Biggest Sports Rivalry in the World

[Sheryl Yoast]

There a few up there such as Yankees and Sox, but I think it has to be Rangers-Celtic in soccer. Both teams are always 1-2 in the Scottish Premier League, both teams are from Glasgow but the kicker with this rivalry is that Celtic supporters are Catholic while Rangers supporters are Protestant. Every time these two teams meet it is apocalyptic in the stands.


What do you think the biggest rivalry in the world is?

[James]

Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC.

But seriously, some of the rivalries in the Italian league (Inter, AC, Roma, Lazio) get incredibly heated.

English rivalries are still pretty big (Chelsea, Arsenal, Arsenal Tottenham etc..) but tention wise don't touch Italy.

Celtic and Rangers is huge though.

Also I'd imagine AEK Athens and Olympiakos would be pretty big, Real Madrid v Barcelona.

Btw, I hope someone (Tiger, Martinez) gets this in reference to the Celtic/Rangers rivalry, "OH BIG JOCK KNEW, OH BIG JOCK KNEW!"

[Dave]

bbs vs nbn

[Tigertecz]

Where have I seen this exact thread and opening post before?

[duceisinmyheart]

real madrid vs. barcelona

[cjmjones008]

i never saw that coming from martinez

[GMGreggor]

I'm really showing my age here but the Cowboys/ Redskins and slightly behind the Steelers/Raiders used to be right up there with Yankess/Red Sox to me until the big money hit the NFL and it became a buddy system.

Listen to the guys that played back in the 70's and early 80's on those teams and they'll tell you they were'nt only playing with a violent passion but they were literally trying to hurt each other. It was brutal.

I would also place Ali/Frazier up there. Frazier hated Ali with a passion and fought that way.
I think to Ali it was more a game but smoking Joe despised Ali.

[James]

Rivalries in football are incredible.

Our national league is only 4 years old (replacing an older one) and the rivalries that already exist are huge.

Our rivals (Melbourne Victory's) are Sydney FC. Seriously, on away trips it gets fucking messy, I'm telling you that.

When we last played here, they brought over 500 away supporters. Me and my lads were on a tram going to the game, all wearing casual clothing (English football tradition back in the 70's etc...).

Anyway the 500 Sydney fans were together marching to the game when they saw a familiar face on the tram which JUST happened to stop at the traffic lights as they were crossing. They started throwing glass bottles, smashing the windows shaking the tram, trying to get in. My mate got a massive bit of glass to the face, blood everywhere, cops surrounding. Seriously insane. That was just one thing of many that day, and thats for a home match. Football rivalries are tribal, nothing can match them. I know that no one is or has, but please don't compare Yankees/Metz or any other sport where fans paint their faces at games to football ones.

[Dave]

philadelphia vs santa clause

[James]

Krup v DJ

[lock]

USC vs. UCLA

[Speed Racer]

james said:

Rivalries in football are incredible.

Our national league is only 4 years old (replacing an older one) and the rivalries that already exist are huge.

Our rivals (Melbourne Victory's) are Sydney FC. Seriously, on away trips it gets fucking messy, I'm telling you that.

When we last played here, they brought over 500 away supporters. Me and my lads were on a tram going to the game, all wearing casual clothing (English football tradition back in the 70's etc...).

Anyway the 500 Sydney fans were together marching to the game when they saw a familiar face on the tram which JUST happened to stop at the traffic lights as they were crossing. They started throwing glass bottles, smashing the windows shaking the tram, trying to get in. My mate got a massive bit of glass to the face, blood everywhere, cops surrounding. Seriously insane. That was just one thing of many that day, and thats for a home match. Football rivalries are tribal, nothing can match them. I know that no one is or has, but please don't compare Yankees/Metz or any other sport where fans paint their faces at games to football ones.

See, our definition of a rivalry is completely different.

