This is an area teeming with regional pride and regional disputes. There are many divisions here because this area has had a turbulent history, you have the geordies, mackems, monkey hangers, pit yackers, quakers, sand dancers, sand rakers, smogs and many many more. But the big rivalry is one which has existed for centuries, and that is Newcastle v Sunderland, the geordies vs the mackems. From economic prosperity right through to starvation the rivalry has never ceased.
Noone knows exactly when or how the rivalry began, but it is believed that heavy rivalry between the cities began during the English civil war. In 1642, before the troubles began, King Charles 1 awarded coal trading rights to the coal merchants of Newcastle, effectively putting their industrial rivals Sunderland out of business. In 1644 Newcastle was attacked by the Scottish Army who sided with Cromwell against King Charles. Bitter about Newcastle's industrial success, Sunderland, unlike the rest of northern England, supported the Scottish rebellions. Because of Sunderland's location just a few miles south, Newcastle was easily surrounded by a Scottish-Mackem alliance and captured. Newcastle were outraged at this act of treason, and there began a bitter rivalry which would last centuries and claim many lives.
Why has the rivalry lasted?
Well, it holds all the ingredients of a strong rivalry. Newcastle and Sunderland are the only two cities for nearly a hundred miles, so it's a constant battle to be "king of the north". There are only 3 clubs in the far north of England who play at the highest level: Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough have only been successful in recent years and isn't a city but already they are a big rival. This isolation of the cities and the clubs means as a kid you have to make a firm choice: are you a geordie or a mackem? Now this will almost certainly be decided for you, by your upbringing and by your location. Newcastle is on the Tyne river. You live there and you are a geordie, and you worship Newcastle. The river Wear running parallel a few miles south has the city of Sunderland. You live near that river - you're a mackem, and you follow Sunderland.
Another possible explanation for why this old rivalry prevales is that this region has basically been shat on historically. We were once the backbone of the British empire, we did a lot to make this country great and were sacrificed for it. The river Tyne was the most productive shipbuilding river in the world right up until the early 1900s and had the largest mining community (have you ever heard the phrase "that'll be like taking coal to Newcastle"?). But then came depression, and this area was the worst affected region in Britain, there was absolute starvation. In 1936 the average unemployment in Britain was 18%. In my town, Jarrow, only 18% of people were employed. The townspeople of Jarrow walked 300 miles to London in request of government aid and were basically turned back. World War Two brought some industrial jobs, but the region's industrial might had gone forever (some historians believe the area was basically sold out, sacrificed). With WW2 came more economic rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland because Sunderland were back into business producing tank parts (they were also bombed by the Luftwaffe). Recently Newcastle United's chairman Sir John Hall made a controversial speech about "The Geordie Nation" which bolsted feelings of independence in Newcastle and feelings of hatred in Sunderland (people in Sunderland are always being called geordies in other parts of the country because noone understands this area. As you can imagine they hate being called that).
So as you can see it's pretty complicated and I don't really understand all of it. Today it's much simpler, I follow Newcastle and I hate Sunderland, it's as simple as that. Not just Sunderland football club, but the people and the city, the river and the region. They hate us, they are so backwards, they whinge about everything, it's a sh*thole. We want nothing to do with them quite frankly (they finally built a metro connection between the cities last year and it is already losing millions because people won't use it). Newcastle is a great city and the people are great but Sunderland is just so tacky and cheesy, and that's the good bits! The rest is just a ghetto.
In 9 days I have a ticket to see Newcastle play Sunderland in Sunderland. It will be pretty violent because this is the last time the two clubs will face each other for at least a year (Sunderland have just been relegated). The atmosphere will be incredible though.
I hope this has answered your question
It's a long story but most of the supporters don't know anything about the history, the passion here is purely football. Most geordies aren't so bothered about the history because we look to the future (I'm quite interested in history though 
). The mackems on the other hand have a different mentality, but I think I've given you the picture.
One of the funniest things I read about the rivalry in recent times was about some Sunderland supporters (mackems) who went all the way to Rotterdam in Holland just to join the Feyenoord supporters and chant against Newcastle. They were going mental with celebrations and thought Newcastle had been knocked out of the Champions League until we scored in the dying seconds of the game and went through :lol: They'd gone abroad just to celebrate us losing and we won! Ah well, I suppose that's the closest they'll ever get to Champions League football
By the way Newcastle is known as the "toon" (I can't be arsed to explain why) so the "toon army" is a term known throughout the country for Newcastle and it's supporters. We are also known as the magpies (because we're black and white).
