EIM wrote:

QUOTE:
Ermmm... A derby is just a big match.

Hence, you know, 'local derby'.

Spot on, case closed I would imagine.

The most compelling explanation of the term is that the Derby was the biggest horse race so the term became adopted for the the biggest games a club would play.

World Soccer are actually fairly gushing about Ronaldo's season, in this month's annual round up of that section.

that's because they think he's already a real madrid player.

If we stick to city rivalries, Germany also has:
- Hamburger SV v St Pauli
- Chemie/Sachsen Leipzig v Lok Leipzig
- Union Berlin v Dynamo Berlin
- Munich 1860 v Bayern Munich

If we take regional ones as well, we get:
- Cologne v Leverkusen
- Rot-Weiß Essen v Schalke (an almost forgotten one, but Essen are regarded as scum by anybody in the Ruhr area apart from Essen, whereas Schalke is regarded as scum by anybody in the Ruhr area apart from Schalke; in fact Schalke fans are considered high-brow compared to Essen).
- Nürnberg v Fürth
- Dynamo Dresden v anybody

Harri Saer wrote:

QUOTE:
EIM wrote:

QUOTE:
Ermmm... A derby is just a big match.

Hence, you know, 'local derby'.

Spot on, case closed I would imagine.

The most compelling explanation of the term is that the Derby was the biggest horse race so the term became adopted for the the biggest games a club would play.

I thought it was derived from this, which makes it a local rivalry thing ...

Incredibly slow of me, I know, but I've only just realised that Kurt Mondschein is the poster formerly known as abedi.

Phoebe wrote:

QUOTE:
SamLKelly wrote:

QUOTE:
Only eight English cities actually contain two football league clubs (London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Stoke, Nottingham, Birmingham and... um... another one)

Sheffield.

Except there's three football league clubs in Sheffield...

Jaro-VPS was pretty good by Finnish standards. Highlights here:
http://www.iltalehti.fi/nettitvpopup.shtml?27994230

I want to see HJK-HIFK as well, but at present HIFK's team does not match their fans.

All games between Stockholm's big 3 are worth watching, too.

Derbies I have been to

Partick Thistle vs Clyde - lots of excited wee boys shouting for Clyde, but nothing to see here

Airdrie vs Motherwell - unpleasant, street-fighting morons kicking each others heads in

Ayr United vs Kilmarnock - has the added kick of snobbery from Ayr towards Killie Quote "Come on Ayr, get intae these council house bastards"

Celtic vs Rangers - unpleasant hatefest, not enjoybale, a discernible lack of interest in football

Oxford vs Swindon - has a bit of the snobbery mentioned above, excuse for 40 year old greying bovver boys to polish up their DMs and kick the shir out of each other before picking up some wallpaper from B&Q.

Arthurlie vs Pollok - WWF without the code of conduct

chippy wrote:

QUOTE:
Arthurlie vs Pollok - WWF without the code of conduct

I went to this (at Pollok). There was no trouble at all.

How is Arthurlie v Pollok a derby?

Gangster Octopus wrote:

QUOTE:
Phoebe wrote:

QUOTE:
SamLKelly wrote:

QUOTE:
Only eight English cities actually contain two football league clubs (London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Stoke, Nottingham, Birmingham and... um... another one)

Sheffield.

Except there's three football league clubs in Sheffield...

Are there? Who are the third?

Anyway you know what I mean. Cities which, within their own boundaries, can have a 'city derby' between current Football League clubs. I mean London's got more than two as well, but you didn't pick us up on that one...

SamLKelly wrote:

QUOTE:
Gangster Octopus wrote:

QUOTE:
Phoebe wrote:

QUOTE:
SamLKelly wrote:

QUOTE:
Only eight English cities actually contain two football league clubs (London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Stoke, Nottingham, Birmingham and... um... another one)

Sheffield.

Except there's three football league clubs in Sheffield...

Are there? Who are the third?

We are...

My word. I do apologise.

Bobski wrote:

QUOTE:
Argentina v Brazil

Pah. History comes into it as well remember. Either of those two v. URUGUAY, and you're talking...

Liverpool-Man Utd is more important for both sets of fans than their intra-city derbies because they are of about equal stature and are fighting for the same prizes.

Well, if the prize is the Premiership then surely the match between Liverpool and Everton is becoming more and more important.

GO - just looked up on Wikipedia about your departure from Millmoor. Belated commiserations.

I'm biased but I'd vote for Real Madrid vs Barcelona. Although ursus said that it has got greater over the years due to the media, 'twas ever the biggest game of the season without the hyperbole trumpeted by various sections of the Spanish media.

I have a soft spot for West Brom Villa derbies but as they all kick off at twelve noon now, the spice has gone from them almost entirely. Plus the fact that we haven't beaten Villa for well over 20 years. Carl Valentine (now there's a name for ursus to conjour with) was the last player to score a winning goal for West Brom against Villa.

You actually remembered that Carl Valentine was my favourite ever Vancouver Whitecap? Truly impressive.

As to "El Derbi", when I first started paying attention to Spanish football in the early 80s, Real Madrid-Athletic was a "bigger" game, largely because Barca were relatively poor. It's also my impression (though I can't speak from personal experience) that Madrid-Atleti was significantly "bigger" in the 60s and 70s than it is now.

Well, I'm going more from history books than anything else really, ursus. Like you, I can't speak from personal experience going back too far.

You actually remembered that Carl Valentine was my favourite ever Vancouver Whitecap? Truly impressive.

Well, I remember you mentioned him once and I was going to post something about him scoring in the last game we won against the Villa. Never got round to it though.

Funnily enough, that game in 1985 should have been my first ever game at the Hawthorns. I'd been supporting West Brom fervently for years, hoping my Dad would take me to a game. But he was never in the slightest bit interested in football, nor in indulging his two sons' increasing obsession for the game.

All my contemporaries at school had been taken up by their Dads through the glory years of the late 70/early 80s but not me. Then, eventually I managed to persuade him to take me up. I remember being so excited as I climbed into our family Lada to go to the game. The car didn't start. This was a typical occurence during my childhood but I was really gutted to have missed us beat the Villa 1-0. Little did I know that 23 years later we'd still not have beaten them.

Here's the other essential Carl Valentine fact you need to know. He was the first player in the English League to qualify for the 1986 World Cup. Well, it was essential as an Albion fan back in 1985, anyway.