Thetownend.com

Seen a debate about this on Twitter, and was interested in seeing what other Town fans think. After seeing that awful video of Reading fans, who would you consider our main rival/rivals? Has to be Oxford and Bristol City for me.

Swindon supermarine. Blue scum

When we become a city and they make their rise up the football pyramid, it will be known as the proper ‘Second city derby.’

1. Oxford
2. Bristol City
= 3. Bristol Rovers / Reading

Cheltenham / Wycombe = non league non-entities albeit we can't beat one of them and the other is a league above us. Very Charlie Big Time of me I know but that's just how I feel about them...

I agree with the order from 1-3 but not getting Wycombe or even Cheltenham. We used to have more going on with Gillingham in the late 70's onwards and Northampton in the mid 80's as well as Pompey  and Cardiff at home

Oxford,
City,
Rovers


that's it really.

like beating Reading when we play them, but nothing  in-between. Ditto Gillingham.


Cheltenham are an annoyance because of their record.

ps. where the fuck did Wycombe come from? I don't recall that ever being a thing in the 30 years I've been going

Reading would be 4th for me, as for most others I think. I enjoy the rivalry with them more so in some ways. It's fun that it's so one-sided and that they haven't let it go after years in the championship/premiership.

It's like having a little brother that you always took the piss out of growing up. They might have grown up but you know you can always get them frothing at the mouth for fun with just a few words, or wind them up about embarrassing things from the past they'd rather forget(like Elm Park for example.)

Oxford, Rovers, Shitty, Reading, Gillingham, Bournemouth and then any number after that for me.

Teams that will never be rivals for me personally, FGR, Cheltnumb, Wycombe, Exeter, Plymouth, Yeovil despite their geographical (or west country) position.

Oxford, City, Rovers, Reading, Gillingham. The only team I really hate is the Pox.

Oxford scum, Shitty, Shitty Mk 2, run run run run Reading in that order.

Only one for me and will remain only one until I die.
Oxford.
City, Rovers, Reading, Gillingham don’t come close.

That's why I referred to them as non-league non-entities  ::) ...the only reason I referred to them at all was because of their geographical location i.e. both only about an hour away (could have included FGR in the same bracket) and Cheltenham seem to consider us to be rivals.

Brighton  :)

Definitely in the late 70's

1. Oxford
2. Bristol City


That's it.  No more for me.  Nice to know Reading still think about us, though.

Love going to Wycombe,  just to go in the White Horse pub !!!. :moon: :moon:

Oxford

There was some survey a couple of years ago about this.
Swindon were punching well above their league status in how many teams disliked from memory.

I quite liked the fact that they cared

1. Oxford

Second place goes to whichever Bristol club we are sharing a division with at time. If, neither of them like now then there isn’t really a second rival.

No question it's the Scum  :doh: :badmood:

Junior upstarts with big mouths.

That said, loved going the Elm Park. Although we also got a hammering on the pitch  :(

COYMR's

It’s obviously Oxford. But, here’s the thing.

I was chatting to a yellow friend who was keen on getting in the ‘7 in a row’ thing - even though it isn’t 7 at all, let alone another halfwit who says it’s 8 - about the PdC promotion season. He couldnt/wouldn’t believe me when I said I wasn’t devastated that they did the double over us that season. Sure I wanted to beat the fuckers but give me promotion and getting beat by them all day long.

Nice to see the bottling continuing last Saturday. They’re not happy about us buying the CG, either. ‘Why are they getting it for £2m when Uncle Firoz wants £13m for the triangle?’

They are always going to be fucked with the combo of the little Thai fella and Firoz.

1. Oxford
2. City
3. MK thieving cunts

This sums it up pretty well.

Oxford and City, but I've really been enjoying the transient rivalries that pop up like Crawley under Steve whasisname, FGR under Cooper and Bradford this season.

Any fans since the 70's will say Oxford, City, Rovers with Reading barely getting a mention. Gillingham escalated after the Ray McHale incident and although not local it became quite hostile. Northampton started 85/86 but that seems to have disappeared now and when hooligism was rife Cardiff & Pompey always caused lots of trouble

Oxford

I don't like either Bristol team and the battles with City are usually quite fun. The main thing I love about City is the whole "we don't care about Swindon" shit. They sang that no no no song for years. And OTIB had more threads about us than themselves when we were both going for promotion.

Absolutely this, the only time it escalated a little with Reading was after the Thames Valley Royals "thing" mooted in 82 otherwise they play a minor role in any rivalry, their fans posting the video is just ridiculous to say the least.

