Loud and proud...Western Sydney Wanderers fans during last night's match against Sydney FC at Parramatta Stadium. Picture: Attila Szilvasi Source: The Daily Telegraph
THIS is as much a derby that western Sydney needed as Australian football needed.
Those donned in red and black at Parramatta Stadium last night were not only representing their new club, but an area that – for all the history of rugby league and invasion of Aussie rules – failed to provide the platform for them to indulge their ancestral urges.
That changed last night, when Wanderers fans sang the house down, to the beat of an incessant drum and against the established The Cove, who have backed Sydney FC since their inception.
In the vocal battle, the home side were supreme and superior.
They are here, they are very loud, and very proud.
No longer must they leave the grids of their own suburbs to watch or support a local team – the Wanderers have brought in droves passionate supporters who love where the live and have yearned for representation in the A-League.
Sydney finally has a club sporting rivalry that can match the football cathedrals in Europe and South America for atmosphere. It is hardly as big or famous, but the 22,000 within the stands yesterday made for a stunning acoustic experience that never abated from first whistle.
It began with a heaving Parramatta Leagues club hours before kickoff, and then thousands of Wanderers fans streamed into the stadium full of voice.
Children in the stands welcomed players onto the field with a Gangnam Style dance, then the two clubs began their maiden tango.
Cutting humour did not escape the occasion. As soon as the game kicked off, the Wanderers army held aloft a sign that read “East Sydney … back to the Toolshed” – a reference to the gay adult store in Paddington.
Fears of a repeat of the crowd violence in the Wanderers’ pre-season match prompted police to park two riot squad trucks and a slew of officers outside the ground.
Those fears were heightened when a group of 300 men in Wanderers kit and wearing red bandanas over their faces were warned for offensive language after marching into the stadium yelling “F--- off Sydney ”.
But they were in the minority, with most Wanderers supporters happy to occupy the less vocal parts of the stadium.
“We’d rather watch the game than dance,” said one supporter.
Aside from the penalty struck by Alessandro Del Piero – when the silence was deafening in the western section – the noise was energetic and relentless.
This was western Sydney ’s party, and they let everyone know about it.
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