A black kind of hate

Words: Pete Hitchman

Images: Pete Hitchman

Forget the idiocy. Forget the six arrests (so far). Forget the missiles thrown and that guy who had his head cut open before being led away in front of the Wolves fans. This was a proper derby, even before the trouble broke out.

If you didn’t know the context, it would be easy to underestimate the Black Country derby.

This is a region in the West Midlands with its own dialect, a flag, a dedicated museum and its own way of doing chips (orange chips – dipped in batter before they’re fried), but the Black Country isn’t listed on any official map.

It’s more a cultural heartland than a specific geographic area – a proud legacy of thriving industrial heritage, named so because of the vast swathes of furnaces and factories that filled the air with black smog and soot during the Industrial Revolution..

In fact, no borders have ever been defined, which gives both West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers fans some room to claim the other side isn’t even ‘proper’ Black Country. West Brom’s stadium, The Hawthorns, sits just within the boundary of the city of Birmingham, while Wolverhampton was historically located in Staffordshire – neither of which are considered part of the Black Country.

Pete Hitchman/ Terrace Edition. West Bromwich Albion vs Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Hawthorns is a famous old stadium and the highest football league ground in England, although you wouldn’t know it from its location beside a main road into Birmingham. It was a sell-out for this FA Cup tie, which kicked off at 11.45am on police advice. This was, after all, the first Black Country derby with fans for 12 years.

Mixing with supporters before the game, the overriding emotion was the gut-wrenching fear of defeat. We’ve all been there, that one game you can’t afford to lose. Premier League Wolves were favourites of course and keen to avoid an upset, but even West Brom fans felt sick to the core at the thought of losing to their near neighbours.

As I watched the long convoy of away supporters’ coaches arrive at the ground, I heard one Wolves fan tell his friends how he’d been sick cleaning his teeth in the morning. Another said he’d been in the pub since 8.15am but couldn’t face beer so was drinking gin. Some brought orange Sainsbury’s bags to cover the blue seats in the Smethwick End.

The match itself was fairly uneventful. West Brom probably edged the first half, but lacked a clinical finisher and Wolves scored one in each half for a comfortable 2-0 win in the end.

Unfortunately, this Black Country derby will be remembered for the crowd disorder that forced play to be stopped for 34 minutes towards the end of the game. A hate darkens and immerses.

Pete Hitchman/ Terrace Edition. West Bromwich Albion vs Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Pete Hitchman/ Terrace Edition. West Bromwich Albion vs Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Pete Hitchman/ Terrace Edition. West Bromwich Albion vs Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Pete Hitchman/ Terrace Edition. West Bromwich Albion vs Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Pete is on X and Instagram: @_pete_hitchman_