Spot on.

That's the only reason I don't like City  :)

So true and even now on OTIB we regularly get a mention

Aside from the obvious Pox and City rivalries, I’ve really had fun with Bradford this year, it’s added something extra. And add the fact that, for once, we’ve won (maybe not on the pitch, but away from from it we most certainly have) its been even more fun. For what it’s worth I don’t think either the club or their fans have acted unfairly and I’ve now got half an eye on them and hope their season comes good without Doyle

It reminds me of the PdC L2 season. Of course a lot hated and admired us at the same time. But distinct "rivalries" at the time seemed to be Gills (because of previous and we poached Luke Rooney purely for shits and giggles) and Shrews (due to us poaching Collins mostly but Graham Turner thought they were much better than they were.) Both sets of those home victories, I'm certain on a Tuesday night, were great nights under lights. Only really second to Northampton and PdC's famous "run".

Those times seem like they are nearly here again, so as well as the usual rivalries, these temporary ones stand out for me too.

Being an out of towner for 25 odd years now (and growing up in West Oxon where even when I was a kid and the pox were doing well no one seemed to support them) local rivalries don't really directly affect me, have a vague acquaintance who is a pox fan (he is the son of a friend of my dads and whilst we are linked on Facebook see him about once every 15 years) and he is bloody obsessed with us, which has an additional comedy value as he is a GP and lives in Australia!

Amusingly my mate went to the Newcastle-Pox game at St James Park the other month and apparently they spent the full 90 mins singing about us and abusing Matt Ritche.

Anyone would think they have an inferiority complex.

Don't think it counts as a complex as they're genuinely inferior!

Not much between Oxford and Bristol City for me. Started going to Town games in 2003 so waited a full 9 years (i think) before I saw us play Oxford in a league game. Conversely we had a lot of tussles with City in that time. One of my first away games was the City 1-2 Swindon game where Henderson scored a brace. And the Fallon overhead kick which was an amazing moment.

So as a young un Bristol City were my most hated but Oxford have since caught up and overtaken, though not by much.

Rovers and Reading are meh. Do have a strong dislike of Bournemeouth.

Shame you weren't around in the late 70's and 80's you would then realise how much trouble bothe Bristol clubs caused at the county ground and Town centre

Definately, Shitty and Rovers fans have been awful in games at Swindon over the years, possibly more so than Oxford. Also Bournemouth fans caused a lot of trouble in the late 80s as did Northampton in the early 80s. Luckily thats eased more in recent years.

He’s another GP? Sign him up I say, can’t hurt to have two

Forever in our shadow.

Don't even have to go back to the 80s, in the 21st century Rovers have smashed up* the Queens Tap and attacked a load of ordinary fans and families at the Inn on the Green. Albeit both incidents well over a decade ago now.


* well, broke some glasses and tables

Luckily incidents like these are getting rarer though, we (well some of our fans) did a pretty good job at being twats themselves in Newport before our game there.

Not connected with playing Swindon on their way back from a midweek game at poxford which was called off

Still Rovers fans causing grief in Swindon? And the Inn on the Green attack was before our away game v them

They're 'ard ain't they  :)

A gang of 20 Bristol fans with a mental age of 3 armed with baseball bats and a combined IQ of 18....

Was that in Horefield when they attacked innocent fans

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/1363159.thugs-baseball-attack-on-town-fans/

yeah, that's the one. As PV says, thankfully that kind of thing is much rarer these days

Eh ? Bournemouth and Northampton ?
They were always on the receiving end from what I saw.

I remember seeing loads of people covered in blood on the Stratton Bank as Bournemouth fans were lobbing stuff from the away end. At their place they were ripping seats up and chucking them at us on the pitch at the end of the game. Sometime in the 80s when the were promoted as champions from div 3 I think.

We were caught up in this.  It was horrible.  A pack of feral chavs waded in to a peaceful beer garden with baseball bats on a lovely, sunny afternoon.  It came out of nowhere & took us a few stunned seconds to realise what was going on but, luckily, then managed to get inside the pub to take refuge.  Others got cornered & weren't as lucky.  Some ended up in A&E with fractures.  I've been watching Swindon for 30 years & I've never seen anything like it before or since.

TEF thread from 2007 (http://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=20100.msg365975#msg365975)

That 2007 game was one of the most hostile I've experienced but I concede that it was probably nothing compared to the 80s.

We were having a drink outside a pub when two sets of fans charged at each other, we turned to go into the pub but it was already being locked.

I remember listening to a Rovers fan trying to convince a police officer that they were Swindon fans fighting amongst themselves.

