The Big Blue (A-League Men)

The Big Blue
	Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory, Allianz Stadium, February 2010
Location	Sydney / Melbourne (Australia)
Teams	Sydney FC, ; Melbourne Victory
First meeting	Sydney FC 1–1 Melbourne Victory; (28 Aug 2005)
Latest meeting	Sydney FC 2–3 Melbourne Victory ; (28 April 2018)
Next meeting	TBA
Statistics
Meetings total	47
Most wins	Sydney FC (16)
Top scorer	Archie Thompson (9)
Largest victory	Melbourne Victory 5–0 Sydney FC; (16 October 2005); Melbourne Victory 0–5 Sydney FC; (26 January 2014)

The Big Blue,^[1] is a match in Australia's premier soccer competition, the A-League. It is contested between rivals Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. While the main colour of both teams are shades of the colour blue, in Australian English the word "blue" can also mean "a fight, brawl or heated argument".

History

Regional rivals

Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory FC were destined to become major rivals at the inception of the A-League due to the historic regional rivalry between the cities that each represent. At the time, the A-League operated under the "one-team, one-city"^[2] model, so the rivalry was almost instantaneous. The cities of Sydney and Melbourne have had a long-standing rivalry that dates back to pre-Federation Australia. Such was the rivalry, that neither city was chosen as the capital of Australia when federation occurred in 1901. Instead Melbourne served as a temporary capital until the permanent capital of Canberra, that was to be created closer to Sydney, was established. To this day, the two cities are generally competing for bragging rights to be Australia's premier city. Both believe they lay claim to this right as Sydney has been named world's best city by Condé Nast Traveler^[3] and Melbourne has been named world's most liveable city by The Economist.^[4] The Big Blue generally attracts some of the largest crowds and TV audiences of the regular season. Sydney and Melbourne are the two largest cities in Australia, with Sydney FC and Victory two of the league's most supported clubs and the rivalry was sparked by a number of highly competitive meetings between the two teams in early seasons.

Significant moments

The name has its origins in Australian slang, with "blue" meaning "fight" or "confrontation" and the fact that both clubs play in blue jerseys. The first competitive match between the two clubs was significantly played on the opening weekend of the inaugural 2005–06 A-League season. It was held on 28 August 2005 at Sydney FC's home ground, Sydney Football Stadium. Both teams were eager to stamp their authority as the biggest club in the league, with Sydney FC having already won the 2005 OFC Club Championship during pre-season. The match ended in a 1-all draw as Victory's first player signing and soon to become stalwart, Archie Thompson, cancelled out Sydney FC's marquee signing, Dwight Yorke's first half goal.^[5] The second meeting on 16 October 2005 resulted in a landslide win for Victory at their then home ground, Olympic Park Stadium, defeating Sydney FC 5–0.^[6] The result still stands as Sydney FC's worst defeat in this fixture.

The first encounter between the clubs during the 2006–07 A-League season (and fourth overall) entrenched the rivalry between the teams as passion and tension fueled the match. Sydney FC skipper, Mark Rudan was sent off after fourteen minutes and Victory player Fred elbowed Sydney FC defender Mark Milligan in the throat. Fred avoided sanction as he was substituted before the referee could see a replay on the big screen.^[6] The ugly incident required urgent medical attention as it left Milligan struggling to breathe and there were fears he swallowed his tongue.^[7] The following match in Melbourne, the sixth overall, set the record for attendance at an A-League match when 50,333 fans crammed into Etihad Stadium on 8 December 2006. The match ended in a nil-all draw.^[6]

After sealing the 2010 Premiership at home on the final day of the season by beating Melbourne 2-0, Sydney FC went on to win the Championship Grand Final on penalties at Melbourne's home stadium.

The rivalry reached another level in 2011, with both teams in pursuit of the signature of Socceroo Harry Kewell pre-season. Melbourne Victory announced they had signed Kewell on 20 August and five days afterwards Sydney FC announced that they had signed Socceroo Brett Emerton from Blackburn Rovers. The teams played out a 0–0 stalemate in the first round of the 2011-12 A-League season, with Australia's head coach not picking either player for national duty, allowing the eagerly-anticipated match up to occur.

