One word: Premiers

disclaimer: sappiness may be present in the following opinion piece.

So it had all come to this. Avoiding defeat in Newcastle will hand the Premier’s Plate to Western Sydney Wanderers. Of course we were confident of getting a result but Newcastle Jets had to win to get into the finals. This is football and anything can happen. Which Newcastle would show up and which Wanderers side would show up?

I had actually bought my ticket to this match six months ago when they went on sale. To me, and many others, it was merely another NSW away game that without question we would be attending. Back then we discussed that hopefully this game means something like scraping into the finals or some such. We hoped that our season wouldn’t be over by the time this game came around and that we’d be playing for merely ninth spot or similar. How a few months in football can change reality.

Before the game though, more important business had to be attended to. The supporters had organised what was dubbed as the RBBQ - an open invite to all Western Sydney supporters to get together, have some cevapi with ajvar, celebrate the season and gear up for the final round. It was a resounding success with an estimated couple of thousand supporters attending throughout the afternoon.  A big thank you must be extended to the Broadmeadow Magic football club for offering their facilities for the day. Our utmost gratitude goes to them and we certainly will be taking up their offer to hopefully make the Newcastle away trip RBBQ a tradition in years to come.

We also had a very special guest attend the RBBQ. None other than Wynston the Wanderer showed up and all the girls flocked to him to take pictures with him and profess their undying love and offer to have his children. It was mayhem.

Oh and his handler Jerrad Tyson showed up too.

Tyson actually baked a cake with a few of the team to show his appreciation for the fans and their part in this great story. Wynston decided to have a cake off between that cake and one made by @phuocndelicious. In the end, we were all winners.

Jerrad extended his gratitude to Broadmeadow and presented a signed jersey and team poster to the club

As I walked around the RBBQ I was completely amazed by the scenes. There were kids running around kicking a ball, there were families everywhere, young couples, grandparents, people from all walks of life coming together to enjoy the day and the occasion. I finally got to meet a fair number of people I’ve had only online contact with all season so it was a good opportunity to finally put faces to names, albeit at the end of the season. I talked to a few friends who I’d met 9 months ago at the first fan meetings when there were only about 20 or so of us and before the Red and Black Bloc name had been decided upon. I said to them “who would have thunk it huh?” We had come a long way.

When we finally invaded Hunter Stadium it was a sight in itself. To have upwards of 10,000 away fans was amazing. I don’t know what the home fans must have thought when they walked into their own stadium and saw that half a grandstand was red and black. Of course the success on the park is a major factor, but the accomplishment must be applauded. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Central Coast or Sydney FC fans take up that many bays in any of their games at this stadium.

The players were pumped right from the get go. When they came out to warm up they were met with a huge reception from their adoring public. The Jets’ players were met with a chorus of boos and jeers. Wanderland has become a travelling entity in its own right. We will bring Wanderland to you!

It was good to see Captain Michael Beauchamp back into the lineup. We definitely missed his leadership last week. Young Yianni Perkatis made his senior debut in a high pressure match, and he didn’t look out of place at all. Van Hersi returned to the lineup and we were all hoping his good luck charm of always winning when he is in the starting XI will continue.

Right from the kickoff you could tell the boys were up for it. They were extremely disappointed with the result the week before at the Derby d’Sydney, even though they didn’t lose. Mark Bridge in particular, playing in the playmaking role, again had a tireless game. His hard work paid off when he scored the Wanderers’ fastest ever goal within seven minutes. He was pumped for the entire game and was rewarded with a second goal after the half hour mark. For the first time ever, his total goals in a season reached the double digits. Another testament to the hard work and phenomenal season the players have had this year.

Going into halftime, I could taste the Premier’s Plate. Western Sydney has never conceded more than two goals in a single game all season. I just couldn’t see the Jets performing that feat. The entire Wanderers team were putting in 110% effort on the park. They wanted silverware. They wanted to reward their 10,000 strong travelling fan base. They weren’t going to let it slip away now.