Whilst dressed "Full Kit Wanker" in Blue & White Battenburg  :soapy tit wank:

The only Bournemouth game at home I remember going to around that time was the 86/87 when we played them over Easter in the top of the table clash when they announced the crowd was 14,000 but anyone who was in the stadium knew it was 20,000+ as everywhere was packed including the away end. Swindon has loads of fans ejected from the Stratton bank before the game started but still had loads next to the Bournemouth lot but I can't remember any rocks etc being thrown from either set of fans

I vividly remember one chap walking past me, who I initially thought had a leopard skin shirt on. Turned out to be a white T shirt with smatterings of blood. Also remember stuff being thrown afterwards. Yes, lots ejected, top of the table clash around 86/87 sounds right. We didn't win, as I seem to remember being disappointed. Can't remember if we lost or it was a draw.

Before my time, but here you go...

STFC 1-1 Bournemouth (http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19870138)

Great coverage.  Fighty scenes on the Bank and Roger Malone calling us 'Swinter'.

Bunch of cowards, tooling up to attack families.

I was on the bank that day although not near the dividing fence so never witnessed any trouble only around 100 Swindon fans ejected befired the game and marched around the pitch to the Townend.

Thanks Ardiles.

I wasn't involved in the trouble - Never been a toughie. Sticks in the memory as I was scared that it was going to get a whole lot worse!

Neither was I but I don't think the younger generation realise how scarŷ football was in the 70's/80's when you had rival thugs trying to take the home end or waiting outside the ground after the game

Not Swindon related, but I vividly remember going with a friend (who as a Wolves fan) to Wolves v. Chelsea in the early 80's when I was about 6. We went with his nan and whilst we had no bother there seemed to be trouble all around us, it sticks in my mind almost being flattened by a riot copper on a horse outside the ground.

Really bizarrely, I am the post after yours on that thread and sat here now I have absolutely ZERO recollection of this, to point where I'm tempted to accuse my younger self of lying.

A GANG of 20 hooligans armed with baseball bats attacked Swindon Town fans before the team's crucial match with Bristol Rovers. The unprovoked violence took place at the Inn on the Green pub in Horfield, Bristol, at about 1.30pm as about 30 Town fans gathered for a friendly pre-match drink before the crunch encounter.30 Apr 2007
https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk › ...

Well you describe it just as I remembered it, so fair to assume you were there!  Put it down to age, or a psychological defence mechanism to protect your memory from the horror of it all...

I forgot about the potential groundshare. Remember the inn on the green quite well though, there were some guys in the away end covered in blood. The next few encounters with Rovers were tasty but it quickly died down.

When we beat City 3-2 a few years ago (Ajose got a couple for us I think) me and my other half were walking back to our car with my mate and his old man and got stopped by police. We basically stood still while City fans threw coins and bottles at us. I think people from Bristol are generally a bit cunty.

Also springing back to mind is our last game at the Madejski, a 3-1 win in what must've been 2000-2001 time... After the game I remember quite a bit of trouble (I was fairly young) but think it was more bravado than anything else? I do wonder if that rivalry would reignite if we played them regularly...

'Bristol' it is then  :)

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/city-rovers-fans-say-how-2862295

Picking up a detail from that, what’s the second team in Falkirk?

East Stirling.  A classic outfit whose fans fought an early attempt at franchising... all 250 of them.

Knew you’d know. Was going to say it must be the smallest town in Britain with two league teams, but given the scale of Scottish league sides, it’s not so different from the likes of Supermarine.

ES actually got relegated a couple of years back when the Scots introduced up and down from the non leagues.

A few years back both Northwich Victoiria and Witton Albion were in the Conference together, which from a town of just over 40,000 was impressive.

Good spot. Witton being a suburb of Northwich?

Edinburgh used to have 3 but I think Meadowbank Thistle went out of business and I think were franchised to Livingston (that could be wrong). There is another team in Edinburgh now called Spartans that play in the Lowland league along with Gretna 2008 and Berwick Rangers who fell into 'non-league' now they have introduced promotion and relegation from the Lowland/Highland leagues into the league.

Edinburgh is back to full complement of 3 teams, Edinburgh City are in the big time as of a few seasons back

Interesting things I've discovered about Witton, a suburb of Northwich.

1) They allowed rivals Northwich Victoria back into the town when they agreed to ground-share their 4500 capacity Wincham Park stadium in 2015, Victoria's previous stadium, also in Wincham, having been demolished only 10 years after its construction!
2) Scouse comedian John Bishop played for them in the 80s
3) Their other main rivalry these days is with a third local team, 1874 Northwich, a club run by disgruntled Northwich Victoria fans!