A Big Blue match has been played each Australia Day at either the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium or Docklands Stadium in Melbourne since the 2011–12 A-League season which ended in a 2–all draw. However, the 2014–15 A-League season did not feature this fixture due to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Since 2012, the teams have played for the BeyondBlue Cup, which is awarded to the winning team in the Big Blue.^[8] Sydney FC claimed the inaugural BeyondBlue Cup by defeating Melbourne Victory 1-0 at Allianz Stadium on 10 March 2012.

On 10 November 2012, Melbourne Victory came from 2–0 down to win 3–2 at Allianz Stadium, with two late goals from substitute player Andrew Nabbout helping them achieve the result. This match turned out of be Ian Crook's last match as Sydney FC manager, as he announced his resignation shortly after the defeat, which was Sydney's fourth in six games.

The fixture played 8 December 2006 holds the record for the second highest attendance at a regular season match with 50,333 in attendance. Currently, three fixtures between the two sides make up the top ten of the League's highest regular season attendances.^[9]

With Sydney defeating Melbourne on the 3rd of March 2017 (36th match), they became the first side to win all 3 games of the rivalry in the normal season.

Melbourne Victory and Sydney met in the 2016/17 A-League Grand Final. Despite Sydney only losing 1 game throughout the whole season, it was Melbourne Victory who took the lead through a Besart Berisha goal. Sydney FC equalised after halftime thanks to Rhyan Grant. The game went to penalties and Sydney won 4-2 on penalties. It was the exact same scoreline as there meeting in the 2009/10 Grand Final.

Head-to-head summary

Competition	Played	Melbourne Victory wins	Draws	Sydney FC wins
A-League	46	14	17	15
A-League (excl. finals)	39	10	16	13
A-League Finals (incl. Grand Final)	7	4	1	2
A-League Grand Finals	3	1	0	2
FFA Cup	0	0	0	0
A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup	1	0	0	1
Total	47	14	17	16

