Arsenal or Tottenham? And other local rivalries.

As a forces kid I moved around a fair bit so got to see quite few rivalries first hand. Between about 7 and 13 we lived in That London. Pa Bollo was player-manager for the base team and had a few contacts at Spurs and QPR so I got to see around most of the north London clubs. Like black cabs, Pa B refused to go sarf of the river.

With that intro, I’d go Arse over Spurs because I loved Highbury and Spurs broke my 11 year old heart in 81. I was there. Pa B was on chatting terms with then Spuds captain Steve Perryman, who was a genuinely nice guy and sorted out my junior school with a load of kit. He also arranged a pre-season warm-up/community-outreach game with the base team so I got to see my dad get turned inside out by Ozzie Ardiles.

My bro-in-law is a Tarquin season ticket holder and he absolutely fucking hates Spurs, which is right and proper.

Then to Northumberland, so it was all Newcastle. This was around the time of King Kev so the rivalry was a bit one-way. The Geordies took the piss out of the Mackems and the Mackems just got angry. As the only City fan anyone knew, both sets took the piss out of me, so fuck ‘em both.

I’ve lived for time near enough Southampton so get a feel for the Scummer-Skate rivalry. I’ve never had grief at St Mary’s but it’s like someone throws the crazy switch on Hampshire whenever those two meet. Proper, life-threateningly nasty.

I also have rellos in Lincoln and have done the odd Imps game. Lincoln City vs Grimsby or Scunny are supposed to be quite tasty.
 
Nope the rivalry is definitely Preston/Blackpool, with Preston/Blackburn and Preston /Burnley at a lower level.
And it's got to be Preston.

My good Burnley-following mate hates Blackburn with a vengeance. Out of solidarity, I've taken to hating them too (I couldn't actually give a toss about Blackburn Rovers — if anything, they threw a party for us at Ewood Park in May 2000). Like him, therefore, I call them Bastard Rovers. I'm pretty sure he'd say that Burnley's great rivalry is with them.
He's amused by the fact that County have apparently believed for years that they've got a rivalry with Burnley. Poor old County, looking round anxiously for someone who'll notice their hatred.
 
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I’ve lived for time near enough Southampton so get a feel for the Scummer-Skate rivalry. I’ve never had grief at St Mary’s but it’s like someone throws the crazy switch on Hampshire whenever those two meet. Proper, life-threateningly nasty.

Sorry, not familiar with the lingo here. Who's who? Presumably one of them's Portsmouth?
 
Sorry, not familiar with the lingo here. Who's who? Presumably one of them's Portsmouth?
Scummer is Southampton Company Union Member - supposedly there was a dockers strike on the Solent and its claimed the SCUMers broke the strike and worked but not much evidence of this.

Saints fans call Pompey fans Skates as they claim Pompey fans make love to the skates (are they fish?
 
Sorry, not familiar with the lingo here. Who's who? Presumably one of them's Portsmouth?

Scummer is Southampton Company Union Member - supposedly there was a dockers strike on the Solent and its claimed the SCUMers broke the strike and worked but not much evidence of this.

Saints fans call Pompey fans Skates as they claim Pompey fans make love to the skates (are they fish?
Thanks MES, beat me to it, although by all accounts the strike breaking story is convenient bollocks. “Skates” is also military slang for sailors because of the fish sex thing.

By all accounts the two sets of fans were on quite friendly terms in the 50s. According to my neighbour, a lifelong Pompey fan, the nastiness started in the 80s when the Portsmouth’s 6:57 Crew were “competing at the top level”. Only a couple of years ago a work colleague had a reverse-auto glass on her car because she’d parked up for an evening in Portsmouth and forgotten to take off the Saints badge from her window.
 

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