Source: Daily_Mail
Two tribes go to war: It's derby day in London, Liverpool and the Midlands
The Premier League stages three derbies this Sunday when passions will run as high as ever, on and off the pitch. Sportsmail examines the enduring appeal of the local dust-up...[LNB]Considering it is 800 years old and was seemingly born of a game between the 'uppers' and 'downers' at opposite ends of the Derbyshire village of Ashbourne, the resilience of the derby is remarkable.[LNB]And considering we inhabit a football world where everything has changed over the past 20 years, its vitality is even more so.[LNB]When, on Sunday, London, Liverpool and the Midlands stage Premier League derbies, the players, the pitches, the grounds, the travel, the television coverage and the relationships between all those involved will have altered, sometimes dramatically, from 1989.[LNB] Turning nasty: In 1997 Everton'sDuncan Ferguson raised a fist toLiverpool's Paul Ince amid the mayhem[LNB]Yet at some other level, localism will again show itself to be not just surviving, but prospering.[LNB]Across in Catalonia, Sunday also finds Barcelona hosting Real Madrid in Spain's El Clasico, the historical fervour of which has not been reduced by the times.[LNB] In an era when clubs frequently have few or no local-born players in their teams, when armchair supporters appear more prevalent than ever, when, as Andy King puts it, 'players fly off to Dubai in their helicopters after games', derbies continue to matter.[LNB]Yakubu recently asked King who he was. King scored one of the all-time great derby goals for Everton against Liverpool in front of over 50,000 at Goodison Park in 1978 - '50,000 Scousers, not fans from everywhere like today' - but feels that, for all the change, there is no erosion of feeling about the same fixture now.[LNB] United front: Andy Gray of Everton and Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish were happy to pose together before the 1985 derby[LNB]Others go further. Simon Paul of the NSNO website - Nil Satis Nisi Optimum being Everton's motto - thinks that the intensity of Merseyside derbies is rising. 'The tribal nature of atmospheres is increasing,' said Paul.[LNB]Douglas Beattie agrees. Beattie has recently written a book on derbies, The Rivals Game, and says that Everton versus Liverpool is a derby that is growing in edginess. The one-time friendly derby is a myth, he says.[LNB]Added to the general growth of football within our visible media culture, there are two specific reasons why supporters may feel derbies are becoming more intense. One is the plastic seat, another is the car.[LNB]King joined Everton from Luton in 1976 and says his first striking memory is of approaching Goodison for a derby and seeing 'men and women in blue and red walking up together arm in arm, thousands of them.'[LNB]King added that 'inside the stadium there was more of a divide' and Paul says that the practical explanation for the increase in that feeling is the all-seater stadium. The ticketing system brings 'enforced segregation - and then it is always easier to shout nastier stuff when you're not stood beside a supporter from the other side.'[LNB] Glory boys: Liverpool's Roger Hunt and Everton's Ray Wilson put on a united front before the 1966 Charity Shield to parade the World Cup both had helped England win[LNB]Paul has some sympathy with Beattie's theory that Evertonians' bitterness goes back as far as the Heysel disaster of 1985 and the five-year European ban for English clubs that followed, when Everton were the best team in England.[LNB]'Derby rivalries can be pretty complicated,' said Beattie. 'As well as location, there can be social class perceptions, religion, how you feel about your own identity.[LNB]'In the Merseyside derby you will now find fighting, police escorts for fans, less mixing.[LNB]'I think this stems from Everton's difficult modern past and their relationshipwith Heysel and Hillsborough. [LNB]When Everton were the league champions they couldn't compete in Europe, but because of the disasters and the way the city was afterwards, Everton fans felt they couldn't say anything.[LNB]'There was an unspoken agenda. Then Liverpool got glory again and Everton fans had to watch.'