Was just thinking the other day about rivalries we've had with clubs over the years and how they can change so was just interested to see what fans from different era's consider to be the biggest rivalry they have known Fartown to have.

I will start off with mine and it has to be the early/mid 90's rivalry with the mighty Keighley Cougars !!

At the time this was intense and were easily the 2 biggest games of the season for both clubs.
When the fixture list came out the Keighley games were always the ones i looked for 1st.
The away game was always a guaranteed packed house with as many Fartowners in the ground as Cougar fans and when they came over here they always brought a huge contingent with them.
We had some great games with them and they had a superb team at the time and in the years we've had in super league upto now i dont think we've struck up a rivalry with anyone remotely close to what we had with Keighley.
Obviously our promotion to Super League put an end to the it, was just a shame they didnt get the green light too so we could have carried it on in the top flight, the 2 clubs are so far away now though its hard to imagine there could have been such a rivalry.

Over to you lot !

Despite what Wakey fans might say we have a real rivalry with them. Quite bitter too.

Those years of fighting to avoid bottom when they got promoted were hard and that's carried over. They just don't like it because they only win once every four years.

for me its bradford.. and seems to be hotting up abit more now again

oohh yes - loved the keighley rivalry --- im with you Daz- I think the difference was I never felt it was a bitter personal rivalry - a healthy sporting one definitely - but all friends in the pub after! Would love that one back!
Never really felt a bradford rivalry - we werent considered good enough to be rivals by the bulls fans.
wakey - now i used to love and hate those games in equal measure as they were often close see-saw games on the pitch.

first rivalry i really felt was batley in the late 80's /early 90's, even though fax were our traditional rivals i only remember us playing them once in my early years supporting fartown,batley was always a bit tasty on and off the field at that time!
but for me the rivalry with keighley was something i dont think we'll ever experience again, for 5/6years it was something special and the games were usually crackers, as jools says it never really got beyond sporting rivalry but by god we hated losing to them and vice versa, the famous cougar roar getting drowned out with the fartowners shouting "looosers" whenever we beat them was brilliant!

The rivalry between us and Keighley was very friendly. You could stand on the terrace and have a good chat with opposition fans and not worry about their reaction. Good days those. Other good rivalries were Fax and even Leigh in the NFP season.

For me it is Wigan.

In days gone by the two top teams were us and Wigan.
In the late 70s and 80s we had some big games with them and some serious battles on the pitch.

Although they went on to better things whilst we became bottom feeders there has always been an edge in games we have played with them since we got back to the big time.

keighley was the one i enjoyed from the 90's aswell, the fans were so friendly but full of banter, always remember the 30-0 at cougar park in the cup and then the week after our game at rochdale was postponed, so a lot of fartown fans headed to batley v cougars and stood on the half way line out singing both home and away teams , great fun was had in the pub before that game poking fun at the keighley fans but it was all in good fun and taken that way by the cougar lot.

indeed,in the 95 premiership we got tickets from the RFL and to our horror found ourselves sat in the stretford end which was full of cougars, we had a good bit of banter with them but never felt threatened or anything.
i remember a similar thing happening a few times when fartown games were called off, once in about '91 our game was called off so a few car loads went to watch fax v hull kr in the 1st division, it was an eye opener in the old scratching shed at thrum hall with fax,rovers and fartowners in there

and dont forget when the Fartown flag ended up at Watersheddings for Oldham v Salford one boxing day after our game then Batley v Dewsbury were both called off !

Think you need to check recent results old lad



Yes there was a forced rivalry of sorts that was created by the unfair nature of SL at the time. It's not a good rivalry either as it's built on bitterness, contempt and fear - real and imagined.

It's died down a lot as both clubs have cemented their place in SL and in recent times the games have become far more competitive and the results more even.

Hudds will never be a true rival, mainly because we already have three fierce historical rivals.

To the east Cas and Fev and to the west Leeds. We don't just share territory with them, we often share families! It really is very clannish and that's what makes it great.

