Think football rivalries and thoughts immediately go to Manchester United’s deep-seated hostility towards Liverpool, an animosity that is returned in kind. That, or the ancient enmity between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Then there’s the ‘derbies’, famous feuds ground in geography, from Newcastle’s reluctant sharing of the North-East with Sunderland to Arsenal and Spurs duking it out to be the top dogs of North London.
Dig a little deeper though and we find that bad blood runs through the entire anatomy of the beautiful game, right down to its toes.
In the lower divisions insults on social media are just as barbed. Certain matchdays get police and stewards hot under the collar.
These warring factions may not receive the same level of media scrutiny as the Old Firm in Glasgow or the Superclásico in South America but the ill-feeling is very real and very intense, nonetheless.
In the Championship and beyond there are rivalries that make the Game of Thrones look like The Waltons.
The examples given below however are not supposed to be the fiercest of these. We all know that Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United can’t stand the sight of one another. The clue is in their names.
Instead, they are intended to illustrate the different reasons behind the rancour, whether that be historical, geographical or newer rivalries born from random circumstances.
The West Lancs Derby
Ask a Blackpool supporter who they have a genuine antipathy towards and chances are they will plump for Fleetwood Town. That’s a ‘Fylde Coast’ thing, the two clubs separated by a mere eight miles of picturesque coastline.
In recent years, Fleetwood’s rise through the divisions has resulted in 15 meetings between the neighbours, all of them fizzing with friction.
Ask a Tangerines fan of a certain vintage though and they won’t skip a beat. It’s Preston, all day long.
A long tract of the M55 may lie between the clubs but such is their shared, esteemed heritage – both founded in the 1890s and respective giants of English football way back when – they have competed against one another for several generations.
More, as their journeys have taken them to heights and crisis the pair have met in all four divisions, prior to the forming of the Premier League.
AFC Wimbledon v MK Dons
We are all aware of the back-story here. The FA Cup winners of 1988 relocated and rebranded against their will to another city entirely, leaving the original club a husk, dissolving soon after. The long, slow rebuild as a phoenix club. The fight for identity.
This is a story of the old vs the new or, to be frank, the reborn vs a Frankenstein’s monster, Naturally, then, when they meet, the rest of football looks on, intrigued, taking sides.
So heightened is the grudge, ITV screened their first clash in 2002 live, despite it only being a FA Cup 2nd round affair. Subsequently, they have collided a further 17 times, usually in League One.
When they cohabit a division what’s the betting this is the first date each fanbase looks for when the fixtures are released.
Carlisle v Bradford
The Cumbrians and Bantams have met on umpteen occasions – 62 all told – but it’s only in recent years when a sincere animosity has built up.
A plethora of lively encounters lies at the crux of it, featuring red cards and poor refereeing, and regrettably the extreme reactions these decisions provoked typically spilled outside the ground, to violence.
Adding further fuel to the fire, there have been several contentious transfers, with players leaving on bad terms to leave for the other.
Potteries Derby
You have to give Port Vale their props. When it comes to rivalries, the Valiants have their fair share and more.
Any visit of Swindon Town to Vale Park is sure to get the residents in as tizz, following a fractious Play-Off semi-final many moons ago.
Crewe meanwhile are a traditional enemy, a fixture that is sure to prompt the police to bump it up a category.
It is Stoke City though who remain their biggest nemesis, a club that has long considered themselves to be the superior entity in the Potteries. A grand total of 60 seasons in the English top-flight, to Vale’s none, does tend to corroborate that claim.
This pair first met in a Staffordshire Senior Cup clash way back in 1882, a ‘spirited game’ according to the local paper. It has not been anything less than spirited since.
Swansea v Cardiff v Wrexham
The temptation here is to focus on Swansea v Cardiff, a 110-year-old South Wales derby that never fails to ignite.
That however would be overlooking a north/south divide that has split the country economically, politically and culturally through the generations, adding an extra layer of spice when the Dragons head beyond the Brecon Beacons or visa versa. On such occasions, football becomes merely a conduit for all manner of incendiary emotions.
This is worth remembering this term, with Wrexham and Swansea set to meet for the first time in two decades, while League One Cardiff are doing their best to join them next year, currently topping the third tier.
The Championship won’t know what’s hit it.
Cheltenham v Forest Green Rovers
Presently a division separates this Gloucestershire pair but as recently as 2023 they collided, games that required a heavy police presence.
Known locally as ‘El Glosico’, pyrotechnics and passion are always in plentiful supply as grievances – as ferocious as anywhere else – are aired amidst one of England’s most desirable backwaters.
Rovers are second favourites in the football betting to go up next May. El Glosico is alive and kicking.
The Devon Derby
Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City have been at loggerheads since 1920, their rivalry beginning in Division Three (South) before becoming a staple of the fourth tier for many a year.
In modern times the Pilgrims have risen to prominence, competing in the Championship across seven campaigns, but the rivalry continues to thrive, both clubs inhabiting a vast tract of England that only one other – Torquay – shares.
