Why do geordies hate mackems

This was the material that shaped his career as a comedian. Throughout his life, during the years of fame and show biz glitz and glam, Bobby could never catch a break. Although Payday would bring necessary respite this was only until the bars and racecourses came calling.

With his millions disappearing into the hands of bookmakers, Bobby set out to prove that stardom had left him unaffected. Aspiration and living in comfort were the real vices to be avoided; struggle was both his experience and his act. But this was part of the fun.

Outside, the North East was changing, but inside, Bobby was always same. An attempt to find a national audience in the s was a sorry failure. The warmth and hospitality conjured up by his mischievous reminiscences regrettably left the rest of the country cold. Much of the vocabulary which differentiated these dialects — words relating to coalmining, industry, food and 19 th century life — has now been lost, and so today, Mackem differs to the Geordie of Tyneside mostly through pronunciation.

This urge to project modern sensibilities into the deep past — while alluring — is surely mistaken. The Oxford English Dictionary records its first use in print to the s. Few would be able to stomach this today. The region is now fundamentally divided into opposing tribal identities. But for this to have any success, Mackems and Geordies may have to recognise what they have in common first. This was the experience of Newcastle and Sunderland in the first half of the twentieth century. In the following decades, this way of life began to unravel.

The experience of decline and unemployment traumatised the region and forced it to be reborn. The post-industrial age, with its emphasis on education, services, culture and tourism, has transformed the way the North East sees itself. Call centres have replaced the collieries; shopping malls have succeeded the shipyards. Long gone are the days when a self-evident masculinity arose from the act of working with your hands.

Masculinity is now proven on the streets, on the terraces, in the bars, in the gym. Recent developments have brought fresh challenges to the established order. The old assumptions about a Labour-voting region are now up for grabs. Newcastle looks on with schadenfreude , forgetting that it too is heavily divided. It is worth reiterating, however, that although change has pushed the two cities apart — defining one against the other — they remain remarkably similar places, with a shared history and strong sense of themselves.

Realising that they both have much more in common than they care to admit will be advantageous within the crucial years that lie ahead. Trains filled with passengers from Blyth, Sunderland and beyond poured into mid-nineteenth century Newcastle to watch the famous Tyneside rowers compete with their Thames rivals, events that attracted much gambling and as they were often organised by local publicans prodigious consumption of alcohol.

His ears appear to be better than mine. Labour, here, failed to convince its North East base of the merits of coming together under a devolved assembly. That the Tyne and Wear Metro is predominately focused on Tyneside and only reached Sunderland and beyond in also adds to this sense of indignation. It has been noted that some Newcastle fans refuse to buy bacon, because of its 'red-and-white appearance' - the pinnacle, regardless of any jovial flippancy, of irrational behaviour. Likewise the past Mackem boycott of a particular breakfast cereal, because of the Newcastle-orientated marketing of its brand, is silly beyond words.

However, these are benign occurrences. In March , more than 70 Sunderland and Newcastle hooligans took part in some of the worst football-related violence ever seen in Britain. It was not even a match day. What the police called 'usually respectable men and fathers' had decided to meet in mutual territory with their enemies, to fight with knives, bats and bricks. Sunderland fans boarded a ferry towards Tyneside, found the awaiting 'army', and fought. One man was left permanently brain-damaged.

Dozens of people were arrested, and years upon years of prison-time was sentenced. The continuation of tension involves a new sense of injustice. For well over a decade, Sunderland's population has bemoaned that they have been paying their local taxes to finance both the Newcastle Metro and airport.

A perceived bias towards Tyneside in the regional and national media further compounds a feeling of inequality. It seems that history is repeating itself for the people of Sunderland, albeit in a less livelihood-threatening sort of way. Perhaps a more trivial, city-image sort of way.

But this makes little sense. Let's just hope that despite the hijacking of the game by the corporate class, and the working-class ostracising that comes with it, there remain terraces from which Mackems and Geordies can vent their invariably abusive opinions of each other without violence and civil war. Click to expand Crazylegs said:. Daft mackem twat. Daks said:. Couldnt give a shite who supports the Mackems, your all welcome I hate this geordie tripe if it wasnt for US, Sunderland would lose thousands mind, as though we should be thankful to the geordies???

KarenDent Striker Contributor. Spot on, but this will be less in future generations if we allow the geordie nation shite to stick. They are mags! Stinking mags, but mags! KarenDent said:. Last edited: Mar 3, Agreed, we Geordie red and whites should set up a supporters federation.

How many Mackem black and whites are out there?? Are they proud to be Mackem??? Doubt it like.. Cos of the geordie nation crap that Mackem is an insult? We've always had big support from parts of tyneside and also from parts of northumberland Good!

You clearly have a brain and can think this through, unlike that tosser daks earlier, what a tit. Yeah i know that but it's as though sometimes the geordie supporters take the piss out of the actual Sunderland born and bred mackem supporters