Definition of hotbed.

I guess so.... it's interesting readng up about this stuff.  Vics used to play at Drill Field which was reckoned the oldest continuously used ground in England... 1875.  It got sold to developers and turned to houses in the nougties, and Vics moved to a new ground, they then went bust, dodgy owners, and some fans formed a phoenix club 1874 Northwich.  Vics carried on however and now groundshare with Witton.

Burton has had I think at least 3 if not 4 league teams..... Wanderers, Swifts, United and Albion.  Don't think though they were around together mind

How shit must they have been to get relegated out of the Scottish league

Meadowbank Thistle, used to be Ferranti Thistle, but when the gained promotion to the SFL, the powers thhat be wouldn't allow a commercial name in, so they changed to Meadowbank, which I believe was a Commonwealth Games stadium they used.

Yes it was. I used to live not a million miles away from it and play football very close to the 'stadium' which was not very impressive at all (both the stadium and my footballing ability)

you are or course correct. I should have known that really! Guess I have been focusing too much on the malaise at the Jambos!

[tans] How shit must you have been not to get into Scottish league football? [/tans]
 ;)

Brechin City are in line for this seasons relegation PO, couple of years back they were Div2, but got relegated famously with no wins all season a whopping 4 points and have continued to slide.

With 2 snapped achilles tendons and an ACL rupture in my left knee I was always hampered by injuries!!

And this is having never played proper competitive football - all done in 5/7/8 a side friendly games!!

Lame.

(Literally.)

Mate of mine worked in the bar (Vics Club) at Drill Field in the early 90's before he came to university (where I met him) and used to confirm that the rivalry between Vics and Witton was very strong, also used to bore us rigid about the age of the ground, all this despite having literally no interest in football. The only football match I am aware he ever attended was the Newcastle-Stevenage replay at SJP in 1998 after they had knocked us out in the previous round.

The most amusing thing was that the big hard core Witton chant was simply 'Zigger Zagger, Zigger Zagger, Albion'!  

I watched Cowdenbeath play brechin a few weeks ago. I’m not exaggerating to say that supermarine would comfortably beat both

Odd ground too, with the banger racing track round the outside

Ace.... for quiz purposes I did once learn all the Scottish grounds.  So was it Central or Glebe Park?

These days though like with some of the English grounds, moves, new clubs and stupid sponsorship names means it's just not worth it any longer.  Scottish nickmames are fun mind....Cowden = Blue Brazil  :)

I watched St Johnstone v Motherwell last season in the Scots Prem.

I would think we would easily beat both those sides too very comfortably. The standard of Scottish football is street behind England. Only the top 3 or 4 teams in the Scottish Prem would match or better teams in League 2.

I wonder if that relates to the character (a football hooligan) in the play of the same name from the late 60's.
Also screened by the BBC.
Vaguely recall it being picked up in the school playground in the early 70's by kids who watched Town at the time.

Central Park

Annoyingly I only found out Craig Easton is the assistant manager there whilst on the train back, else I’d have tried to seek him out and ask his experiences of being the 1/2 in Maurice The Maverick Malpas favoured 4-3 1/2 - 2 1/2 formation

When I lived in Edinburgh the only lower league side I went to see was a game at Ochilvue Reg. Who was I watching?

Ochilview ;)

Ochilview Reg to be precise  ;)

Is there an echo in here? :D

Stenhousemuir....

Not to be confused with the more local Bremhill View

That's in Calne Reg  ;)

Easy to be sniffy about Scottish football, but there's something quite impressive about being able to support a league of 4 divisions (or more if you include the Highland & Lowland Leagues etc.) with a population of just over 5 million.  That's roughly the population of SW England, from Swindon down to Cornwall.  What would a league of 4 divisions covering that area look like, I wonder?  And which teams would be the equivalent of Rangers, Celtic, Hibs, Hearts & Aberdeen?

Morton are my Scottish team.  Having a bad season this year, but they regularly challenge (and then fail) for promotion to the SPL on gates of less than 2,000.

Trouble is probably 4.75m of the 5m in the South West support Man Utd and Liverpool  :)

Calne seemed to have a high number of individuals who purported to support Chelsea.

Think you get that everywhere, to be honest.  Just about every small town in the west of Scotland is full of Celtic & Rangers fans.  I find it really dull.  It's a miracle any of these places manage to support teams of their own.

Now we know why poxford fans hate our stronghold in Farringdon & Wantage!