As of 26 January 2018

All-time results

Regular season matches

#	Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Goals (home)	Goals (away)	Venue	Attendance
1	28 August 2005	Sydney	1 – 1	Melbourne	Yorke (44)	Thompson (72)	Sydney Football Stadium	25,208
2	16 October 2005	Melbourne	5 – 0	Sydney	Kitzbichler (34), Muscat (53, 78), Thompson (57, 69)	—	Olympic Park Stadium	18,208
3	3 December 2005	Sydney	2 – 1	Melbourne	Corica (24), Carney (81)	Allsopp (88)	Sydney Football Stadium	17,272
4	2 September 2006	Melbourne	3 – 2	Sydney	Allsopp (8), (51) Muscat (p 11)	Fyfe (18), Vargas (o.g. 83)	Docklands Stadium	39,730
5	21 October 2006	Sydney	1 – 2	Melbourne	Corica (8)	Thompson (50, 73)	Sydney Football Stadium	20,881
6	8 December 2006	Melbourne	0 – 0	Sydney	—	—	Docklands Stadium	50,333
7	6 October 2007	Sydney	0 – 1	Melbourne	—	Allsopp (82)	Sydney Football Stadium	18,436
8	10 November 2007	Melbourne	0 – 0	Sydney	—	—	Docklands Stadium	31,884
9	20 January 2008	Sydney	2 – 2	Melbourne	Corica (4), Brosque (62)	Milligan (o.g. 46), Allsopp (76)	Sydney Football Stadium	33,458
10	16 August 2008	Sydney	0 – 0	Melbourne	—	—	Sydney Football Stadium	16,227
11	25 October 2008	Melbourne	0 – 2	Sydney	—	Bridge (20) Aloisi (62)	Docklands Stadium	31,654
12	27 December 2008	Melbourne	3 – 2	Sydney	Thompson (14), Ward (78), Ney Fabiano (80)	Cole (1), Gan (4)	Docklands Stadium	33,458
13	9 October 2009	Melbourne	0 – 3	Sydney	—	Brosque (14), Bridge (17,19)	Docklands Stadium	30,668
14	19 December 2009	Melbourne	0 – 0	Sydney	—	—	Docklands Stadium	27,344
15	14 February 2010	Sydney	2 – 0	Melbourne	Kisel (34), Aloisi (49)	—	Sydney Football Stadium	25,407
16	7 August 2010	Sydney	3 – 3	Melbourne	Brosque (36), McFlynn (54), Cole (85)	Broxham (66), Dugandzic (67), Celeski (73)	Sydney Football Stadium	12,106
17	16 October 2010	Melbourne	3 – 0	Sydney	Vargas (20), Hernández (49), Kruse (90)	—	Docklands Stadium	17,299
18	15 January 2011	Sydney	1 – 1	Melbourne	Mäkelä (90)	Allsopp (51)	Sydney Football Stadium	11,387
19	8 October 2011	Melbourne	0 – 0	Sydney	—	—	Docklands Stadium	40,351
20	26 January 2012	Melbourne	2 – 2	Sydney	Cernak (45), Fabio (45+2)	Cazarine (56), Ryall (90)	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium	20,053
21	10 March 2012	Sydney	1 – 0	Melbourne	Kisel (p 34)	—	Sydney Football Stadium	18,180
22	10 November 2012	Sydney	2 – 3	Melbourne	Yau (14), Bosschaart (48)	Nabbout (75, 88), Thompson (83)	Sydney Football Stadium	21,531
23	26 January 2013	Melbourne	3 – 1	Sydney	Rojas (23, 73), Thompson (67)	Griffiths (75)	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium	26,882
24	16 March 2013	Sydney	1 – 1	Melbourne	Yau (85)	Milligan (3)	Sydney Football Stadium	22,233
25	9 November 2013	Sydney	3 – 2	Melbourne	Garcia (3), Ryall (15), Del Piero (p 37)	Thompson (18), Troisi (27)	Sydney Football Stadium	18,784
26	26 January 2014	Melbourne	0 – 5	Sydney	—	Despotovic (11), Del Piero (p 20, 54), Ryall (25), Carle (87)	Docklands Stadium	24,354
27	29 March 2014	Melbourne	1 – 1	Sydney	Troisi (63)	Chianese (48)	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium	20,447
28	15 November 2014	Sydney	0 – 0	Melbourne	—	—	Sydney Football Stadium	21,242
29	13 December 2014	Melbourne	3 – 3	Sydney	Thompson (23, 47, 79)	Janko (17), Smeltz (51, 76)	Docklands Stadium	25,242
30	14 February 2015	Sydney	3 – 3	Melbourne	Janko (p 8), Smeltz (p 73, 85)	Barbarouses (34), Finkler (41), Ansell (78)	Sydney Football Stadium	17,352
31	14 November 2015	Sydney	2 – 4	Melbourne	Hološko (5), Brosque (20)	Berisha (9, 90+2), Finkler (28), Barbarouses (68)	Sydney Football Stadium	15,947
32	26 January 2016	Melbourne	1 – 0	Sydney	Jurman (o.g. 79)	—	Docklands Stadium	30,493
33	27 February 2016	Melbourne	1 – 1	Sydney	Barbarouses (46)	Carney (76)	AAMI Park	20,112
34	5 November 2016	Sydney	2 – 1	Melbourne	Carney (63,78)	Austin (41)	Sydney Football Stadium	19,143
35	26 January 2017	Melbourne	1 – 2	Sydney	Troisi (18)	Hološko (38), Ibini (65)	Docklands Stadium	30,262
36	3 March 2017	Sydney	1 – 0	Melbourne	Bobô (20)	—	Sydney Football Stadium	13,310
37	7 October 2017	Melbourne	0 – 1	Sydney	—	Deng (o.g. 53)	Docklands Stadium	24,804
38	26 January 2018	Melbourne	1 – 3	Sydney	Besart Berisha (p 58)	Bobô (60, p 78), David Carney (84)	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium	21,037
39	14 April 2018	Sydney	1 – 0	Melbourne	Bobô (8)		Sydney Football Stadium	15,567