I, on one hand, find it completely fucking retarted that so many fuckfaces decide to get lethally violent over sports. To me, that isn't a rivalry, but just idiocy. Anybody that gets violent over a game deserves to be publicly shamed. Soccer riots and deaths in the stands are a disgrace and to me that makes rivalries like the Yankees/Red Sox, Steelers/Browns, Redskins/Cowboys, etc. much more interesting. Those games are played with passion, the fans are passionate, but they aren't a bunch of mindless morons. I like to be able to be alive while enjoying rivalries.

But no, continue preaching about how "passionate" soccer fans are. I don't doubt that one bit, they are as passionate as it gets, but they are also downright embarassing at times.

And I even like soccer, but I still find the violence amongst the fans to be inexplicable. I'll take going to a Steelers/Browns game in which I know the worst that will probably happen to me is getting a beer tossed my way rather than half a bottle engrained in my forehead.

[James]

Maniac, there are different levels of it though. Football has your type of rivalries, and it has the more full-on ones.

If you never follow a football team though, you'll never understand it because the level of support at football is that much greater both in terms of participation and passion.

Football is life which is why outside opinions and so on come into the game.

And by the way no offence but if NFL was any good it'd be played outside the US.

Also some other great football rivalries include England/Germany, Macedonia/Serbia, Brazil/Argentina.

[Funky George!]

james said:

Maniac, there are different levels of it though. Football has your type of rivalries, and it has the more full-on ones.

If you never follow a football team though, you'll never understand it because the level of support at football is that much greater both in terms of participation and passion.

Football is life which is why outside opinions and so on come into the game.

And by the way no offence but if NFL was any good it'd be played outside the US.

Also some other great football rivalries include England/Germany, Macedonia/Serbia, Brazil/Argentina.

American football has been, and is, played outside the U.S. Don't be arrogant; it's completely relative. American football, to most of us, is the most exciting type of professional sports out there, and it happens to be MASSIVELY popular, without violence. Nobody's attacking how good soccer is, so you come off pretty lame putting down American football. If you know nothing of it, don't try to be the one to say if it's any good.

[James]

Where else is it played?

[Aaron2344]

Anyone who knows me knows how much I dislike football. I find it boring, probably since I never participated.

But football is easily the most popular sport in the world's top market. And it's slowly making its way to other countries. If I remember correctly, this year there was an expansion game in Mexico which drew enormous crowds, and the Giants game in London which was reported to have a "Super Bowl like feel."

Maybe one reason it hasn't exploded like it has in the States is due to rugby. I don't know the sport well, but it seems to be pretty similar. Might make things a bit more difficult to break into markets, but I do believe football will start growing more outside the borders in the next few years.

[James]

Slowly making it's way to other countries? It's been trying to do so for years now...

[Aaron2344]

Yeah, I might not be the best person to comment on the NFL. Don't really know much about international expansion. It just appeared from an outsider's view that they are attempting to put the NFL worldwide. I remember hearing Goodell speak about his hopes to bring the NFL overseas, even a Super Bowl in London.

[GMGreggor]

james said:

Slowly making it's way to other countries? It's been trying to do so for years now...

Things dont happen overnite. According to this article quoted From The History of Football

“At first soccer was played mostly in private schools and universities, but before long people of the working classes picked up the sport. The FA Cup, a tournament first organized in 1871, sparked the rapid spread of soccer in England. (The tournament, which is still played, climaxes with the annual Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in London.) An 1872 game in Glasgow, Scotland, between an English all-star team and its Scottish counterpart marked the beginning of international play. In 1885 the FA recognized the legitimacy of professional players and regular league play started in England in 1888.

Soccer's global spread began in the late 1800s, when British traders, sailors, and soldiers carried the sport all over the world. Germans, Italians, and Austrians were eager converts in Europe, while Argentines, Uruguayans, and Brazilians took quickly to the sport in South America. FIFA was formed in 1904. By 1930 professional leagues were operating in many countries, and that year FIFA organized the first World Cup in Uruguay.”

Soccer has over a 100 year head start on expansion. The NFL has just experimented with it for what 15 yrs max?

And if I'm not mistaken the worldwide ratings for the Super Bowl beat the world cup ratings pretty handily.

