Biggest Rivalry in Football

[Toon Toon Blue army]

Al-Ahly V El Zamalek (the Cairo derby)

Deaths used to be fairly standard practice.

When doing a bit of research I found this interesting quote..

"In Cairo, the rivalry between Al Ahly and Zamalek is so fierce, foreign referees are brought in to officiate matches because local referees are often physically assaulted and even issued death threats if they are perceived as biased"

[rabidbee]

another for the list ....

red star belgrade v partisan belgrade

But isn't Dinamo Zagreb vs Red Star the real nasty one?

Riot in the game around 1990, Zvonomir Boban kicking a policeman, tear gassing the fans.
Wonderful stuff.

Pretty much started the wars, so yep.

I know a Red Star fan from Beograd, and he pretty much only goes on about Partizan, but I guess that might have been different when they played Dinamo every year.

[soggy biscuit]

Al-Ahly V El Zamalek (the Cairo derby)

Deaths used to be fairly standard practice.

When doing a bit of research I found this interesting quote..

"In Cairo, the rivalry between Al Ahly and Zamalek is so fierce, foreign referees are brought in to officiate matches because local referees are often physically assaulted and even issued death threats if they are perceived as biased"

This article gives you a bit of an insight into the Cairo Derby.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/jul/18/alahly.zamalek

LOLz @ people who think a bunch of middle class englishmen singing hurtful songs at each other is somehow 'intense'

[TheMaraudingDog]

The 'Football War' was fought by Central American countries El Salvador and Honduras in 1969.

[rabidbee]

To be on the safe side, I bought both an Ahly and a Zamalek shirt when I was in Egypt.

[TheMaraudingDog]

I've been to Cairo also. Walked in a Mosque and didn't take my shoes off, the place went nuts

[Ark Royal]

Penarol v Nacional in Uruguay. I believe it is the oldest derby outside the UK.

[Stooper]

LOLz @ people who think a bunch of middle class englishmen singing hurtful songs at each other is somehow 'intense'

LOLZ @ basing rivalry on where towns/clubs happen to have been formed hundreds of years ago

[Dirk Gently]

I don't think we'd ever understand the rivalry between Madrid and Barce given it involves one of one of the bloodiest European civil wars fought and the rivalry, not just between two cities, but two distinct cultures, languages and ethnicities. Celtic/Rangers would be close to that.

Boca vs River is standard issue poor people/rich people

But the origins of the Liverpool/Manchester United go back far further than football.

There's been bitter, bitter hatred between the cities going back years, since the Cotton workers of Manchester were dependant upon the raw materials coming in through the port of Liverpool, and so the Liverpool dock tariffs had an effect on the prices of cotton and so meant unemployment and starvation in Manchester when they were too high.

There's a long history of Manchester people trying to get control of transport to reduce costs - the first economically significant canals and railways in the world were both between Liverpool & Manchester - and eventually when the Manchester Ship Canal was built and Liverpool was bypassed that caused unemployment in Liverpool. So it's something that goes back a long way and is just a continuation of past inter-city hatred.

In the same way, the Portsmouth & Southampton rivalry dates back to the Southampton Dock strike of 1890, in the early days of the Trades Union movement.

[papereyes]

As do the Barce-Madrid ones - rabidbee could correct but the two regions took different sides in a number of wars in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

But that's a decent bit of background there, cheers Dirk.

[Dirk Gently]

As do the Barce-Madrid ones - rabidbee could correct but the two regions took different sides in a number of wars in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

I thought it was more related to the Spanish Civil War - when Real was Franco's club and Barcelona
The below is from : http://spanish-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/soccer_and_the_spanish_civil_war

.....
Barcelona was the epicenter of the republican resistance against the Fascist Nationalists.

Consequently, as a focal point for the population of Barcelona, the city's football club, FC Barcelona, was soon drawn into the conflict .A month after the Civil War began, FC Barcelona's left-wing president Josep Suñol i Garriga was murdered by Francisco Franco's soldiers in Guadalajara.

On 16 March 1938, the fascists dropped a bomb on the club's social club. A few months later, Barcelona was under fascist occupation and as a symbol of the 'undisciplined' Catalanism, the club, now down to just 3,486 members, was threatened with extinction.

After the War, Franco banned the Catalan language and flag. Football clubs were prohibited from using non-Spanish names. These measures led to the club having its name changed to Club de Fútbol Barcelona (from FC Barcelona to CF Barcelona) The Catalan flag was removed from the club's shield.

During Franco's reign one of the few places that Catalan could be spoken freely was within the club's stadium.

CF Barcelona spent many of the post war years trailing the Nationalist club Real Madrid. Franco's Government frequently intervened to give Real Madrid an advantage over Barcelona. Most notably in making sure that the great Alfredo di Stefano signed for Madrid and not Barcelona.
....

[rabidbee]

Let's face it, the Catalans and Spanish loath each other. Catalonia revolted against Spanish rule in the 1640s, in the midst of a looooooooooong and hard war against France.

[papereyes]

I thought it was more related to the Spanish Civil War - when Real was Franco's club and Barcelona

One incident in many centuries of fighting that just happened to be particularly bloody.

It didn't help that Franco subsequently supported Real Madrid and cracked down on the various subsections of Spain - Basques, Catalans, Galicians all suffered the same measures.

[rabidbee]

Tbf, I think that that is the main reason that everyone hates Real.

[Dirk Gently]

Tbf, I think that that is the main reason that everyone hates Real.

Wouldn't every right-thinking person hate a team that has "Royal" in their name...... - ah!

[rabidbee]

I wear a green ribbon to every game to assuage my republican guilt.

[papereyes]

I wear a green ribbon to every game to assuage my republican guilt.

I am often found with my ikurrina wristband on, tbf.

[rabidbee]

Are her family Basque?

[papereyes]

I can't believe I'd never mentioned it.

[rabidbee]

You might have done, tbf, it's not like I would have been listening!