North / South divide widens on Facebook

Mar 11 2008 by Liz Hands, The Journal

A BIT of banter between two pals about whether the North is better than the South has sparked off a worldwide web war of words, with nearly 200,000 people taking sides.

Gary Allison, who comes from Haltwhistle, Northumberland, and his mate Phil Anderton, from Orpington, near Bromley, Kent, love to wind each other up about which of them represents the better part of the UK.

And when the 21-year-old students decided to pose the question on the internet site Facebook they were staggered at the overwhelming response.

Championing his native North-East, Gary, who now lives in Byron Street, Shieldfield, Newcastle, set up a group called 1,000 reasons why the North is better than the South.

And when the group gained in popularity, his rival Phil decided to hit back, creating the alternative group, 1,000 reasons why the South is better than the North.

Eighteen months on, about 102,000 people have pledged their support for the North, but pride in the South is trailing, with a membership of about 82,000.

However, there is still everything to play for with both groups growing rapidly and engaging thousands of people in an animated online debate.

Gary, who grew up in Park Road in the Northumberland village and attended Haydon Bridge High School, said: “The whole thing started out as a joke really, but it’s ended up completely changing my life. Since the groups have grown we have to manage them properly and make sure the members are acting responsibly.

“But I think they’ve been so successful because it’s a subject people feel strongly about.”

Gary, who says his favourite thing about the North is the tranquillity of the Northumberland landscape, chose an image of the Angel of the North to represent his Facebook group, which has more than 44,000 postings on discussion boards.

Subjects debated include tourist attractions, food and drink, accents, nightlife, scenery, architecture and sport.

Gary said: “Our membership started off as mainly students, but now it includes all kinds of people. Of course I don’t know them all personally, but the thought that we’ve brought them all together is amazing.

“And because of the success of the group we have been approached to market the music festival 3volution in Newcastle City Centre this May.”

Phil, who now lives in Clayton Road, Jesmond, Newcastle, met Gary in the pair’s first year at Northumbria University, where they are both in their final year, studying for a BSc in applied computing. He said his favourite thing about the South was London’s multiculturalism, and plans to return to the capital once he completes his degree in the summer.

He said: “I love the fact people from this region, and particularly Newcastle, have such an amazing pride in where they are from. I definitely think that regional identity is stronger up here and I love the city. I just don’t think southerners are as conscious of the concept.”

Phil’s mum is originally from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, but left the region to attend Goldsmith’s College in London. Phil said: “Gaz started his group first, and I responded out of pride really, but the whole thing has really taken me by surprise.”

Gary said: “Phil’s group had more members for ages, then about six months ago we had a huge surge. Our aim is to stay ahead and prove the North really does have more supporters.” Phil said: “The debate is light-hearted, but I think people do feel definite pride about being from the North or the South.

“They may be ahead at the moment, but we’ll be catching up again soon.”

Why do you think the North is better than the South? Email us on jnl.newdesk@ncjmedia.co.uk or go to our forums www.journallive.co.uk/forums to let us know what you think