Really not interested in arguing a lot about it since it's entirely subjective but your arrogance is on display here in all it's glory once again.

Typical.

[Phoenix Phil]

james said:

Slowly making it's way to other countries? It's been trying to do so for years now...

if your talking about NFL Europe, that league was a joke. Of course the European didn't want a watch a league full NFL wannabe's and castoffs. It's the same reason the MLS hasn't been a success in the US... people want to watch the best of their sport play, not lower-level talent.

However, the actual NFL game in London was supposedly a big success, and their planning on making it an every-year thing.

[Speed Racer]

james said:

Maniac, there are different levels of it though. Football has your type of rivalries, and it has the more full-on ones.

If you never follow a football team though, you'll never understand it because the level of support at football is that much greater both in terms of participation and passion.

Football is life which is why outside opinions and so on come into the game.

And by the way no offence but if NFL was any good it'd be played outside the US.

Also some other great football rivalries include England/Germany, Macedonia/Serbia, Brazil/Argentina.

If soccer were any good it would be more popular in the United States.

Ok, now that we've all said dumb things like that, I'll just move on from that. NFL fans are extremely passionate and it is an integral part of many people's lives. Personally, football consumes far to much of my life than it should, but I just enjoy it. And also, I really couldn't care less if it's played elsewhere. It's the most popular sport in this country, which I live in, and that's fine with me. Soccer is behind golf in this country as far as popularity is concerned, so what makes it so great? The NBA, College Basketball, College Football, the NHL, Nascar, Golf, certainly the NFL, MLB, Tennis, and even things like Horse Racing get more pub in the US. You'd think the almighty sport would be more popular than golf in one of the world's most influential nations.

Like I said, I'm not dissing soccer. I know across the globe it is the most popular sport, but saying stupid things like "The NFL isn't any good because it isn't played elsewhere" is..well..stupid.

[James]

Maniac, I agree that my comment was rather 'brash', however it does have 'some' backing to it. Surely if any other country thought it was even remotely good, they'd play it? And yes I realise some of the rivalries in the NFL are very big and it consumes a lot of peoples lives, but what I'm saying is that with football, real life opinions including politics and religion come into play, so I'm saying that it reflects more of an individuals life personally, rather than it consuming their physical time if that makes sense. I respect what you are saying though and realise that theres no arguing the point because we both have different opinions and neither are going to agree!

HOWEVER

Gregg, your points are TERRIBLE. It took 30 years to spread...when there was like TV or interenet...fark, don't even know why I bothered discussing this issue with you. It's a lot easier for things to catch on these days, and when I say a lot, I mean it.

And LMFAO at your Superbowl comment about it rating higher than the World Cup.

World Cup Final = 1.1 Billion Viewers

Superbowl = 90 Million Viewers

Lol, you made plenty of great points Gregg.

[James]

And Blue, you realise that the NFL game in London was a commodity for the Brits and more of a circus than anything else.

If you think the media and a coutry pay so much attention to a single sport in the US, you are yet to see Englands fixation with football.

I'm not saying that the sport will never spread there, however I'm honestly going to say that the chances of it doing so and being succesful would be below 0.5%...

[James]

Btw from what I have gathered from BBS and BBS2000, Gregg is actually brain dead, am I correct?

[Funky George!]

james said:

And Blue, you realise that the NFL game in London was a commodity for the Brits and more of a circus than anything else.

If you think the media and a coutry pay so much attention to a single sport in the US, you are yet to see Englands fixation with football.

I'm not saying that the sport will never spread there, however I'm honestly going to say that the chances of it doing so and being succesful would be below 0.5%...

That's a joke. If the NFL sent four teams of NFL caliber players to Europe, they'd have popularity SO fast. So many reasons why, but mostly because it would create interntional rivalry and would be a new, exciting sport that is already COMPLETELY established. You've no idea how easy it would be. It's just a matter of time. Last year a game was in London, I think there will be on this year, too, not to mention in Toronto. You're clueless.