Rivalries

[Genesis67]

After seeing Obi-Haive's post in the "Does St Kilda Finally Have a Rivalry?" thread on the main board (which I agree with btw), I thought I'd just find a general consensus on who people think our most arch-rivals are.

If you hit Other, please post who below.

 

[Mr Eagle]

Essendon... I think mainly because it has developed naturally over a period of time.

Our rivalry with Freo was almost inevitable owing to geography so it doesn't have quite the same feel, and our rivalry with Sydney is too recent.

 

[sedders]

i voted essendon, but i'd have sydney on that list

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

It has to be Freo. We hate them, they hate us. Even though we usually occupy opposite ends of the ladder, and judge success differently, the hatred between the two clubs cannot be ignored.


Essendon, rivals in the sense that we've got a lot of history with them. Jacket waving, sheedy slitting throat gesture, Hirds final quarter heroics of a couple years ago (where he hugged that fan), the windy hill debacle of '89, etc.

Sydney, last 3 years have been huge between the two sides. But with Sydney falling off the pace I feel its a short lived rivalry.

Cats? Don't even register on my radar.

 

[wce4premiership]

In order i would say

Sydney/essendon
Freo
Geelong

 

[Goldenblue]

Essendon.

With the rivalry between us and that mob down the road, I think we see them as another team where that lot have an obsession of having to beat us.

Fremantle, play 2 grand finals a year, if they beat us, they carry on like they won a flag, if we beat them it's just another team we played.

 

[Dylan82]

Currently I believe our strongest footballing rivalry is with Sydney, however that will change in the future as it has varied in the past. (eg Hawthorn early 90s, then the Kangas and Essendon through the mid to late 90s and now Sydney in the mid 00s.)

Funnily enough, when we were mediocre and not challenging for the premiership in the early 00s, I can't recall us having a good footballing rivalry with a particular team above any other.


Note I have mentioned the point footballing rivalry and not mentioned Fremantle, because that is a rivalry more complex than just football.

A good football rivalry has respect from both sets of supporters towards the opposition team, and in the case where one supporter's team does not prevail, they would still like to see the other do well against the rest of the competition.


West Coast and Fremantle however share nothing like this.
It is a rivalry of geography primarily, and then secondly as a footballing one.
This leads to a mutual hatred between the opposing sets of supporters which can then be taken and/or entangled along socioeconomic/political lines giving it deeper tribal sentiments.
Much like how a civil war for a country is always more bloody than a war waged against a foreign power, a local rivalry is always going to provide more divisions, talking points and historical spectacles than a short-lived footballing rivalry with another contending team.

So to get to point, I don't believe that our rivalry with Fremantle is our best - but it remains our most heated one by several orders over any other that we have. I for one will never tire of seeing the club from the port that can't even trademark their name from achieving failure and crushing the hopes of their wishful supporters.