Rivalries

[fbm]

A very interesting post on another thread by southchurch gave the results of a survey in 2012 which listed who fans consider their main rivals to be. Here is the list.

This is a survey of supporters of each club(2012)
When asked who they thought their rivals were.

Rivalries – Who are they?

Here is a complete list of the 92 Premier League and Football League clubs’ top three rivalries;

Team	Main rivals	Second rivals	Third rivals
Accrington Stanley	Morecambe	Blackburn Rovers	Burnley
AFC Bournemouth	Southampton	Reading	Brighton & Hove Albion
AFC Wimbledon	Milton Keynes Dons	Crystal Palace	Crawley Town
Aldershot Town	Reading	Woking	Swindon Town
Arsenal	Tottenham Hotspur	Chelsea	Manchester United
Aston Villa	Birmingham City	West Bromwich Albion	Wolves
Barnet	Stevenage	Dagenham & Redbridge	Northampton Town / Carlisle United
Barnsley	Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield United	Leeds United / Huddersfield Town
Birmingham City	Aston Villa	Wolves	West Bromwich Albion
Blackburn Rovers	Burnley	Bolton Wanderers	Manchester United
Blackpool	Preston North End	Bolton Wanderers	Burnley
Bolton Wanderers	Wigan Athletic	Burnley	Blackburn Rovers
Bradford City	Huddersfield Town	Leeds United	Rotherham United
Brentford	Fulham	Queens Park Rangers	Chelsea
Brighton & Hove Albion	Crystal Palace	Portsmouth	Southampton
Bristol City	Bristol Rovers	Cardiff City	Swindon Town
Bristol Rovers	Bristol City	Swindon Town	Cardiff City
Burnley	Blackburn Rovers	Bolton Wanderers	Blackpool / Preston North End
Burton Albion	Chesterfield	Derby County	Notts County
Bury	Bolton Wanderers	Rochdale	Oldham Athletic
Cardiff City	Swansea City	Bristol City	Leeds United
Carlisle United	Preston North End	Hartlepool United	Middlesbrough
Charlton Athletic	Crystal Palace	Millwall	West Ham United
Chelsea	Tottenham Hotspur	Arsenal	Manchester United
Cheltenham Town	Swindon Town	Oxford United	Shrewsbury Town / Kidderminster Harriers
Chesterfield	Mansfield Town	Rotherham United	Sheffield Wednesday
Colchester United	Southend United	Wycombe Wanderers	Ipswich Town
Coventry City	Leicester City	Aston Villa	Birmingham City
Crawley Town	AFC Wimbledon	Brighton & Hove Albion	Swindon Town
Crewe Alexandra	Port Vale	Stoke City
Crystal Palace	Brighton & Hove Albion	Millwall	Charlton Athletic
Dagenham & Redbridge	Barnet	Leyton Orient	Brentford
Derby County	Nottingham Forest	Leeds United	Leicester City
Doncaster Rovers	Leeds United	Barnsley	Sheffield United / Sheffield Wednesday
Everton	Liverpool	Manchester United	Manchester City
Exeter City	Plymouth Argyle	Torquay United	Bristol Rovers / Yeovil Town
Fleetwood Town	Morecambe	Accrington Stanley	Barrow
Fulham	Queens Park Rangers	Chelsea	Brentford
Gillingham	Millwall	Charlton Athletic	Swindon Town
Hartlepool United	Darlington	Carlisle United	Sheffield Wednesday
Huddersfield Town	Leeds United	Bradford City	Sheffield Wednesday
Hull City	Leeds United	Leicester City	Scunthorpe United / Grimsby Town
Ipswich Town	Norwich City	West Ham United	Colchester United
Leeds United	Manchester United	Chelsea	Huddersfield Town / Millwall
Leicester City	Nottingham Forest	Derby County	Coventry City
Leyton Orient	Southend United	Brentford	Dagenham & Redbridge / West Ham United
Liverpool	Manchester United	Everton	Chelsea
Manchester City	Manchester United	Liverpool	Everton
Manchester United	Liverpool	Manchester City	Chelsea
Middlesbrough	Newcastle United	Sunderland	Leeds United
Millwall	West Ham United	Crystal Palace	Charlton Athletic
Milton Keynes Dons	Peterborough United	AFC Wimbledon	Northampton Town
Morecambe	Accrington Stanley	Burnley	Bradford City
Newcastle United	Sunderland	Middlesbrough	Manchester United
Northampton Town	Peterborough United	Milton Keynes Dons	Leicester City / Oxford United
Norwich City	Ipswich Town	Wolves	Leeds United
Nottingham Forest	Derby County	Leicester City	Sheffield United
Notts County	Nottingham Forest	Mansfield Town	Chesterfield
Oldham Athletic	Rochdale	Wigan Athletic	Huddersfield Town
Oxford United	Swindon Town	Reading	Wycombe Wanderers
Peterborough United	Northampton Town	Cambridge United	Leicester City / Milton Keynes Dons
Plymouth Argyle	Exeter City	Torquay United	Portsmouth
Port Vale	Stoke City	Crewe Alexandra	Shrewsbury Town
Portsmouth	Southampton	Brighton & Hove Albion	Millwall / Leicester City
Preston North End	Blackpool	Blackburn Rovers	Burnley
Queens Park Rangers	Chelsea	Fulham	Cardiff City / Stoke City
Reading	Aldershot Town	Swindon Town	Oxford United
Rochdale	Bury	Burnley	Oldham Athletic
Rotherham United	Doncaster Rovers	Sheffield Wednesday	Chesterfield
Scunthorpe United	Hull City	Grimsby Town	Doncaster Rovers
Sheffield United	Sheffield Wednesday	Leeds United	Barnsley / West Ham United
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield United	Barnsley	Leeds United
Shrewsbury Town	Walsall	Wolves	Port Vale
Southampton	Portsmouth	Brighton & Hove Albion	Bournemouth
Southend United	Colchester United	Leyton Orient	Dagenham & Redbridge
Stevenage	Milton Keynes Dons	Barnet	Dagenham & Redbridge
Stoke City	Port Vale	West Bromwich Albion	Wolves
Sunderland	Newcastle United	Middlesbrough	Leeds United
Swansea City	Cardiff City	Reading	Bristol City
Swindon Town	Oxford United	Reading	Bristol City / Bristol Rovers
Torquay United	Plymouth Argyle	Exeter City	Bristol Rovers
Tottenham Hotspur	Arsenal	Chelsea	West Ham United
Tranmere Rovers	Oldham Athletic	Bolton Wanderers	Everton / Liverpool
Walsall	Wolves	Aston Villa	West Bromwich Albion
Watford	Luton Town	Leeds United	Crystal Palace / Queens Park Rangers
West Bromwich Albion	Wolves	Aston Villa	Birmingham City
West Ham United	Millwall	Tottenham Hotspur	Arsenal / Chelsea
Wigan Athletic	Bolton Wanderers	Blackburn Rovers	Preston North End
Wolves	West Bromwich Albion	Birmingham City	Aston Villa
Wycombe Wanderers	Colchester United	Milton Keynes Dons	Oxford United
Yeovil Town	Bristol Rovers	Exeter City
York City	Hull City	Leeds United	Bradford City