Noone knows exactly when or how the rivalry began, but it is believed that heavy rivalry between the cities began during the English civil war. In 1642, before the troubles began, King Charles 1 awarded coal trading rights to the coal merchants of Newcastle, effectively putting their industrial rivals Sunderland out of business. In 1644 Newcastle was attacked by the Scottish Army who sided with Cromwell against King Charles. Bitter about Newcastle's industrial success, Sunderland, unlike the rest of northern England, supported the Scottish rebellions. Because of Sunderland's location just a few miles south, Newcastle was easily surrounded by a Scottish-Mackem alliance and captured. Newcastle were outraged at this act of treason, and there began a bitter rivalry which would last centuries and claim many lives.
Why has the rivalry lasted?
Well, it holds all the ingredients of a strong rivalry. Newcastle and Sunderland are the only two cities for nearly a hundred miles, so it's a constant battle to be "king of the north". There are only 3 clubs in the far north of England who play at the highest level: Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough have only been successful in recent years and isn't a city but already they are a big rival. This isolation of the cities and the clubs means as a kid you have to make a firm choice: are you a geordie or a mackem? Now this will almost certainly be decided for you, by your upbringing and by your location. Newcastle is on the Tyne river. You live there and you are a geordie, and you worship Newcastle. The river Wear running parallel a few miles south has the city of Sunderland. You live near that river - you're a mackem, and you follow Sunderland.
Another possible explanation for why this old rivalry prevales is that this region has basically been shat on historically. We were once the backbone of the British empire, we did a lot to make this country great and were sacrificed for it. The river Tyne was the most productive shipbuilding river in the world right up until the early 1900s and had the largest mining community (have you ever heard the phrase "that'll be like taking coal to Newcastle"?). But then came depression, and this area was the worst affected region in Britain, there was absolute starvation. In 1936 the average unemployment in Britain was 18%. In my town, Jarrow, only 18% of people were employed. The townspeople of Jarrow walked 300 miles to London in request of government aid and were basically turned back. World War Two brought some industrial jobs, but the region's industrial might had gone forever (some historians believe the area was basically sold out, sacrificed). With WW2 came more economic rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland because Sunderland were back into business producing tank parts (they were also bombed by the Luftwaffe). Recently Newcastle United's chairman Sir John Hall made a controversial speech about "The Geordie Nation" which bolsted feelings of independence in Newcastle and feelings of hatred in Sunderland (people in Sunderland are always being called geordies in other parts of the country because noone understands this area. As you can imagine they hate being called that).
So as you can see it's pretty complicated and I don't really understand all of it. Today it's much simpler, I follow Newcastle and I hate Sunderland, it's as simple as that. Not just Sunderland football club, but the people and the city, the river and the region. They hate us, they are so backwards, they whinge about everything, it's a sh*thole. We want nothing to do with them quite frankly (they finally built a metro connection between the cities last year and it is already losing millions because people won't use it). Newcastle is a great city and the people are great but Sunderland is just so tacky and cheesy, and that's the good bits! The rest is just a ghetto.
In 9 days I have a ticket to see Newcastle play Sunderland in Sunderland. It will be pretty violent because this is the last time the two clubs will face each other for at least a year (Sunderland have just been relegated). The atmosphere will be incredible though.
I hope this has answered your question
It's a long story but most of the supporters don't know anything about the history, the passion here is purely football. Most geordies aren't so bothered about the history because we look to the future (I'm quite interested in history though ). The mackems on the other hand have a different mentality, but I think I've given you the picture.One of the funniest things I read about the rivalry in recent times was about some Sunderland supporters (mackems) who went all the way to Rotterdam in Holland just to join the Feyenoord supporters and chant against Newcastle. They were going mental with celebrations and thought Newcastle had been knocked out of the Champions League until we scored in the dying seconds of the game and went through :lol: They'd gone abroad just to celebrate us losing and we won! Ah well, I suppose that's the closest they'll ever get to Champions League football
By the way Newcastle is known as the "toon" (I can't be arsed to explain why) so the "toon army" is a term known throughout the country for Newcastle and it's supporters. We are also known as the magpies (because we're black and white).
