RichLeMonde
Club Legend
Nailed it. End thread.You are probably thinking about it in the context of your lifetime.
Carlton and Collingwood always seems to have been the biggest rivalry because there is a bit of class hatred mixed in with all the football stuff probably.
But through the ages Collingwood and Richmond has been the second biggest rivalry, between two neighbouring working class suburbs. And of course Carlton and Richmond is also a huge historical rivalry that was forged is class warfare and in many finals and grand finals. I may be wrong but I suspect the 23 finals in which Carlton and Richmond have met is the highest number of finals any two teams have played against each other. Actually just checked that and Collingwood have met Geelong in 25 finals which I am sure is the most frequent finals match-up in VFL/AFL history. But the Cats were not part of the Melbourne suburban landscape of course.
These rivalries were and are very real. They are just hidden from view in the modern context. But they will soon spring back to life if there is a run of finals between any of the big four clubs. You have to remember that while Collingwood and Richmond despise each other in one way both clubs have very similar roots, working class Irish Catholic left leaning football clubs. Carlton and Essendon fox hunting faux aristocratic tory voting protestant namby-pamby clubs who think it is their privilege to rule. So historically Richmond and Collingwood have been bitter rivals on one hand but respected each other at the same time.
My grandparents (long deceased) grew up in the area, and said there was such a locals culture (reflected in footy zones) that young blokes couldn’t walk on the wrong side of Vic Parade.
There was real parochial rivalry, but bred from class/religious similarity rather than sectarian difference. Hence my grandparents being married for 65 years and deeply in love except for 3 hours on Sat afternoons when they couldn’t be in the same house