Peacock: Bridges that separate them

Fierce foes ... There's no love lost between the fans of Sunderland and Newcastle. Source: AFP

Why is it so? The closer we live to a rival, the more we despise them.

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Before we bring out the best in our team, let's try to bring out the worst in them.

Let's bottle up all our problems, mask it with support of our team – and send it all their way.

Like Newcastle and Sunderland, Sunderland and Newcastle – separated by 10 miles and 130 years of disdain.

You are either born into black and white stripes by the River Tyne, or red and white by the River Wear.
Michael Bridges is as rare as a teetotaller on Geordie Shore.

Now a resident of the warm Newcastle down here, he was born black and white, played red and white, had half a season of black and white, then switched back again.

Or, as he simply puts it: "Loved by both and hated by both."

In between his stints at Sunderland and Newcastle, he played for Leeds United and they had a fair rivalry going across the Pennines.

"Played in Manchester United-Leeds games but it's nothing compared to Newcastle - Sunderland," Bridges said.

"Especially when you're born and bred in the area and know what it's all about, it's in your blood.

"I remember training and not being bothered about the session, just wanted the game and that was three days before. The foreign lads don't get it until they've played in one or two, and then you get it.

"People just go to work to afford tickets to go and watch these two teams and that's why it's so passionate, and such a good thing to experience.

"You run around like headless chickens. You sit in the sheds after the game and think did I just play a game of football, that was just like constant running and kicking for 90 minutes."

Bridges played in five derbies, all for Sunderland (his spell at Newcastle was when Sunderland were down a division) but recalls the first one has being all-consuming, making it hard to come to grips with common sense when it was over.

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"We played at St James' Park and it was the day of the Grand National, and we had a sweepstake in the dressing room for the horse race.

"Trying to calm down after the game (a 1-1 draw) I asked the boys, what's the result in the Grand National?

And it was the year (1997) it got called off because of the bomb scare and Niall Quinn said "abandoned, bomb scare".

"And I went 'f(*&@# hell, what were his odds!?'"

Bridges grew up a Newcastle fan, and played in their youth set up before then first-team manager Kevin Keegan turned the lights out on the reserves and academy - "if you can buy the best players there's no need for the future", was his thought process.

So Bridges had to find a football home. There was one, south of the River Tyne. The right choice for his football life. The wrong choice for his dad's social life.

"People laugh and joke when you talk about going into the wrong pub in the wrong time," he said.

"When I lived in Newcastle, in a place called Whitley Bay, we had a local pub at the top of our estate, when I signed with Sunderland my dad got banished from that place. It wasn't until several years later when I came back to Newcastle that he was accepted again."

Loved by both, hated by both.

Even his dad found it hard to enjoy seeing his son play for Sunderland.

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"Me dad used to come over and watch his son play without any real passion or commitment you know," Bridges said.

"But I never forget the day I signed there (for Newcastle), think he had a tear down his face y'know?"

Emotion is the big part of this game, so form goes out the window.

Since Newcastle's 5-1 demolition in October 2010, three of the past four meetings have been 1-1 draws.
There have been four red cards in the last three matches. Standard.

"I'm not going to sit on the fence this time, Sunderland are going to win this one," Bridges said while mentioning the new manager formula, Paolo Di Canio, to get a reaction.

Result aside, we know what we are going to witness. Like splashing oil on a flame, the involvement of Di Canio will do little to calm the situation.

So back to the original thought – why the hate?

History explains the rivalry between the two towns goes back to the 17th-century, when the ill-fated King Charles I favoured Newcastle merchants to those of Sunderland.

The English Civil War didn't help matters and officially divided the two – Newcastle stuck with the King, Sunderland with the Parliamentarians.

Ever since, from generation to generation, the lesson has been passed on and while there is peaceful coexistence, lurking is distrust and angst.

A twice-a-season football match bubbles that to the surface.

The war is long gone and the setting entirely different, but the battle goes on.

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