When is a derby not a derby?

It’s the question that crops up every time Sunderland take on Middlesbrough, and so it will have surprised absolutely no-one that it has reared its head once again ahead of this weekend’s meeting on Wearside.

It was a knocking bet that Regis Le Bris would be asked in his pre-match press conference whether he views this as a derby game and, despite having only been in the North East for a couple of months, he handled the question with ease.

“The most important derby from my knowledge is Newcastle,” he grinned.

“Middlesbrough is an interesting fixture but I am not sure for the fans that we play a specific derby this Saturday.”

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Le Bris’ words pretty much sum up the feelings of most Sunderland fans towards their neighbours from 30 miles down the A19.

For Sunderland supporters, there is no derby ‘argument', no ‘debate’, no ‘dispute’: their club’s rivals are to be found on Tyneside, not Teesside.

Boro fans - many of them, anyway - feel differently. Tees-Wear games rouse their passions in exactly the same way that Sunderland and Newcastle United fans feel about Tyne-Wear matches.

But to be a bona fide derby, a genuine rivalry - whether intra-city, inter-city, or regional - that passion has to be reciprocated.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid, Rangers vs Celtic, Liverpool vs Everton, Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal, AC Milan vs Inter Milan, Fenerbahce vs Galatasaray, to name but a few, are indisputably derbies.

Geography often plays a part, but not always. The two Milan clubs share a stadium, the Merseyside clubs are separated by the width of Stanley Park, but the Spanish footballing powerhouses of Barcelona and Madrid are more than 300 miles apart.

Some clubs have more than one derby.

Liverpool vs Manchester United, Manchester United vs Manchester City, Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid.

All are derbies.

Crucially, though, they are derbies because fans of both clubs consider them derbies.

Sunderland fans see Middlesbrough as near-neighbours and, yes, that adds an extra frisson that is not present when, say, Blackburn Rovers come to town.

But, however Middlesbrough fans view these games, Sunderland supporters do not regard Boro as derby foes, so it fails the reciprocity test.

Tees-Wear may make for a convenient label that echoes the famous Tyne-Wear tagline, but that is where the resemblance ends.

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Well, it was great while it lasted.

Sunderland’s 100 percent start was as thrilling as it was unexpected but it could not continue forever and last weekend’s trip to Plymouth proved a bridge too far.

That’s a pity, because Sunderland were one win shy of setting a new club record of five successive victories at the start of a season.

But I suppose Sunderland fans probably feared the worst going into the game, given Wayne Rooney’s Pilgrims were winless and floundering in the Championship relegation zone.

As generations of Sunderland supporters will attest, Sunderland are never more vulnerable than when they are favourites.

And so they duly chose this game to throw away a lead for the first time this season, to concede three times as many goals in 45 minutes as they had in the previous four-and-a-half games, and ultimately to not only drop points but also suffer their first defeat of the campaign.

It was something of a reality-check.

Nevertheless, 12 points from a possible 15 is an excellent foundation by any measure and most fans would have settled for that before a ball was kicked this season.

This weekend brings the first opportunity to see how this team responds to defeat (the response to the Carabao Cup exit in August can be set aside, given the full slate of changes made by Le Bris in that competition).

They will need all their powers of recovery and resilience when Boro arrive at the Stadium of Light.