Lots of quite interesting bits in there actually. Crewe fans for instance can't think of a 3rd rival (I wonder if that will change come April 7th?) and there are plenty of one way rivalries.

Leeds for instance see Man Utd as their biggest rival but they don't even feature the other way around. Coventry seem to be scrabbling around for a rivalry and see Leicester as their biggest... however, they are the Foxes 3rd rivals and the other two - Villa and Birmingham - don't have Coventry at all.

Same for Bournemouth... their biggest rivals Southampton have them in 3rd and Reading and Brighton don't feature Bournemouth at all.

However, Burton, Cheltenham, Fleetwood, Yeovil, York and perhaps most surprisingly, Gillingham and Watford don't appear as anyone's rival. I personally would have said the Gills were more of a rival to us than Dagenham and if Luton had been in the league I guess they may have had Watford in there.

Incidentally, in the same survey, it asked for the least offensive club to a neutral fan. Brentford won that one and we weren't in the top 20.

Complete survey results here

http://thechriswhitingshow.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/2012-football-rivalry-census-results/

 

[Maldon Blues]

Surely no Blues fans consider Dagenham a rival?! I'd say Brentford, Gillingham, Lincoln or Brighton could fill that third slot. Or even Birmingham from our brief mid-90s hatred!

 

[OldBlueLady]

Really surprised at some of the stuff on there, especially at Gillingham. I'd certainly count them as bigger rivals than Dagenham, and what about Lincoln for us? I know they're non league now but I thought I saw other non league clubs in there. Also I've always understood there was a massive hatred between Chelsea and Leicester.

Can't believe Colchester feature in the least offensive list.....

 

[WickfordShrimper]

Surely no Blues fans consider Dagenham a rival?! I'd say Brentford, Gillingham, Lincoln or Brighton could fill that third slot. Or even Birmingham from our brief mid-90s hatred!