[LNB]Mixing was still common in the mid-80s - at the 1986 Everton-Liverpool FA Cup final there were joints choruses of 'Merseyside, Merseyside' - but the practice of visiting Anfield one week, Goodison the next, was in retreat.[LNB] The dark side of El Clasico: A pig's head is hurled onto the Nou Camp turf to welcome Real Madrid's Luis Figo back to Barcelona in November, 2002[LNB]The 1970s had seen car ownership expand and travelling crowds grew. There was a time in the North East when fans would switch from Roker Park to St James' Park on alternate weeks - as can be seen by the fact that both clubs sang the Blaydon Races then. Now it has been taken on as a Newcastle song and people in each city are proud to declare they have never been to the other.[LNB]'That my last game as a player was a derby at Sunderland will always mean a lot to me,' said Alan Shearer, forced to retire after the 4-1 win at the Stadium of Light in 2006.[LNB]'We won and I scored. The local tension, the noise, what it means to both sets of fans and the days of speculation that go before and after, it all just makes it a fierce experience. Mind you, I've lost to Sunderland, so I know the other side of it.[LNB]'Derbies are great. They're about adrenaline. Just the thought is enough to inspire British footballers and plenty of the foreign players who've come over.'[LNB] On the winning side: shearer helps Newcastle to a 4-1 win at the Stadium of Light in April 2006[LNB]As Shearer says, it is the ferocity of these occasions that matters. The enduring appeal is such that Michael Owen may have already produced his greatest act in aManchester United jersey with his 4-3 winner against City at Old Trafford in September. That goal alone should ensure Owen is cherished on the Stretford End.[LNB]Like Shearer, Denis Law's final act was in a derby, one that will like Owen's never be forgotten in Manchester.[LNB]Sammy McIlroy was another who went from United to City but it was his first act, not his last, that occurred in a derby.[LNB]In front of 63,000 at Maine Road this month in 1971, McIlroy, 17, was given his United debut as Law was injured. It was McIlroy, Best and Charlton. McIlroy scored in a famous 3-3 draw.[LNB]Instant rapport: Owen nets his late winner against City[LNB]'The atmosphere was fantastic,' recalled McIlroy. 'Both sets of fans were making such noise. I can remember the cross and that Tony Book was tugging at George's shirt. George couldn't get the ball, it came away from him and I just happened to be following it up and put it past Corrigan. I could have run out of the ground on the volume of the noise. Great.'[LNB]A sign of the times was that McIlroy, the last Busby Babe, took the bus to Old Trafford to meet up with his team-mates before the game. He recalls that there was 'a pocket' of City fans near where he lived in Stretford, but otherwise there was a clear red-blue divide to areas of the city.[LNB]'It was not like Everton-Liverpool used to be,' said McIlroy. [LNB]Perceptions change. The 1930s dock strike that was deemed to be the reason why the rift between Southampton and Portsmouth is so infected, is now described as an alleged dock strike.[LNB]In a fan survey in 2003 Arsenal followers selected Chelsea as more of a rivalry than Tottenham. This may have been provocation aimed at belittling the Spurs faithful.[LNB]Tony Woodcock, who played against both opponents for Arsenal in the mid-80s, remembers 'an edge to all London derbies, but Tottenham was special.'[LNB]Woodcock joined from Cologne, who were then involved in a tussle with Borussia Monchengladbach. [LNB]'Different country, same football culture,' he said. 'It mattered more, you knew it, felt it.'[LNB]The Nou Camp on Sunday will emphasise the same in Spain. The power of the derby endures. And - as is noted in Beattie's foreword by author Simon Kuper, Lyon fansbaiting St Etienne's recently, did so with a banner stating: 'Our fathers invented cinema when yours were dying in the mines' - it remains a primary motivation.[LNB]Everywhere.[LNB] Explore more:People:Kenny Dalglish, Denis Law, Duncan Ferguson, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer, Paul IncePlaces:Barcelona, Lyon, Liverpool, Newcastle, Birmingham, London, Manchester, Spain, United Kingdom, Europe, St James' Park, Goodison Park