The second half didn’t have the intensity of the first and a few heart in throat moments, like when the Jets hit the post, were had but when Rocky Visconte scored a rocket from outside the box just before the 80th minute, the Plate was confirmed to be ours. A seven bay Poznan followed and the noise levels increased even more so as we counted down to the final whistle.

The final whistle blew and euphoria erupted around the stadium. Somehow, against all odds we had reached the summit a few weeks ago and held onto it to claim the Premiers Plate. For the first time this season, Tony Popovic came over to acknowledge the fans. The applause he received was deafening. There is no doubt in any Wanderers fan’s mind that Popa is the single reason we are where we are today. I think back to that first fan forum at Mounties a year ago and Popa was the first name raised by the fans to lead the club. In hindsight, a good decision methinks.

The FFA in all their wisdom, once again, decided that presenting the Premier’s Plate in front of 10,000 travelling fans was not a good idea. Instead they think that presenting the Plate at Parramatta Stadium in TWO WEEKS TIME before an elimination semi final is a better idea. *insert facepalm meme here*

So in true Westie Scum fashion, we DIY’d the plate from an actual real life salad plate that was used at the RBBQ a few hours earlier. So that famous picture of Labinot Haliti holding up a Plate that is BIGGER than the official one, was in actual fact used for salad a mere few hours earlier. So FFA, if you want to ruin a moment, we’ll just create one ourselves.

Following the celebrations with the team after full time I hugged many friends that I’ve made over the past year and we exchanged comments such as:

“We just didn’t want to come last!”

“Remember when we were in Adelaide in Round 2 and we had that feeling of disappointment of losing and still not having scored a goal?”

That seems so long ago now.

La Banda led the fans with their absolutely awesome drumming ability, fans from both Western Sydney and Newcastle cheering them on from the sides as a victory march exited the stadium. The Newcastle fans were great and very welcoming, congratulating us on the victory and the achievement.

It’s amazing when you think back and reflect on all the milestone and achievements from the announcement of New Sydney Club to where we are now. To going to fan meetings that Lyall Gorman himself attended. Discussing which direction we wanted the active support to take and voting on the name Red and Black Bloc - a name that is now synonymous with Western Sydney Wanderers. To standing on a muddy hill in St Marys for the first ever preseason game with 50 other people singing a couple of songs. To merely hoping we don’t come last and dreaming of scraping into the finals. The memories of travelling in numbers to huge games such as the Sydney away derby, the Melbourne Victory game, Gosford and now Newcastle.

We don’t really care about comments that try and hold us down such as “you are only getting good crowds because of the results”. Every team is like this and the fact is, every team in the A-League has had good seasons and bad seasons. I’m not naive to think we won’t have poor seasons. Its inevitable in a salary capped league. But let us enjoy the moment whilst its here. We’ll never have a season such as this again - winning 10 games straight being a highlight. But as an expansion club, surely its better to have a really successful season or two in its formative years rather than always be behind the eight ball and struggling to get media space and to capture the hearts and minds of its potential fans. It's to the benefit of the entire A-League for an expansion team to be successful on and off the pitch early on. Just ask North Queensland Fury, Gold Coast United and even Melbourne Heart.

The extra foreigner argument is weak at best. The great equaliser in the A-League is the salary cap (for most clubs..). Popa could just have easily signed up six dud foreigners. Its only because almost all of them have been standout players this season that people are complaining about it. So again, its a testament to Popa’s recruiting and getting the best out of his players. The real difference in the A-League is the coach. Ange, Arnie and now Popa have proven that. Those teams that don’t have a stable coaching structure or one without a real philosophy are the ones that are struggling on the park. Its got nothing to do with 1 extra visa player. And dare I say that I have a feeling that Wanderers will only have five visa players next season.

We now go into the finals full of confidence and with a week off to allow all those niggling injuries heal up. Hopefully in two weeks we’ll have a full strength side to play for a place in the Grand Final.

For now, let us celebrate an absolute mind boggling achievement for a club hastily thrown together with a bunch of rejects and cast offs that was widely tipped to come last.

Western Sydney Wanderers. 2012/2013 Premiers.

PS We’re going to ASIA!!!! The publicity that Ono is going to give our team in Asia is going to be absolutely phenomenal.