Day 1

"Hey mate, what's the banner for? What's "W-S"?
"Western Sydney."
"Western Sydney?"
"Yeah, it's a new team coming."
"Not yet."
"Yeah, next year we'll be in. You better get used to us."

I guess security guards have to do their job and question any banner they don't understand to see if there are any political connotations in them. This particular security guard was quite good natured and laughed it all off. He allowed the banner as he walked away with a smile on his face.

Everyone was in a good mood. This was Day 1.

Then it happened.

Across the other side of the stadium, two entire bays of sky blue turned their attention off the crucial game on the pitch and focused them on the two dozen souls in the corner bay way away directly opposite them.

"F*** off Rovers! F*** off Rovers!!"

They yelled at the top of their lungs. The entire stadium heard it. The viewers at home could hear it. We heard it. And we all chuckled to ourselves and each other.

Here we were, in the heartland of football not only in this city, but the entire country. Here were fans that no doubt grudgingly made their way past the invisible borders of Sydney to follow their team pushing for the Premiership Plate because their home ground was being used for some Scots playing bagpipes.

They came to unfamiliar territory, saw a handful of what will be their fiercest rivals, 18 months before they arrive and were threatened. It would have been much more effective if the Rovers' fans presence were not acknowledged at all. But The Cove could not help themselves.

And thus the lines were drawn.

Mike Cockerill during the live telecast inferred that we "had snuck in the back door!" whilst Trimmers giggled beside him, hotly anticipating what will surely become the greatest rivalry ever seen in professional Australian domestic football.

"It's great to see, isn't it? 18 months before the Rovers enter the competition"

Yes Trimmers. The west has been waiting for a team ever since the NSL was disbanded. Sydney FC decided to base themselves in the eastern suburbs (many believe this was a medium term strategy by the FFA for a later inclusion of a Western Sydney team down the track), and label themselves as a glamour club with lots of money and "bling". That's all well and good for the white collar population of the eastern part of the Sydney metropolitan basin, but for the blue collar demographic of the west, this did not sit well. The ignoring of all things west in their first few seasons did not help their cause at all. Only when there were rumours that a Western Sydney team were going to enter the fray did Sydney FC think it would be a good idea to play pre-season matches in the heartland.

Many feel that it was too little, too late.

And so here we are now. Sydney Rovers FC have been announced. Within days of winning the licence, a name, logo, colours were announced to the public, instantly throwing the identity of the new club to the public. And many have jumped on board. The wait is almost over.

I personally emailed Ian Rowden a couple of days before the February 7, 2010 Sydney FC game at Parramatta Stadium. He replied stating that he was really excited to hear there would be a bay of fans going to show their support but was disappointed that he couldn't attend because he would be in Vietnam for his day job. He did say that a couple of the other board members would attend and come and meet us.

Fair enough just as the second half began, Peter Tredinnick showed up and introduced himself. He was very happy to see all of us and said that Ian Rowden was messaging on his iPhone all game asking about those that showed up in Bay 40. Peter was also a little disappointed that he had no merchandise to give to all of us. He said that come June/July there should be some merchandise available and personally, I think the announcement of those jersey designs are just something Reebok mocked up for some of these early merchandise sales. (I know these dates have now been and gone and we are still waiting, but there are more important issues to address first)

Peter gave us a little update, stating the club was going very well, they were talking to councils regarding stadiums, training facilities, they were finalising legal arrangements for the name and logo, and were also talking to kit manufacturers.

To say that he was happy to see a bunch of fans already would be an understatement. I hope to see more of the board engage the fans in the years to come. Yes, you are creating a team from scratch to enter a professional league; but in the end you are creating that team for us, the fans. Engaging the fans like this will go a long way in the long run.

And so the game went on. Bay 40 sang a few chants just for the sake of it. Hey, we were singing for a team that doesn't exist yet and weren't playing that day. There's no point in trying to sing for the entire 90 minutes. The point of the exercise was to let everyone know that we existed. This was our home, and you were only visiting. We got on TV, we got mentioned in the papers, and we got under the skin of The Cove just by showing up.

Mission accomplished.

And I'm extremely proud to be a part of that historic Day 1.