“It’s crazy, crazy. The fans go to the pub, drink loads of beer, come to the ground and bang, it is mad... You won’t have seen anything like it.”
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Tyne-Wear Derby: Classic pictures form the archives
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“It’s crazy, crazy. The fans go to the pub, drink loads of beer, come to the ground and bang, it is mad.
“And the noise, the noise. The game is so fast. You won’t have seen anything like it.”
These are the words of a foreign player based in the North East, wide-eyed and with beer guzzling actions too, telling a new foreign arrival, about what he was about to experience.
The two players then left the room and went off to prepare for action, in little doubt as to what it means – to the managers, players and fans.
Edgy, tense, raucous, and intensely passionate.
The North East derby is one of the spine-tingling highlights of the season .
It would be parochial, patronising and entirely unfair to lesser regions of our great nation, to say it is THE best derby in football.
But it is!
Of course every region and country has their own special claims and belief that their showdown is the best. Who can judge the intensity of another man’s passion?
Glasgow, North London and Merseyside have clashes of intense fervour too.
However up here we have two clubs whose fans really should have lost interest years ago.
But no. Loyalty is bred deep into North Easteners, and they don’t lose it just because of a few years (ok, a few decades) without a trophy.
Newcastle lure in 50,000 fans to home games and dominate the talk in pubs every night of the week. Sunderland would have a full house of 48,000 if the match was being played at their place.
Those sort of crowds are unimaginable to all but a couple of big four giants in the Premier League and it is those numbers which keep our sides on the map, of national interest, and a notch above other also-rans in the top flight.
See the pics in the gallery above for a taste of the action down the years. How will Sunday's game pan pan out?
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