Phil SumblerSwansea City and Cardiff City will go head to head at the Liberty Stadium with Steve Cooper saying clearly “We all know this is as big as it gets in South Wales” but is it really as big when the fans are not there to create the atmosphere.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this means as much to the fans who will be forced to watch the live TV coverage tomorrow as it would do would there be the capacity crowd inside the Liberty that this game would command. But when the game kicks off at 5.30pm the atmosphere inside the ground will be the same as it was when Middlesbrough were there two weeks back and any of the other games we have played at home in the past twelve months.
It is therefore difficult to imagine that the intensity that was there the last time Cardiff visited the Liberty will be matched without that atmosphere emanating from the stands?
There will be players on both sides who understand the importance of this fixture in terms of bragging rights across the area but the large majority of the players – without that atmosphere – will see this as just another game for both sides.
Wayne Routledge is someone who doesn’t believe it is any less without the absence of the fans as he explained yesterday on the official Swans website “Derby week is a different week, that’s for sure,
“This year, with the pandemic, it is slightly different but it doesn’t take the gloss off derby day.
“It’s consuming and draining, and you can’t get away from it. The media are all over it, social media is buzzing, but you have to maintain your focus and prepare yourself properly.
“I’ve had my fair share of it now, and I’ll help my team-mates in any way possible in dealing with what comes our way in the build-up to the game.”
As a fan the anticipation for the game certainly feels better. A 530pm Saturday kick off would only build to that anticipation as the home fans start to gather in the vicinity of the stadium to enjoy the pre-match drinks and catch up before slowly adding to the atmosphere in the ground as it starts to fill up. Generally by kick off the ground feels more electric and the feeling of anticipation kicks in as this becomes a game that you really really don’t want to lose.
It is a game for me that matches no other as you feel the nerves when they attack and you almost will the ball towards the goal every time we attack. The feeling if they score is one of complete emptiness but the feeling when we score is one rarely matched by any goals in any season.
But tomorrow some of those feelings remain but many of them have been taken away and that is why I am just not sure the intensity of the game is the same. Routledge is right in that it is talked up by the media, the social media chat and, of course, the discussions on our forums but it just doesn’t quite have the same feeling.
“In terms of football in this part of the world, it does not get any bigger domestically. No matter wherever you play the game, the league positions or the form, it all goes out the window,” Cooper added in his press conference yesterday.
“We know it is important, as these derbies always are, and we have to use it as motivation to go and win.”
Once again tomorrow of course the Swans have the incentive of becoming the first side ever to do a league double in the fixture which probably suggests a 0-0 draw is on the cards but even that probably won’t have the same feeling without actually being in the ground itself.
This is important and, as said earlier, it is a game I want to win but I just don’t feel the intensity of the occasion without the crowds. And that is a great shame.
