More than a hundred years ago, in the 19th century, before modern football and basketball were formed, horse racing was the first sport in Europe. 1870 The word "Derby" appeared in horse racing when it was born in the field of sports. At that time, Edward stahly, Earl of Derby of the12nd generation, quoted "Derby" as a race between two horses of the same weight, both aged 3, in the oldest Epson horse race in Shirley, England, which lasted for 1.5 miles.
(derby's Chinese translation into "Derby" may also be mispronounced. In fact, when the British pronounce this word, they all pronounce it "Darby". In fact, there are many similar mistakes in Chinese transliteration, many of which have been left behind for a long time because of convention. Within the scope of football, such as Leicester, British English is pronounced as "Leicester", and there is a Leicester Square in the center of London.
2 1 century after 130, Epson horse racing continued, but when people heard "Derby" again, it was already on the football field, and the "Derby" at this time also extended to the confrontation between teams in the same city or neighboring cities in football geography. There are London Derby, Manchester Derby, Birmingham Derby, North Derby and South Coast Derby in Premier League, Rome Derby and Milan Derby in Serie A, Madrid Derby and Barcelona Derby in La Liga and Munich Derby in Bundesliga.
If you don't understand the profound meaning of derby, you will lose the most primitive understanding of English football. English football originated from various clubs formed in various regions during the industrial revolution, or formed a hostile relationship because of regional division, such as the derby between Manchester United and Liverpool in a broad sense, and the derby between Manchester United and Arsenal.
Manchester and Liverpool are only over forty miles apart. I lived in Liverpool in the second year while working in England. I often go to Manchester to participate in interview competitions, and I can reach Old Trafford and the main road in 40 minutes. After the relocation of Manchester City in the summer of 2003, the new Manchester Stadium is only 50 minutes' drive from Liverpool. The M62 highway connects the two cities.
However, such close neighbors are two completely different cities, two absolutely opposite cities. The best peaceful solution to the accumulation of opposing hatred year after year is to look at the level of the football field.
Liverpool is famous for its seaport. In our history books, there are many disgraceful histories of this city. For example, the early prosperity of Liverpool included the sale of African slaves and China "pigs" as cheap labor. Judging from the residents' structure, Liverpool is an Irish immigrant city. Because it is convenient to get to Dublin and Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, Liverpool is a Catholic city in religion, not a Protestant Episcopal Church like most cities in Britain. Religious differences, but also because of the fierce historical conflict between Catholicism and the state religion in British history, always make other British people regard Liverpool people with special respect. Liverpool people cherish their cultural background very much, and even their accents are very different from those of other British people, mixed with many Irish and Scottish accents, which makes Liverpool people look very different among British people. British English has a proper noun "Scouser".
With its rare cultural tradition and unique geographical location, Liverpool has a very special position during the industrial revolution: as the most important port in northern England, it is the only way for the British Empire to import and export industrial products and colonial raw materials. An extremely busy seaport handles goods and labor from all over the world every day, and then it leads from mersey river and canals built in18th century to Manchester, Birmingham and northern Scotland.
Manchester is a traditional international city, absolutely loyal to the Queen and proud of the people of the British Empire. During the industrial revolution, Manchester won the reputation of "world factory" because of its great textile industry. Compared with Liverpool, which is dominated by businessmen and transport owners, Manchester is a purely industrial city with a large number of working class as the main body of society. Simple, low-key and solid are the characteristics of this labor city. For the traditional Manchester people, all the prosperity is created by the hard work of their hands, and their living habits are similar to those of the Puritans. Therefore, Manchester people have little affection for Liverpool businessmen who are superficial and have flashy habits.
Compared with the climate, Manchester is the most changeable city in Britain. It rains three or four times a day and enjoys three or four periods of sunshine at the same time, so that Scott uses the weather in Manchester to describe the mentality of women. Liverpool is close to the ocean, and the climate is more stable than Manchester. Liverpool is famous for its bars. There are nearly 300 bars in the downtown area. Every weekend, people are busy. Many British people, including Europeans, come to the bars here on weekends because Liverpool bars have unique music and humor. No matter whether it is cold or hot, girls in Liverpool will wear sexy evening dresses to go clubbing on weekends, which has also formed a great spectacle in Liverpool. When I talk to Bobby Hatch, the girlfriend of former Arsenal captain Tony Adams in London, she will exclaim, "The girls there are amazing. Even at Christmas, they will wear bikinis to nightclubs. " Bobby's words may be exaggerated, but Liverpool's bar culture can really make people think.
