A trip to Smethwick

[stuart445]

I was only four at the time so do not remember it but my late father always hated them and told me many times why .In the 1959 -60 season we were fighting to stay up and were playing at the Hawthorns With time almost up a certain Ronnie Allen scored and more or less relegated us. It was'nt that he scored but the way he and their supporters celebrated it .

So it's the Newcastle and Villa hatred but us as West Brom and Newcastle as Villa 😂

[The Edge]

That Peter Morris book is amongst my favourite possessions. It never got to me with its dust jacket on but it has an inscription from my Nan to my Dad giving it as a Christmas present to him. Worthless to everyone else but priceless to me.

Nice story mate

[Scratchins]

I was there when Ronnie Allen scored, they went way over the top celebrating. I remember being shocked as at that time fans stood together at games and the atmosphere was totally different. It was the 1st time that I had grief from fans as I left the stadium. I was at school at the time.
My other bad memory was hearing "Alex,Alex Cripally" shouted. I had been at Villa Park when Ally Brown scythed him down and heard the crack of his leg. One of the few times that I cried at a match. 

[North Birmingham AVFC]

WBA try to copy blues in other ways too.

[pauliewalnuts]

WBA try to copy blues in other ways too.

Yes, by being ******, for example.

[Flamingo Lane]

I was there when Ronnie Allen scored, they went way over the top celebrating. I remember being shocked as at that time fans stood together at games and the atmosphere was totally different. It was the 1st time that I had grief from fans as I left the stadium. I was at school at the time.
My other bad memory was hearing "Alex,Alex Cripally" shouted. I had been at Villa Park when Ally Brown scythed him down and heard the crack of his leg. One of the few times that I cried at a match. 

My dad was at that game too, and spoke about it often.

[Stu]

My view is that it is important to have local rivalries. I can’t really hate WBA...

Fair enough, I guess. But have you ever lived in an area where there are loads of them?

I moved to Stourbridge from Solihull a few years ago and obviously on that side of the city had my fair share of experience with noses. I hadn't really thought a lot about the stripeys before because of the lack of proximity to them, so was surprised when I discovered that a large amount of them actually hate Villa more than any nose I've ever met. I don't know if it's just an inferiority complex, or something to do with Villa being the biggest team in the Black Country, which they see as their turf. Whatever it is, Villa get under their skin like nothing else.

Look at the depths to which they are willing to plumb - their reaction to the 'Support Stan' season, where they were demanding to know why we were supporting a player fighting a chronic, potentially terminal, disease, when we hadn't exactly sung his name from the stands before. Hypocrites, fickle, that's what a great many of them said of us at the time. No nose, to my knowledge, sank so low. With us, anything is fair game to them. Mark that, and mark it well.

[pauliewalnuts]

I moved to Stourbridge from Solihull a few years ago and obviously on that side of the city had my fair share of experience with noses. I hadn't really thought a lot about the stripeys before because of the lack of proximity to them

Exactly the same with me - grew up in Hall Green / Solihull, so pretty much never actually met an Albion fan. Given that, never encountered their cuntiness, therefore never really had any strong feelings about them.

[villa `cross the mersey]

I moved to Stourbridge from Solihull a few years ago and obviously on that side of the city had my fair share of experience with noses. I hadn't really thought a lot about the stripeys before because of the lack of proximity to them

Exactly the same with me - grew up in Hall Green / Solihull, so pretty much never actually met an Albion fan. Given that, never encountered their cuntiness, therefore never really had any strong feelings about them.

Pretty much the same for me - grew up in Hall Green, Worcester and settled in Bournville - didn't come across any Baggies until I started working on the Hagley Road and there were a few at the Bank I worked in -   didn't have any problems with them - having said that we used to play  every week in Coseley and then go drinking afterwards at Ma Pardoes, the Crooked House or other such decent drinking establishments

[Flamingo Lane]

I grew up in Oldbury, so experienced how much they hated/hate us.

I believe the response of the Albion fans to relegating us in 1959 (my dad often told me of the Villa players being spat on as they left the pitch) was their pay back for us beating them in the FA Cup semi final in 57.  By most accounts we were a bit lucky.

[Lizz]

Spent the first 12 years of my life in Birmingham then moved to Smethwick. The attitude of some is a bit like that of Austrians/Canadians being horrified if people think they’re German/American. The reality is outside of the West Midlands, most people have more awareness of Birmingham than Sandwell.

[jeowje]

Slightly off topic- and I understand that this is considered a more high-brow site than the Facebook groups we all use to watch the match if we can’t get there... I don’t know too much about the West Brom rivalry, but it sickens me the way small heath somehow try to claim that we are all from Staffordshire or wherever. We literally have thousands more fans in Birmingham than them, and I bet even the Peaky Blinders were secretly jealous of us (especially
as in their era we were arguably the biggest club in the world).