The Tyne–Wear derby, also known as the Wear–Tyne derby or the North East derby, is a local derby between the association football clubs Sunderland and Newcastle United. The derby is an inter-city rivalry in North East England with the two cities of Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne just 12 miles (19 km) apart. Sunderland play their home matches at the Stadium of Light whilst Newcastle play their home matches at St. James’ Park. The first meeting of the two sides took place in 1883, with the first competitive fixture being an FA Cup tie in 1888 which Sunderland won 2–0 over Newcastle East End.
The statistical balance between the sides is very even: to date, having played 157 times in their history (excluding friendlies) with Newcastle just edging out Sunderland by a win, 54 to 53 wins respectively whilst sharing 50 draws.
Rivalry beyond football
The history of the Tyne–Wear derby is a modern-day extension of a rivalry between Sunderland and Newcastle that dates back to the English Civil War when protestations over advantages that merchants in Royalist Newcastle had over their Wearside counterparts led to Sunderland becoming a Parliamentarian stronghold.
Sunderland and Newcastle again found themselves on opposite sides during the Jacobite risings, with Newcastle in support of the Hanoverians with the German King George, and Sunderland siding with the Scottish Stuarts.
Football rivalry
Prior to the beginning of the twentieth century, the main rivalries in Sunderland and Newcastle were cross-town affairs. In Newcastle a rivalry existed during the 1880s between Newcastle East End (later to become Newcastle United) and Newcastle West End, which was ended with West End's bankruptcy in 1892. Meanwhile, on Wearside, a group of players broke away from Sunderland and formed the rival Sunderland Albion in 1888, though Albion was forced to fold four years later. The first meeting between the two took place in 1883, with the first competitive fixture an FA Cup tie in November 1887; Sunderland won 2–0.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the rivalry began to emerge. The 1901 Good Friday encounter, late in the 1900–01 season at St James' Park had to be abandoned as up to 120,000 fans made their way into a ground which then had a capacity of 30,000. The news was met with anger and rioting followed, with a number of fans injured.However, in general, although the derby attracted big crowds – with fans often climbing trees and buildings for views of the game – there is little evidence to suggest any animosity between the two sets of supporters in the pre-war and immediate post-war period.
On 5 December 1908, Sunderland beat Newcastle 9–1 at St James' Park; despite this, Newcastle still won the league title that season finishing nine points ahead of their local rivals who finished 3rd.The result remains the biggest ever win in a Tyne–Wear derby, as well as the Wearsiders' biggest ever win away from home and Newcastle's biggest ever home league defeat. Newcastle's largest victory margin in a derby is 6–1, which they have achieved twice – at home in 1920 and away in 1955.
In a memorable derby on 25 August 1999, Newcastle manager Ruud Gullit dropped leading scorers Alan Shearer and Duncan Ferguson to the bench. Sunderland went on to win 2–1 at St. James' Park thanks to goals from Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn, and in the face of outrage from Newcastle fans, Gullit quit before their next match. Sunderland repeated the feat a year later, in a match remembered for Sunderland goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen saving a Shearer penalty.
With Sunderland having been relegated to the third tier of English football in 2018, they became eligible for the EFL Trophy, which also included underage teams of Premier League clubs such as Newcastle. Sunderland's first team met Newcastle's Under-21s in the 2018–19 competition, winning 4–0;due to the local interest this match attracted a crowd of over 16,000, far above the average for the competition, but is not counted towards statistics relating to the derby (Sunderland went on to reach the final but lost to Portsmouth on penalties). Newcastle faced Sunderland away in the FA Cup on 6 January 2024, the first derby since 2016. Newcastle won that match 3–0, securing a first away win over their rivals since 2011.
Hooliganism and violence
The Tyne–Wear derby has on occasion experienced incidents of football hooliganism. In 1990, as Sunderland led the playoff semi final 2–0, some Newcastle fans entered the pitch, in the hope of getting the match abandoned. There were 160 arrests in connection with a game in 2001.
In 2008, after Sunderland beat Newcastle at home for the first time in 28 years, there was a small pitch invasion by Sunderland fans, and missiles were thrown at Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton, although manager Roy Keane played down the seriousness of the incident. On 16 January 2011 in the FA Premier League clash at the Stadium of Light, a 17-year-old Sunderland fan ran onto the pitch and pushed over Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper, and was among 24 people who were arrested in connection with a string of hooligan incidents at the gameHowever, incidents of violence are not as common as sometimes suggested – for example Sunderland were awarded the best behaved fans award for the 2010–11 season, despite the derby day arrests.
On 14 April 2013, some Newcastle United fans rioted on the streets of Newcastle upon Tyne following the 3–0 defeat by Sunderland at St. James' Park, with one fan's attack on a police horse gaining international media attention. Four police officers were injured and 29 arrests made. Confrontation between fans of the rival teams at Newcastle railway station was shown in the television series All Aboard: East Coast Trains in an episode entitled "Derby Day".
Away fans and policing
The 1996–97 season saw Sunderland join Newcastle in the Premier League. However proposals were put forward to ban Newcastle fans from the ageing Roker Park on safety and security grounds. A last-minute agreement by Sunderland and Northumbria Police was to allow 1,000 Newcastle supporters to attend the game. However, Newcastle had already made arrangements for a live televised beamback, and so rejected the offer. Responding to criticism from fans, Newcastle's then Chief Executive Freddie Fletcher suggested that the state of Roker Park was to blame and told fans: “Don't blame Newcastle. Don't blame Northumbria Police. Blame Sunderland!”In response to the ban on Newcastle fans at Roker Park, Newcastle placed a similar ban on Sunderland fans for the return fixture at St James' Park.
Fearing that this would set a precedent for future derby matches, supporters groups and fanzines of both sides joined to form the Wear United pressure group. Supporters of both sides were assured that away fans would be able to attend future derby games, though this was probably more to do with the fact that the 1996–97 season was Sunderland's last at Roker Park before moving into the brand new Stadium of Light.
In January 2014, following violence after the previous year's derby in Newcastle, a 'bubble trip' was announced for Sunderland fans wishing to travel to St James' Park for the game- supporters would be denied entry unless they travelled to the game on official buses leaving from Sunderland, regardless of where they lived. The measure resulted in an angry response from both Sunderland and Newcastle supporters, with websites and fanzines from both sets of fans issuing a joint statement opposing the measure.Subsequently, a row broke out between the clubs and Northumbria Police as to why the bubble trip was being implemented, and Sunderland AFC withdrew the conditions, and in a joint statement with Newcastle United, criticised Northumbria Police's claims that they had not directed changes in kick off times over many years as 'false and absurd', and that all future games would kick off at times to suit the clubs and any TV broadcasts.