There are many bars in Manchester, but walking on Oxford Road in the center of the city on weekends, you won't feel as happy and relaxed as Liverpool weekend bars, but you have to worry about broken bottles in the street or drunken people who feel sorry for themselves in some dark corner. The bar here has always been a place for working-class people to relax and vent after work, which is simple and boring. In Manchester bars, there is always a kind of mourning for the lost days in our lives, a kind of helpless sadness.
Even in music, the two cities have a confrontational side. Liverpool is considered as the birthplace of rock music, because they have the great The Beatles. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr started a revolutionary era from the basement of the "Cave Bar" in downtown Liverpool. They are also fanatical football fans. Modern music in Manchester started a little late, but since 1970s, it has gradually become another important town of rock music with global influence. However, Manchester's rock music is more heavy and cynical. Even in today's highly commercialized world, you can still hear some inner despair from the screams of the oasis. Oasis is a band with hardcore Manchester City fans and fanatical Manchester United fans.
Conflicts among religions, social groups, industries, customs, music and culture constitute the complex relationship between Manchester and Liverpool. In the Middle Ages, political struggles between Lancashire, Sheffield and Yorkshire could be resolved through war. In modern society, the derby battle between cities takes place on the football field.
Every Liverpool fan, whether Liverpool or Everton, hates Manchester United. They themselves can't tell the reason, but they have hated it since they were young, perhaps because Manchester United is too big and successful, or perhaps because they have hated each other for a hundred years. What makes Liverpool people dislike most is that Manchester United players and coaches have a unique temperament: they are the best and they are not humble at all. They always want people to know that they are the best.
Deep-rooted arrogance hurts Liverpool fans the most. In terms of club performance, Liverpool is more successful than Manchester United. Since Scotsman bill shankly 1959 became the head coach, this club has been brilliant for the next 30 years, winning the European Champions Cup four times from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, becoming the second "king of Europe" after Real Madrid in the late 1950s. However, even in the era when Liverpool was completely annihilated, the people of Liverpool still felt that Manchester United had caught too many people's attention. Even when Manchester United was relegated to the second division in the early 1970s, the "king of Europe" at that time felt that he did not enjoy the highest respect, but Manchester United was always an overloved child. Liverpool is inevitably jealous of Manchester United's glory, and Manchester United's excessive commercialization makes Liverpool, which still maintains the traditional management model, ashamed, and Manchester United has no good impression on this resentful east neighbor.
As both clubs are one of the most successful clubs in the history of English football, and both reached their peak after World War II, many years of league titles and cup titles have been launched in the competition between the two teams, which has deepened the derby relationship between the two teams in northwest England, and personal grievances arising therefrom are inevitable. The most famous is the hatred between two Scots, Wang Glash of Liverpool and Ferguson of Manchester United in recent years.
Dalglish played for Celtic and Catholicism before 1976 joined Liverpool. Ferguson was a homeless center and Protestant when he was young. Religious conflicts make it impossible for two people to be friends. Before Ferguson became the leader of Old Trafford on 1986, he worked as an assistant to the famous handsome Stan in the Scottish national team. At that time, Dalglish was a top star in Scotland, but the two never talked. After 1986, the biggest challenge Ferguson faced was how to break Liverpool's monopoly on English football. At that time, Dalglish had just taken over as the coach of Liverpool from Fagan. Both Scots are strong-willed, sharp-tongued and eager to win. Ferguson won his first league title after seven years' struggle at Manchester United, while Dalglish overtook Ferguson when he was a coach at Liverpool, and later moved to Blackburn to teach and took the Premier League title from Ferguson. They became a pair of natural enemies in the derby, and their hostility still shows no signs of abating. Ferguson famously said in his autobiography, "When you go to a funeral after death, you only need four friends to carry your coffin." This sentence was sarcastically denounced by the coach when Dalglish became a TV commentator and encouraged the media to besiege Ferguson.
There are derbies between cities, such as Manchester and London, Newcastle and Sunderland, Portsmouth and Southampton. However, these derbies are dwarfed by the huge contrast between Manchester and Liverpool. Manchester and London are mainly due to the confrontation between pure industrial cities and flashy capitals, and the rest is the competition between neighboring countries. However, it is precisely because of the derby between these cities that the connotation of professional football is enriched. The most direct effect is that this derby can always attract thousands of fans to snap up tickets for the derby, making a derby victory with the old enemy become the pride of the city. In the spring of 2003, Liverpool was selected as the next "european capital of culture", which should have been a happy event for the revival of the ancient port. However, two days before this selection, Liverpool lost 4-0 to Manchester United, so the mayor of Liverpool said sourly, "Because of the ignorance of the referee, we lost a main course to celebrate european capital of culture." Four minutes after the start of that game, the referee sent off Liverpool centre-back Hyypia with a red card, and the Red Army was defeated like a mountain.