Home Team	Matches	Wins	Losses	Draws
League home record
Sydney	19	7	4	8
Melbourne	20	7	5	8

Matches	Sydney FC wins	Melbourne Victory wins	Draws
Overall League Head to Head record
39	13	10	16

Finals series matches

#	Date	Round	Home team	Score	Away team	Goals (home)	Goals (away)	Venue	Attendance
1	18 February 2010	Semi Final 1st Leg	Melbourne	2 – 1	Sydney	Mrdja (16), Hernández (40)	Aloisi (43)	Docklands Stadium	28,453
2	7 March 2010	Semi Final 2nd Leg	Sydney	2 – 2 AET	Melbourne	Kisel (36 Pen), Bridge (54)	Kruse (15), Thompson (114)	Sydney Football Stadium	23,818
3	20 March 2010	Grand Final	Melbourne	1 – 1 AET 2 – 4 pens	Sydney	Leijer (81)	Bridge (63)	Docklands Stadium	44,560
4	18 April 2014	Elimination Final	Melbourne	2 – 1	Sydney	Thompson (19), Finkler (92)	Ryall (33)	Docklands Stadium	20,802
5	17 May 2015	Grand Final	Melbourne	3 – 0	Sydney	Berisha (33), Barbarouses (83), Broxham (90)		AAMI Park	29,843
6	7 May 2017	Grand Final	Sydney	1 – 1 AET 4 – 2 pens	Melbourne	Grant (69)	Berisha (20)	Sydney Football Stadium	41,546
7	28 April 2018	Semi Final	Sydney	2 – 3 AET	Melbourne			Sydney Football Stadium	TBA

Home Team	Matches	Wins	Losses	Draws
Finals home record
Sydney	3	1	1	1
Melbourne	4	3	1	0

Matches	Sydney FC wins	Melbourne Victory wins	Draws
Overall Finals Head to Head record
7	2	4	1

Leading goalscorers (5+ goals)

Player	Club	Goals Scored
Archie Thompson	Melbourne	9
David Carney	Sydney	5
Mark Bridge	Sydney	5

BOLD indicates player still playing for that club.

Players who played for both clubs

Player	Melbourne	Sydney
Sebastian Ryall	2007–2009	2009–2018
Mark Milligan	2012–2015 2017–2018	2005–2008
Fabio	2011–2012	2012–2013
Danny Vukovic	2015–2016	2016–2017
Terry Antonis	2018-	2010–2015

References

^ http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/marquees-deflate-salvage-mission-rather-than-glory-quest-for-duo-soccer/story-e6frf4gl-1226295621489
^ Gorman, Joe (8 November 2012). "'Big Blue' still the A-League's big rivalry". www.theroar.com.au. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
^ "Sydney once more voted the world's number one city". www.eventsnsw.com.au. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
^ Lucas, Clay (19 August 2015). "Melbourne named world's most liveable city, for fifth year running". The Age. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
^ "Round 1". www.ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bossi, Dominic (15 May 2015). "A-League grand final: 10 moments that define the Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory rivalry". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
^ Bossi, Dominic (14 February 2015). "History fuels the rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory, says Mark Milligan". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Statistics Attendance". ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 23 November 2015.

[1] ttp://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/marquees-deflate-salvage-mission-rather-than-glory-quest-for-duo-soccer/story-e6frf4gl-1226295621489

[2] Gorman, Joe (8 November 2012). "'Big Blue' still the A-League's big rivalry". www.theroar.com.au. Retrieved 27 November 2015.

[3] "Sydney once more voted the world's number one city". www.eventsnsw.com.au. Retrieved 27 November 2015.

[4] Lucas, Clay (19 August 2015). "Melbourne named world's most liveable city, for fifth year running". The Age. Retrieved 27 November 2015.

[5] "Round 1". www.ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 27 November 2015.

[10_moments-6] Bossi, Dominic (15 May 2015). "A-League grand final: 10 moments that define the Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory rivalry". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2015.

[Milligan_rivalry-7] Bossi, Dominic (14 February 2015). "History fuels the rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory, says Mark Milligan". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2015.

[8] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[9] "Statistics Attendance". ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 23 November 2015.

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