EPL: Why Sunderland v Newcastle means so much

Eddie Howe was technically on safe ground as he rang the bell.

The Newcastle United head coach had just got the 2023 Great North Run underway to loud cheers in the heart of the city.

But he had not accounted for those Sunderland-supporting runners who were not so thrilled to see him as they whizzed past.

“The biggest stick I’ve ever had,” he said this week. “I got abused by 50 per cent of the people there.”

This is not an inter-city rivalry. These North East neighbours have won only one major domestic trophy between them in the past 50 years, and Sunday’s game marks the first time they will even meet in the Premier League for nearly a decade.

But few fixtures bring a region to a standstill quite like the Tyne-Wear derby as former Sunderland manager Peter Reid knows better than most.

“They’re football crackers,” he said. “Let’s just say there is a little bit more needle up there.”

Another Liverpudlian across the divide feels similarly before the game at the Stadium of Light.

Ryan Taylor, the last player to score a winning goal for Newcastle against Sunderland in the top flight back in 2011, likens the intensity of the rivalry to the Old Firm in Scotland.

“There is a hell of a lot more passion in this derby compared to the Manchester derby and, even the Merseyside derby,” the retired defender said. “There’s just raw emotion.”

Such fervour is one of the many reasons why the This is Wearside supporters group started planning their biggest ever flag display for the derby once Sunderland secured promotion via the play-offs in May.

Dedicated volunteers have been spending up to 12 hours a day preparing the mammoth operation in recent weeks.

That is how much this game means.

“It’s going to be like two worlds colliding,” said Daniel Stokell, the group’s co-founder.

The two biggest games of the season

Nikos Dabizas also knows what can happen when these worlds collide.

A huge framed photograph in the former Newcastle centre-back’s home serves as a daily reminder.

It captures the Greek wild-eyed, bare-chested and surrounded by his elated team-mates, after scoring the winner in front of the away fans at the Stadium of Light in 2002.

This was a fixture that certainly left its mark on him.

“It’s the intensity of the fans,” he said. “It’s something that goes from generation to generation. This tradition makes this game so special.”

So what is at the root of the fierce rivalry between two one-club cities less than 15 miles apart?

Well, as far as Sunderland season ticket holder Stokell is concerned, it goes beyond football itself.

“You can go back to the English Civil War with Newcastle siding with the monarchy and Sunderland siding with the government,” he said. “It’s all political and economic.

“Newcastle get the funding, Newcastle have the big city, Newcastle are the ones people always talk about when it comes to the North East. Sunderland are always shadowed.”

But it is far from one-sided.

Taylor’s father, Darren, was even “mobbed” by joyous Newcastle supporters after his son scored a decisive free-kick in that 1-0 victory at the Stadium of Light in 2011.

That is how much it meant to Geordies.

“It took a little bit of time afterwards to realise the significance of it,” Taylor said.

“It made my life a lot easier. I was allowed to make the odd mistake when playing, purely because of that goal.

“I still go up to St James’ Park now, and you’ve got dads telling their kids, ‘See this lad? He scored the winner against the Mackems.”

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