Sporting rivalries are what lift certain fixtures to another level. They pique the interest of fans of other teams as well as those who may not follow that sport closely.
While many rivalries are built on class, history, religion, geography or politics some have arisen out of bizarre circumstances.
For example there is a fierce rivalry between Brighton and Hove Albion and Crystal Palace football teams often referred to as the M23 derby; although most fans hate that name. The two teams started to meet more regularly in the league during the 70s, and that is when the tension is said to have started. However, the major flashpoint came at the end of a 1976 FA Cup replay. After witnessing his team lose 1-0, Brighton manager Alan Mullery gestured to Palace fans, then it is claimed he threw a handful of coins on the ground and shouted ‘That’s all Crystal Palace are worth!” Ironically Mullery went on to coach Palace!
It is fair to say that there has never been much love lost between the French and the English, courtesy of centuries of war. In 2011 their rugby coach Marc Lièvremont, stirred up a storm when he said, “We don’t like them (the English), and it’s better to say that than be hypocritical. We respect them, well in my case at least I respect them, but you couldn’t say we have the slightest thing in common with them. We appreciate our Italian cousins, with whom we share the same quality of life, we appreciate the Celts and their conviviality … among all these nations we have one huge thing in common: we don’t like the English.”
Few outside of England disagreed with the Coach’s sentiment. In fact even England’s France-based lock, at the time Tom Palmer acknowledged that opposition teams playing against England rarely needed encouragement: to do well and most were motivated to beat them. He was quoted in the Guardian at the time as saying, “Everyone hates the English, everyone raises their game when they come up against them. Even the Australians and the Kiwis don’t like us.”
As many teams on one side of a sporting rivalry will tell you, they do not feel quite as ‘up-for-it’ as their opponents may be. The Dutch are always up for beating Germany, but the Germans don’t feel as intensely about beating the Dutch. Like the Celtic nations, Australia loves nothing more than the to beat the English, and when they do they rub their noses in it.
Their Ashes cricket rivalry is approaching 150 years. Some argue that there is no greater rivalry in sport. Maybe that is why the England team’s recent performance in Australia was so disappointing. Despite all the talk England were unable to back up that talk with actions, they did not appear to be up for what they must have known was going to be an intense series. This was in spite of us being told that they had been preparing for this series for the past six months.
Their coach Brendan McCullum has come in for a fair amount of stick due to the lack of preparation and the way he and the team performed. Much of this was covered in Did England Have The Coaching Know-How to Win in Australia?
There is another question that has rarely been raised and that is could McCullum, a New Zealander, have any idea what the Ashes meant to England cricket fans, or even to England Cricket?
Yes ,there have been non-English coaches in the past who have won the Ashes with England. Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher won the Ashes in England, after a 17 year wait, but could not retain them in Australia.
His replacement fellow Zimbabwean Andy Flower not only won the Ashes back in England, but also retained them in Australia in 2010, and then defended them again in England. Flower was the first foreign coach to achieve the feat of winning the Ashes in Australia. It was also England’s only win ‘down under’ since 1986/87.
It is interesting to note that Flower played in England for Essex from 2002-2006 and also in Australia for South Australia in 2003/04. One wonders how much he learned of the rivalry in those dressing rooms, sharing them with players who would have been a part of Ashes contests.
The truth is if McCullum did underestimate the rivalry between the two nations, and how it may be a step up from that between Australia and New Zealand, he would not be the first coach to do that. It would appear that New Zealand liked to beat Australia far more than the other way around.
Sir Graham Henry, another New Zealander and an outstanding coach, when given the task of coaching the British and Irish Lions never appeared to grasp how important the series against Australia was. He was the first Lions’ coach from outside the Home Nations since Arthur O’Brien in 1904,;who was also a New Zealander who played on that tour and was elected tour Manager. Henry may have known the history of the Lions, but did he truly grasp what it meant to be a part of such a unique experience for the players and fans from the four nations? Can an outsider ever truly understand that?
Even the late Sven Goran Eriksson as manager of the England football team when they played Australia in a friendly in 2003 claimed “I understand the rivalry, people are telling me that every day.” However, only when the Australians beat England did he truly understand what it meant.
Australia’s goalkeeper that day Mark Schwarzer told ESPN before the two women’s teams met at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, “I remember we played England in 2003 when Sven-Goran Eriksson was in charge. He had no idea about the rivalry. And I think even England players weren’t concerned at that time.”
So here was a coach who certainly knew there was a rivalry, but not the depth of it, and how important the game was to their opponent. As for the England footballers, again it was understandable that they would not see the Australians as a threat, as firstly the two rarely played each other. Before that game in 2003 the two nations had only met five times in the past 23 years and England had not lost; although there had been two draws. Once again the players possibly underestimated how much their opponent wanted to beat them.
It is not just international coaches who fail to understand the rivalry between teams. Italian Paolo di Canio who had played in Italian rivalries such as the Milan derby, Juventus v AC Milan and Lazio v Roma.as well as Celtic v Rangers when playing in Scotland, when managing Swindon Town underestimated the meaning in the local derby between Swindon and Oxford United. He soon realised, and became embroiled in the rivalry stoking the fires that already existed. He endeared himself to Swindon fans – and possibly their rivals too – when he said that this rivalry was ‘bigger than Lazio vs. Roma.’ Having grown up a Lazio fan, and played for the club, these were big words from the Italian.
What this shows it is very hard for someone coming in to understand the history and feeling of a rivalry that exists between two sporting teams. Did Brendan McCullum really understand it? Did he truly understand how much the Australian’s were going to be up for this Ashes series, and how much they were hellbent on beating the English?
The first Ashes series that this writer can recall watching was the 1972 series in England. My father explained the history and the rivalry between the two nations, and it was from that time on I became drawn into the history and the spectacle. On a personal level those feelings of rivalry intensified in the 1977 series when at fifth test at the Oval after asking politely for the autograph of one of the Australian players I was shoved in the face like a rugby winger handing-off a would be tackler, and told to “eff off.”
Since moving to Australia, – not in search of that player to seek an apology – I have witnessed the England team tour Australia on eleven occasions. This recent tour would have to be the most frustrating and humiliating. In the 1990’s Australia were a far better side than England, despite that, those selected to represent England played with pride, and some although lacking in comparable ability battled hard and showed a willingness to fight and make a game of it.
Many in this recent group of players appeared to lack that same fighting spirit. They didn’t even appear to care. The accusations that many were stupid when it came to their shot selection or the line and length used by the bowlers is hard to disagree with.
The inquest into what went wrong may well result in changes in personnel, importantly lessons need to be learned, and those in charge in the future would be wise to consult with the ‘has-beens’ who have an understanding of what it takes to win in Australia, against a fiercely competitive rival.
It would even benefit those involved to go back and read about past series because often they will reveal something that may be of use.
For example John Woodcock the Times cricket writer for over 30 years wrote in 1961 as Richie Benaud’s Australians arrived in England for the Ashes words that are as relevant now as when he wrote them.
“Yet what is needed against Australia, as much as all the inherent skill a man can have, is the character to become the master of his nerves and the nerve to make the most of his ability,”
One can’t help pondering whether this recent Ashes series, between two great rivals would have been a much closer contest had those words been pinned on the wall of the England dressing room.
