Sunderland and Newcastle have been a part of one of the fiercest rivalries in football, thanks to their geographic locations and historic past. This weekend, the two clubs finally met after 9 years, and there was no love lost between the two local rivals.
In their first Premier League encounter since 2016, Sunderland defeated their Tyneside rivals 1-0 after an own goal from Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade in the 46th minute.
This was Sunderland’s 4th consecutive home win against Newcastle, dating back to October 2013.
The Sunderland-Newcastle Tyne-Wear rivalry dates back to the English Civil War days, when the protestations over advantages that merchants in Royalist Newcastle had over their Wearside counterparts would result in Sunderland becoming a Parliamentarian stronghold.
On the pitch, the rivalry can be best summed up by this quote from former Sunderland midfielder Yann Mvila:
“Here, you make a good tackle and you are applauded almost as if you have scored a goal. It’s fantastic. The fans give you wings to fly”.
Interestingly, the Tyne-Wear derby is one of the most anticipated clashes of the season, as not just the two sets of fans but the neutrals also look forward to the heated matches full of petty moments.
The passion, hatred, and pettiness from both sides are on full display, and this weekend was no different. Crunching tackles, heated arguments, hoards of yellow cards, injuries, and an own goal, this match had it all.
In a hotly contested match, Sunderland didn’t just beat Newcastle, they also rubbed salt on the wounds of their opponents by not even acknowledging them on the scoreboard.
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 14, 2025
While Sunderland players were waiting to take a free kick in the 55th minute, the cameras panned over to the Sunderland scoreboard, and it simply showed “Visitors” instead of the visiting team’s name, while also not displaying the badge.
Speaking ahead of the game, Sky Sports pundit and retired Manchester United legend Gary Neville was in full support of Sunderland’s petty antics.
“Apparently today they’re not gonna put the name of Newcastle up on the actual digital scoreboard … which I love stuff like that. “I think that sort of takes rivalry to a new level and it’s unbelievably hostile up here.”
The scoreboard at Stadium of Light is installed on the stand opposite the away supporters’ end. In other words, when Sunderland scored, and the scoreboard was displaying Sunderland 1-0 Visitors, it was directly in the line of sight of the traveling Newcastle fans.
Folks on Football Twitter were absolutely loving it as the app was quickly flooded with tweets and comments about how much they enjoyed the pettiness.
@solace_exe: now i want to see Newcastle’s response to this in the return leg
@npomwene175: Newcastle fans must be fuming rn… Losing to Sunderland Woltemade helping Sunderland And now stumbling upon this
@Ollie_997: They don’t teach this level of haterism, it just comes to you
@1878Johnny: Sh*thousery to be proud of.
@Treble_Viking: This level of pettiness in football is what I live for. Inject it into my veins
@tvham: I love a petty club! Sign me up.
@95hoo: “Enemy” wasn’t available?
It wasn’t just the Sunderland fans enjoying the moment, as fans of other teams wanted their clubs to show the same level of pettiness to their respective rivals.
@mainstand_eagle: We should do this every time Brighton & Millwall come to Selhurst. Top pettiness.
@KevH88: Can we do this please @Everton @The1878s @Benjwinst also, do we even have to announce their name? Can we just call them visitors then as well.
@TheMacabreGamer: All clubs should do this
@kapisanclub: Every club should do this to every away team then. Don’t respect your opponents.
@ftbl_FCBARCA: Sunderland is single handedly reviving English football
@scrapytweets: This is prime Barclays. This is what we live for
@noweroo: We need to see more of this MAN CITY VS VISITORS
@wamwea: I hope other derbies in the PL learn a thing or 2 from this. Now we have rival coaches who are about to make out on the touchline. This used to be a proper sport
@sbdul25: This is the type of rivalry I like not none of that bullshit Utd and city players be doing. Hugging and all lovey-dovey after games
