The match on Saturday saw more photos and videos of Newcastle fans boosting the crowd at the Stadium of Light and, maybe I’m getting old but, I just don’t get it and I worry where this ends up.
When I was a teenager, I used to spend some time at my Dad’s house in Newcastle and, if Sunderland were playing away, I would go to St James’ Park to watch a game of football. I would turn up and pay on the gate and head onto the Gallowgate. I always preferred standing at the football and at that age, behind the goal was the way to do it. I watched like I now watch most games on TV. I’m not massively interested in who wins but just enjoy watching a game of football.
It was quite common at that time to watch both North East teams, but it was never a question of which team you supported and who you were just watching. That was clear on Monday at school or work when the banter would start.
I love Sunderland, I love watching them (sometimes), reading about them, debating almost everything to do with them and, obviously, writing about them. But I’ve never understood the idea that a core requirement of supporting Sunderland is to hate Newcastle. Or vice versa. I can honestly say I’ve never sung a song questioning Alan Shearer’s sexual health but that didn’t make me any less happy when Sorensen saved that penalty.
There seems to be a hatred now, especially between younger fans and I think that, if we’re not careful it could lead to scenes and possibly conflict at home games and if it happens outside the Stadium of Light, in a game Newcastle aren’t involved in, I’ve no doubt who the media and the rest of football will blame.
After the Morecambe game there were small clashes between fans which, it appears, were not Morecambe fans at all but rather Newcastle fans in the away end. But why were they there? What were they hoping for if not to start a conflict of some sort? We mustn’t rise to it. We must realise that their lives must be so staggeringly empty that the best they can manage to fill their time is to try and antagonise people into a fight on a cold Tuesday night.
If it was the other way around, I could understand the jealousy, access to referees who know the rules, pitches that don’t look ready for crops to be planted, opposition who seem to know how to play football. I can see why we might want to go and watch a game at St James’ Park but what do they get out of coming to sit with Morecambe or Plymouth fans? If it’s just kids who are bored of the choices on Netflix then maybe it’s nothing but with both teams now occasionally playing at home on the same days, the potential for this petty hatred to develop into something more ugly needs to be stamped on now.
But how that is done could prove difficult. Can you stop someone entering a ground based on their choice of football shirt? Probably not. Could away club ticket sales be restricted? Not easily. Maybe the best way is to let them come, put money into our club and make sure we don’t get involved, but that would put pressure on the stewards to deal with them before anything happens. The evidence so far is that that isn’t happening.