Wakefield may be short of many things, but local rivals and the derbies they bring is not one of them. So wish all you want 13 but you really don't matter to us - so long as we are beating Leeds and Cas there are few Trinity fans who won't happily accept the occasional loss to Hudds as the price - sorry to burst your balloon.

Deny it all you want
When you beat us this season you were cheering and singing like you'd won the World Cup. You lot are desperate to beat us every season

Ah of course results - I forgot about "hootergate" last season when you scored after the end of the game, shows how much it meant to you though that you remember it

And let's face it Vasty

You are still a bitter, bitter individual who can't accept the facts

and you can't accept reality you deluded man.

Enjoying a well earned away victory or any SL win is not the same as a genuine rivalry. I'd gladly give you every game from here to eternity if I could enjoy the feeling of victory over Cas and Leeds every year - get a grip man.

You sound a bit needy to me, your not the jilted lover - you're her mate

Yeah yeah

You stick to your guns Vastman. They may be true one day. Like a broken clock.

Irony meter broken. OK you know my mind best and that of all the Trinity fans I know. There may be a few who see you as a big rival if that helps ease your pain.

Difference between a rivalry and a derby- there is a rivalry between hudds and wakey- forced its true - but tbh id rather not have it cause its rarely pretty esp over there.

Cas, fev and Leeds are and always will be Wakefields rivals and real derby matches the atmosphere and banter at Belle Vue when we play any of these 3 is immense with work mates & amateur club players even families split stood together watching and supporting their side passionately. I was surprised reading this forum Trinity were mentioned as a rival to Huddersfield must be just a Huddersfield thing or before my time as I've been watching Trinity since early 80s and Huddersfield has always been a low key game like London, Salford, Catalans. Who are Huddersfields traditional derby rivals because it must be boring always playing the low key game at the magic weekend

It smells like Cooper Bridge roundabout after that!

Lol

its a shame halifax arent in super league, that would of been a nice local derby for us to have.

I keep praying!

Didn't we get a rivalry going with Doncaster in the late 80's as both Fartown & Donny had started to get their act together around that time.Recall playing Donny in a midweek cup game & then the league the following weekend at ours (or could have been t'other way around) Big numbers of Dons fans in blue and amber turned up to both fixtures.Didn't fans fave Gary Coulter have a fall out with Fartown and ended up laking for t'Dons,which caused a bit of a stir.

Also got a rivalry with Oldham at one stage,around late 80's time,but always seemed to lose to them.

Yes that would be your genuine rival/derby. As I tried to point out to Mr Code, the Wakey/Hudds rivalry is not a natural one. It is partly a creation of the SL era and is based on perceived injustices (mainly on here). Partly due to a glut of one sided results that went Hudds way for a prolonged period.

As the dust settles and the results return to a more normal pattern the importance of these matches seems to be returning to being about who gets the two points. I for one am happy with that, I saw no positives for either club had it stayed as it was.

I would have thought Bradford were also a natural rival?

wakefield became very bitter towards us after all those consecutive beatings you took from us..and players coming from your club to us such as brough,george,murphy and ferguson made you hate us even more..we did give you a few back though last season.. and they way you celebrate when you beat us last season just goes to show how much wakey dont like us.

bradford me are the main rival though... everyone has there own team they cant stand i suppose!

we are building a nice one with leeds at the moment too, recent results are stacked in the giants favour

With all due respect to Cas & Feath,the rivalry 'tween Huddersfield & Wakefield goes back to 1873.Might be wrong here,but I think I recall reading somewhere that Wakeys first ever game of union was vs Fartown.

Fartown were very successful before the 2nd world war,which no doubt didn't make them popular.Maybe some of that feeling got passed down to different generations of opposition fans.Things have changed a lot now obviously,but then there is also the more recent history chucked in there.

Bradford don't consider us a rival,they don't think we should be on the same pitch as them.

Not fussed mesen if we are considered derby games or not to Wakey & Bratfud,one thing I do know their fans are very desperate to beat us.The players also don't hold back in these games.Recall some real big shots going in on the pitch when stood close to the action in that pit opposite the seats at BV,back in the days of Brandon Costin etc - the early to mid noughties.