues for the park and ride are a bit long.

 

[Simster]

I was thinking about it, but I hear the queues for the park and ride are a bit long.

$8.10 for a pie too. Bit pricey, and I don't like to carry ten cent coins, so for that reason I'm OUT.

 

[Guinness Boy]

i was living there 12 years ago and the football was RUBBISH. It's amazing how much it has come on in that time. I used to watch Northern Spirit because their ground was just round the corner from our office. Terrible football in a terrible atmosphere. Cold beer though.

 

[Simster]

i was living there 12 years ago and the football was RUBBISH. It's amazing how much it has come on in that time. I used to watch Northern Spirit because their ground was just round the corner from our office. Terrible football in a terrible atmosphere. Cold beer though.

Yep. The average gate for week one was 18,000. The big thing for football is that it is the only pan-Australian football code. It won't become #1 sport in any state, but could easily become #2 in all of them. Already, the Sydney derby is bigger than any inter-Sydney NRL fixture in terms of attendance.

 

[Prince Monolulu]

Played for some mid-level team in Perth in the early 90s....remember that that buffalo grass stuff made it really bouncy and cr@p if you were slightly asthmatic. Good times, cold beers in Fremantle after explaining 'soccer' rules to US Navy guys.
These Sydney teams, do they sing nasty songs about each other?

 

[Simster]

Played for some mid-level team in Perth in the early 90s....remember that that buffalo grass stuff made it really bouncy and cr@p if you were slightly asthmatic. Good times, cold beers in Fremantle after explaining 'soccer' rules to US Navy guys.
These Sydney teams, do they sing nasty songs about each other?

Yes, they do. In particular, the geography of Sydney lends itself well to East v West conflict. The East is largely picturesque, middle-class and look towards the cove culturally. The West considers them all poncey twats who think their shit doesn't stink. On the other hand, the East looks at the West as the slummy, class-less, dreary 'burbs. i.e. The bits of the city the tourist board doesn't want you to see.

That's why, unlike the Melbourne derby, it wasn't hard to draw battle lines. The AFL also has West and East Sydney teams - although Sydneysiders generally don't really give a toss about Aussie rules, so it hasn't really taken off in the same way as it has in the A-League.

 

[StonehamPark]

Attended a low league cup final in Bundaberg about 4 years ago with about 15 other Brits.
Roughly 500 Aus in attendance and us Brits created the only atmosphere.

Ref came up to us after the match (after our ridiculous pitch-invasion) and gave us the runner-up's team medals for our support. Bonkers.

 

[Frutos]

Does the travel voucher zone extend as far as Sussex?

 

[Surf's Up]

I understand that AusRail are undertaking essential maintenance over the w/e and have put on a bus service - can't be arsed so count me out.

 

[Arthur]

I watched one of these games last season on BT Sport. I actually quite enjoyed it. Seem to recall there were a ton of bookings.

Is there a soccerbase-esq similar site for the A League? Or at least anywhere I can find out who is reffing the game tomorrow. I see it's on ESPN over here so they'll be a full quota of betting markets.

 

[Prince Monolulu]

Who is playing, Wayne ROOney, Dunny Ings and Koala Toure?

Sorry for that.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I watched one of these games last season on BT Sport. I actually quite enjoyed it. Seem to recall there were a ton of bookings.

Is there a soccerbase-esq similar site for the A League? Or at least anywhere I can find out who is reffing the game tomorrow. I see it's on ESPN over here so they'll be a full quota of betting markets.

My youngest watches the A League every Saturday morning, so I've seen a bit of it this year.

The technical standard is quite high, tbh, and its reasonably fast paced. I'd guess the better sides would hold their own at Championship level.

 

[AnotherArch]

I was in Sydney Central Station before the Sydney derby last March, when a couple of trains from western Sydney arrived close together. The station concourse was heaving with WSW replica shirts, plus a few Sydney dotted about completely undisturbed. The overwhelming impression was one of SILENCE - absolutely no chanting at all. Back here, a large cavernous building like a station has excellent acoustics, and a chant or a song always be started and will quickly spread throughout the whole area. Also noticeable by their absence were police, dogs and horses!

 

[Seagulls Downunder]

Plenty of SDU members there tonight, big crowd, fireworks on and off the pitch, straight red card, pitch invasion you name it this match had it and you can't say that too often about the A League.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...094942774?nk=66fc2f9d46489d103e453ef86af878c0

 

[Simster]

33,000 there for Adelaide v Mebourne Victory on Friday
41,500 for the Sydney derby
And record gates involving the new Melbourne Heart/City reboot.

A record 106,000 through the gates for the round, and week one wasn't too shabby either.