Albion's Local Rivals

By Huw Morris

So who are the teams we love to hate at the Albion? Well, personally speaking, I don't hate any team. I'm a Midlander, and I like to see West Midlands sides doing well. I remember celebrating as Peter Withe scored the goal that won Aston Villa the European Cup in 1982. I remember the cock-up in the Nottingham Forest defence that allowed Andy Gray to score the winner in the 1980 League Cup final. There's a difference between rivalry and hatred, and I think it's important not to cross that line.

Hatred is the sort of attitude that leads to violence. It's the sort of attitude which was prevalent in the 70s and 80s and led to segregation in the first place. By all means, have a little gloat when your team has won, and your best mate's team has got stuffed in the Cup by Woking...um..er.. Chorley, Altricham, Sutton United or Halifax Town. But it doesn't have to be ugly. Other teams are teams just like us; their fans are fans just like us. It doesn't work to say "Their fans are a load of mindless morons". All teams have their lunatic fringe, even (sadly) the one you happen to support. So get behind your team, acknowledge the lot at the other end of the ground getting behind theirs, and let's all do it in the right spirit. Please?

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves are the main rivals of the Albion. These are the two Black Country sides and the bragging rights for an entire region are at stake whenever these two play. To my mind, the rivalry has got completely out of hand here. Wolves still come out onto the field to the tune of 'The Liquidator', which gives the fans an opportunity to shout abuse at the Albion at the end. Efforts to stop this by the Wolves management have been half-hearted to say the least, hence the suspicion by some Albion fans that the obscenities are officially approved. In addition, 'A Load Of Bull' is a very anti-Albion fanzine, and has for a long time referred to us as 'A****n'. Albion fanzine 'Grorty Dick' is much less extreme, but recently there have been one or two instances of 'W****s'.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa are the closer of the two Birmingham sides, so the rivalry with the Villa is probably stronger than that of Birmingham City. In addition, Villa are a Premiership side with the largest ground in the area and are the only club in the area to have won anything worthwhile recently. So I believe jealousy is the reason for much of the abuse directed at Villa (from all the other Midlands sides).

Birmingham City

Birmingham City have about the same level of support, and the same size stadium as Albion and Wolves, but have been even less successful at actually winning trophies (as if that were possible). While matches between these two are highly charged, I don't remember ever hearing an anti-Blues chant at any other game. Blues' main rivals are the Villa; Paul Tait wore a T-shirt saying 'Shit on the Villa' at the Auto Windscreens Shield a few years ago.

Walsall

Walsall are a much smaller team than Albion, and could never really hope to compete at the same level. I think the attitude towards Walsall is one of that to a younger brother. I was personally delighted to see Walsall get promotion this year, as the Saddlers are my second team. In the past this has not been a problem, but if they get one more promotion, they will be playing at the same level as the Albion and it will be interesting to see if the attitude towards Walsall changes. As Walsall have historically played at a lower lever than the other Birmingham-area teams, they have no traditional rival. Since 1988, Birmingham City are probably the closest they have had.

[ However, since Huw wrote this, Walsall have managed to achieve promotion to Division One under the management of Ray Graydon - an astonishing achievement given the limited resources they had to develop the team. We bid them a warm welcome to the Midlands Division - although we're probably just a little bit apprehensive about playing them! Whether they can stay up here, and how the attitudes of Albion fans will alter towards them, remains to be seen..... ]