Red and black wearing football fans in Western Sydney sing longer, louder and with more passion than the entire cast of Les Miserables.
Coming from West Ryde to WinstonHills, from Kellyville to Katoomba in Western Sydney to the weekend’s football match in Sydney and other Australia’s capital cities , these fans have sung for the newest team in the Hyundai A-League Australia’s professional soccer competition.
If you don’t know yet by now, they have sung for the Western Sydney Wanderers all the way to the A-League Grand Final.
The Western Sydney Wanderers football club was formed only a year ago but have shone in their debut season in the A-League. However it is not only their amazing record number of supporters that is making the headlines, the Wanderers’ fanatical supporter base is now the talk and envy of Australian sport.
Australian sports writers are dubbing Wanderers’ supporters the most passionate fans in domestic sport today. This is a major claim as other teams in the past like the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the NRL have enjoyed great followings. Close to a hundred years of history and tradition under their belts not to mention a few more trophies, this team now appears to have indeed recorded fewer fans as proven in more recent appearance by hordes of Wanderers’ supporters passing through the entry gates of Parramatta stadium when the Wanderers are playing.
During those times, the noise is deafening and to find comparisons to the atmosphere you would need to book a Qantas flight to Europe or south America. Australia has never seen anything like it, needless to say it is something the Sydney Kings or GWS Giants could only dream of.
To one standing amongst these hysterical supporters, what is immediately noticeable is the large Filipino contingent that makes up this multicultural soccer crowd.
Representing the greater western Sydney demographic one would naturally expect there to be a Filo or two in a sold out Parramatta stadium, but this is something else ‘ibang klase talaga’.
Not since the Chicago Bulls in 1993 have there been more red and black jerseys on the backs of the Filipino youth. Only this time in 2013, it is not the Bulls singlet they are wearing. These generation Y and second generation Filipino youths don the horizontal red and black stripes of the Wanderers. Another difference in branding is that instead of the name Jordan between their shoulders there are only three letters ; O N O, the surname of their beloved Shinji Ono the Wanderers marquee Japanese ‘import’.
They sing chants for Ono and cheer every time he touches the round ball. Not since the invention of the Honda Civic has there been a more coveted Japanese import among these Filipino teenagers.
During the semi-final their superstar Ono scored an emphatic second half goal that shook the foundations of Parramatta stadium, this goal has become overnight sporting folklore and also sealed their spot in the Hyundai A-league Grand final knocking out last years champions the Brisbane Roar.
Like it or not the Western Sydney wanderers and their fans are here to stay and whether they win the Grand Final or not, something tells me just like a Filipino game show the singing ain’t gonna stop.