I would say loads of Southend Fans dislike the Hamsters more... I know its one way.. I have them living all round me in Wickford and they always asking about Southend United happy for us to win etc but I never return the favour ..lol

 

[WoodhamShrimper]

Surely west ham 3rd not daggers :hilarious:

 

[ace]

Wet Spam 3rd for me not the Daggers, but guess the separation in divisions may make Gillingham as more of a rival.

 

[Firestorm]

My dislikes are:
Col u (only other essex league side)
West Ham (fans in our town and That shop)
Gillingham (from the wrong side of the ditch and, as the crow flies, our nearest rivals)
Birmingham (Juda Fry )
Cambridge (Derek Belottis broken collar bone cost us the title and promotion)

Irrationality, geography and long memories

 

[A Century United]

My dislikes are:
Col u (only other essex league side)
West Ham (fans in our town and That shop)
Gillingham (from the wrong side of the ditch and, as the crow flies, our nearest rivals)
Birmingham (Juda Fry )
Cambridge (Derek Belottis broken collar bone cost us the title and promotion)

Irrationality, geography and long memories

The title yes - promotion no, we finished as runners up.

Also, that's a little harsh on Cambridge, Bellotti dived into the post without any help from a Cambridge player. Spud went in goal, (we were 1-0 up at the time) and both Cambridge goals came from our defence not trusting Spud.

PS 17,059 for a home league match in Div 4.... Happy days.

 

[Cornish Sam]

Also a reminder that we share a mutual hatred of Colchester with today's opponents Wycombe

 

[Silencer]

For me it's Colchester then very closely behind is Orient.

The next level of rivals for me would include Brighton, Gillingham, Dagenham and Brentford.

Also, not too fond of Leeds & Birmingham

Guess I am too young to appreciate any Grimsby, Lincoln or Aldershot rivalry

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Who the **** dislikes Dagenham? Could they just not bring themselves to say W*** H**?

I dislike Gillingham far more than Orient.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I was right about Chelsea....as we sing "and Col U" in the "we all follow the Southend over land and sea", they sing "and Leicester". The feeling is reciprocal too. Probably asked a load of armchair fans!

 

[chapperzUK]

I was right about Chelsea....as we sing "and Col U" in the "we all follow the Southend over land and sea", they sing "and Leicester". The feeling is reciprocal too. Probably asked a load of armchair fans!

You were right about the Chelsea - Leicester rivalry (http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=17699), but surely it all depends on person to person, so to call them all armchair fans is a bit harsh.

Most people would think of Col Ewe as our rivals due to them being another Essex team. Others would say Birmingham, but for people like me who weren't around then to fully understand the situation and go through all the emotions that come with it, wouldn't have the hatred for them that some others possess.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Rivals and dislikes; two very different things for me,
Our current rivals, in this division, now must be Gills by a mile with a few localish like Daggers or Barnet not impacting on either our fan base, press or other media; but being pleasant enough grounds to play at.
Dislikes; any team managed by Pulis, Parkinson, Rafa or Bruce; all knobs! and any Spammers who chunder up the "won the world cup" gobbledygook.
And then teams artificially built with overwhelming:raspberry: financial clout; especially when they don't perform as expected with their "steroid" induced paypackets.

 

[Earls Hall Blue]

I truly despise Gillingham & everything about it. I hate the knuckle scraping inhabitants of that awful part of Kent. If Kent is the garden of England then Gillingham is the compost heap. I despise that awful scaffold tower they make visiting fan's sit in, their stewards are probably the rudest & most ignorant I have ever come across and the fans just monosyllabic imbeciles.

 

[TrevorFitzpatrickHattrick]

I love the fact that all of Reading's rivals are totally tinpot.

Third slot would comfortably go to Brighton for me.

 

[dingleydangley]

I truly despise Gillingham & everything about it. I hate the knuckle scraping inhabitants of that awful part of Kent. If Kent is the garden of England then Gillingham is the compost heap. I despise that awful scaffold tower they make visiting fan's sit in, their stewards are probably the rudest & most ignorant I have ever come across and the fans just monosyllabic imbeciles.

Courtesy of the 'Give Gillingham a go' promotion on the Kent Tourist Board website :thumbsup:

 

[BrettieAngell]

Dagenham v Barnet must be well lairy!

 

[DTS]

Barnet vs Carlisle seems a little unlikely.

 

[RobB11]

Yeah imagine the away following when barnet travel to Carlisle, could probably count the number of fans on one hand. MASSIVE RIVALS