The Biggest Derby

[Lambert and Payne]

What do you consider to be the biggest derby in Britain or even the World. Is it our own with sha? Early kick offs and the numerous times we've played hasn't changed anything imo.
 Millwall v West Ham this weekend plus the old firm. I personally don't rate the sky derbys (lplop manure aside). I also think the millwall west ham games are overrated, it will die down when they've played each other a few times and its only big because of films like green street anyways.
What about the lower league games? The likes of exeter v plymouth and swindon v oxford? The hatred is pretty intense even though they don't have the millions of supporters that manure and man city (these days) have..
For me its the old firm, the hatred goes from football and way beyond. I know the old firm are generally hated on here but these games are huge.
What's the biggest derby in your opinions and why?

[dave.woodhall]

In Britain it's the Old inFirm, no question.

[Sexual Ealing]

The Old Firm, despite the inevitable (and warranted) criticism of both halves, is a huge deal when you're in its gravitational field.

Arsenal/Spurs is a nice event, where they've each had periods on top and the odd upset, and they've often meant something for football reasons.

I think us/Blues, Millwall/West Ham, Wolves/Baggies, Swansea/Cardiff, Newcastle/S'land are all about the needle between the fans and too infrequently about what's at stake on the pitch in terms of trophies.

man Utd/Liverpool isn't a derby as far as I'm concerned.

[phantom limb]

As much as I detest the Small Heath shitbags, I'd imagine that the Rangers/Celtic hatred pisses all over everyone.  But I still want SHA to lose every single game that they ever play, even if it had Fred West playing rush goalie against them.

[Pete3206]

Celtic v Rangers
Liverpool v Man Utd

[cdbearsfan]

Boca v River, before River got relegated. Obssesses the whole continent when it's played... both have generally been contenders for Copa Libertadores while the Old Firm haven't had a proper go at the European Cup in nearky two decades. I don't think many people outside the British Isles, excluding Scottish/Irish diaspora, care much about Celtic-Rangers.

I suspect that history will be re-written in the years to come and that in ten years time Sky will have made Manchester City vs Manchester United "The Biggest Derby In The World(TM)".

[Sexual Ealing]

Boca v River, before River got relegated. Obssesses the whole continent when it's played... both have generally been contenders for Copa Libertadores while the Old Firm haven't had a proper go at the European Cup in nearky two decades. I don't think many people outside the British Isles, excluding Scottish/Irish diaspora, care much about Celtic-Rangers.

Sure, they might not care about it but I bet they know about it. Just like Boca/River for people outside South America.

[cdbearsfan]

The biggest "rivalry game" (to use American jargon) is definitely Barca-Real Madrid. Not a derby though... unless they move to a European Super League then it will be classed as one!

[Sexual Ealing]

Indeed. Like Liverpool and Man Utd they both have derbies against teams from their own cities.

[Gazza1982]

What about internationals, our own England v Scotland has to be up there along with Brazil v Argentina, Holland v Germany always intense too.

[villan1975]

What about internationals, our own England v Scotland has to be up there along with Brazil v Argentina, Holland v Germany always intense too.

Afraid not.
Scotland are to Engerland as the sha are to the Villa.

[Dave Cooper please]

The Muratti cup between Jersey and Guernsey, mental.

[DeKuip]

Considering the amount of times they play each other and that they still retain the passion they do, then the Celtic-Rangers derbies have to be the biggest. It's not even just about Glasgow as their rivalry also extends outside of the country and across the Irish sea.

Having said that, I've been to three - one at each of Ibrox, Parkhead and Hampden, and as fierce and passionate as they were, none of them were a patch on the Villa-Blues atmosphere/rivalry/hatred in those first few derbies when the rags came up in 2003.

The best derby for me is Arsenal-Spurs. It's nearly always a cracking game of football. The worst is Liverpool-Everton, for the opposite reason.
The Manc derbies this season should be interesting - back to the level they were at in the late sixties.

As for us, we haven't got a derby this season - despite what some on here will try and tell us!

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Boca v River plate before relegation was watched by a massive population. Rangers v Celtic following is not even half in numbers terms .........

[Gaztonniller]

I think Manchester has now taken over from Glasgow when you compare the two.
MU/MC  70000 & 48000 attendances Vs Celtic/Rangers 60000 & 50000 respectively.
With the influx of cash, MC v MU rivalry has really intensified more over the last 3 years to rival anything in Britain. Add to that the quality of players both teams have in their squads, and both teams being likely to be challenging for honours at the end of season, i cant see any other current derby rivaling those Mancs.