April 14, 2011 Derbies
Words
Will Van de wiel
Illustration
Tom Kaczynski.
"Rivalry adds so much to the charms of one's conquests” were the words of the American author Louisa May Alcott, a delightful aphorism given particular salience when considered in relation to football where derbies capture the maxim’s essence perfectly.
There are plenty of mammoth derbies; some are same-city scraps like Manchester City v Manchester United, Spurs v Arsenal, Liverpool v Everton, Lazio v As Roma, Inter v AC Milan, or Celtic v Rangers; others are local derbies like Manchester United v Liverpool, Schalke v Dortmund, Sunderland v Newcastle, and yet others still are rivalries fostered by competing dominance; think Barcelona v Real Madrid, Arsenal v Manchester United, Porto v Benfica, and Lyon v Marseille.
These games are usually high on entertainment and incident, as the emotional voltage is cranked higher even in a sport where feelings and adrenaline run the tramlines of mania close enough as it is. Shifting boundaries and the globalisation of football has meant that traditional identities associated with clubs are crumbling, but derbies are a force of unification to the fan; a magnetic pull towards the bosom of shared antipathy and thus identity.
For the supporter of nearly every team the derby offers the only chance you really have to come first at something; the nature of the battle very often transcends the competition within which it takes place, and yet, when it involves two clubs with bigger ambitions, an extra dimension is added. In the recent case of Manchester United and Manchester City, we were witness to an event that will rightfully earn a place in the pantheon of derby magnificence - Wayne Rooney's scissor kick would have been lauded for its technical execution alone, but the magnitude of the occasion and the match situation render it all the more praiseworthy.
Of course, rivalry and its emotional offshoots are far from being the exclusive domain of positive emotion. Rather, real rivalries are often imbued by a poison; an inevitable slow seep of toxic emotion that bleeds from a starting point of noble and good natured competition into anger and hatred, nearly always facilitated by envy, familiarity and the vicious scars of defeat and humiliation. Indeed, some are birthed in it.
In football, the equation is made all the more muddy by the element of tribalism that shouts itself hoarse at every match. The collective emotion and enmity that sweeps grounds at derbies is awesome in its power to unite and divide. It's a sociological truism that in life, the most virulent and strictest hatreds exits between those groups that have an astounding amount in common, yet one single difference that swamps all other similarities. It is the same in football: to really beat someone, you have to hate them a little. And unfortunately, in some derbies, the rivalry is symbolic of an ideological and political antagonism as much as mere football. As a result, these negative emotions can have a bad effect on games, as fear and anger spreads from fans to the players and simultaneously inhibits and unsettles them.
Last week's El Clasico in the Champions League semi-final is a perfect example of this. Stoked at every turn by the increasingly petulant Jose Mourinho, the match was more a schoolyard scrap than a football match, with the resulting claim, counter-claim and public acrimony carrying all the petty indiginity of a child's parents seeking recourse for their son's muddied shorts. Of course, even this - despite it's worldwide reach - pales by comparison to the parcel bombs recently received by Celtic manager Neil Lennon and the escalation of sectarian threats which have heightened already parlous Old Firm relations.
Think of yet more extremes - the severed pigs head thrown at the defective Luis Figo at the Nou Camp in 2002, the infamous second leg of the Champions' League quarter final between AC and Inter in April 2005, abandoned after Milan goal keeper Dida was hit by a flare, what about the image of poor Peter Enkleman being disgracefully hounded by a zealous Birmingham fan following a costly gaffe in 2003, or Robbie Fowler's injudicious white line celebration during the Merseyside derby in 1999.
Remember the 'battle of Old Trafford’ and the abasement of Ruud Van Nistlerooy following a missed last minute penalty, which simmered and segued insidiously onto the ‘Battle of the Buffet’ the following season - the infamous game in which Manchester United ended Arsenal's 49 match unbeaten run and pizza was thrown at Sir Alex Ferguson in the tunnel; a neat slice of absurdist drama. In fact, United v Arsenal - embodied wholly in the clashes of Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, their talismanic captains in the early part of the 21st century - are a perfect example of a rivalry that was sometimes unhealthy; players and managers regularly fell out. But the games were intriguing. Millwall v West Ham, Portsmouth v Southampton, the list goes on – due to bad blood, the interest in derbies is seldom confined to what happens on the pitch.
But aside from the narratives that take on a darker hue, consider the feel-good stories; the amazing feats and great goals. Manchester United's 4-3 victory over rivals City last season on the back of the mirth provoking 'welcome to Manchester' poster erected for Carlos Tevez in the summer, Tottenham's stunning 2-1 victory last year sparked into life by a wonder goal from Danny Rose was another night where emotion, sound, technique, and energy all went into the blender and emerged an incomprehensible whirl of high octane entertainment and further, offered proof against a telling yardstick that Tottenham were finally a match for their rivals. The 5-4 see-saw between the two in 2004 at White Hart Lane sticks in the mind too for sheer entertainment.
Back in 1991 Everton fans will remember the famous Tony Cottee inspired revival against King Kenny's Liverpool when they had to come back four times in the match to level at a staggering 4-4. Barca and Madrid fans will remember the 2005 El Clasico, where Ronaldinho performed with such élan in a 3-0 win that even Madridistas were applauding, and of course, some derby results have been remarkable for the severity of the defeat and humiliation inflicted on the loser - the sheer embarrassment Real Madrid's players must have felt at getting trounced 5-0 autumn just gone, or similarly Sunderland’s following their 5-1 demolition at the hands of Newcastle; both proffer both prime examples of the severity of the stakes.
Real rivalries are unlikely to be healthy - no matter the superficial platitudes or graceful mien's worn by victor's for whom affected modesty carries its own special kind of condescension - but they are fascinating because of their emotional magnitude and heightened intensity. It's a fact that nearly every human emotion exists only in relation to another person, and the emotional core of football clubs are very often defined and perpetuated against the rival club, or clubs, which so irritate the passions of fan and player alike. For this reason, football supporters – even if they do not support one of the clubs on view - are nearly always guaranteed action or a narrative with real punch when they watch a derby, and in all truth, who doesn’t enjoy a bit of schadenfreude?
Reader Comments (2)
Similarly, our two big political parties have been shifting centrally for some time now, and this reflects the way people watch sport. There was a lot less nationalist rhetoric around England's game against Germany at the 2010 World Cup, instead the Germans were rightly praised for their approach to the game.
English fans now identify themselves within a club more than their country, because (among other things) their club serves not only as a global entity, but also has the allure of a romanticised local community that is in reality, probably lost.
But as International football gets friendlier, all the more it seems 'friendly derbies' like Liverpool v Everton are turning nastier. As you say, people only identify themselves in direct comparisons to others. And it is far easier to latch onto a tribe that is facing a constant battle against another tribe, rather than just picking one to support, a feat that sometimes seems pointless. England, and it's football team, does not have a tribe to fight. We now admire the Germans and their Bundesliga.
Because nationalism and the notion of idea of being English, or British, is decaying, (a recent wedding aside), football fans now identify themselves in relation to their club, and in relation to its rivals. The evolution of the Premier League and TV rights means these rivalries spread beyond the terraces, and even the local cities, impacting the homes and pubs of millions of viewers across the globe.
Of course there are exceptions to this, specifically the Old Firm, which is wrapped up in relgious fundamentalism and Irish nationalist politics. And El Clasico, which is intrinsically linked to perceived histories around national identity.
But in England at least, it seems to be a trend.