What's the best game you have attended?

[Sully]

13th May 2013 Championship playoff semi final 2nd leg *****ton V Crystal Palace

There is no love lost between Palace and *****ton, in fact we hate each other. It's the same hate as any of the big football rivalries around the world, albeit with less supporters involved than some of the larger clubs. But for us to meet the **** in an important playoff match could only have one thinkable outcome, we simply had to beat them.

Problem was, they had a better team than us and they were in form. We were on a bad run of results and for the first time in a long long long time we were the underdogs going into a match against *****ton.

To make things worse *****ton were acting like they'd won the match before a ball was even kicked, this really was the time to put them back in their place and if possible rub their noses in it as well, damn we had to win.

The score was 0-0 after the 1st leg at Selhurst Park and *****ton fans were turning up to the game thinking they'd won it already. They simply did not believe they could lose at home to us. The fact we had lost badly 3-0 there a few weeks earlier helped their case.

This was a bad tempered game for both fans and players. Our fans were charged up by the arrogance of the home fans and our players were charged up by the extraordinary tactics of the home team pre-match, someone at the club had smeared human excrement around our players dressing room before the match. Disgusting.

To cut a long story short, the game was very tight and with quarter of an hour left the score was 0-0..... then Wilfred Zara struck ...twice ... game over ... and did we celebrate ... **** yeah . This game not only helped put us back into the Premiership but gave us the bragging rights for the next few years over our small town rivals down the road.

Zaha goals v Brighton - Brighton 0-2 Palace - YouTube

Thank you Wilf, Palace love you, and we want you back home again, even if it's on loan.

Excuse my ignorance, im not familiar with that part of the country and I didn't even know the fans of the two clubs hated each other but what is the distance between the clubs and is this a hatred that has went on for years?

[TypTex]

Excuse my ignorance, im not familiar with that part of the country and I didn't even know the fans of the two clubs hated each other but what is the distance between the clubs and is this a hatred that has went on for years?

It's one of the weirder rivalries in English football. The distance between the clubs is around 40 - 50 miles, Palace are a London team and Brighton are a South coast team, and although it's not a derby game in the tradition sense of the word, it is always the league game we would look to first in the fixture lists.

The origins of the rivalry started in the mid 70's when Terry Venables took over as Palace manager and Alan Mullery was Brighton manager. The two men already hated each other and the clubs were of a similar level and had similar expectations for the season. The league games that season were fierce and we were drawn together in the cup that season as well. Their was a war of words between the two managers and the rivalry continued after that. (This was all before my time, and I've grown up with the Palace / Brighton banter).

Every club has their rivals and teams that they hate, it's one of the things that make a football match. Personally I find the Brighton rivalry all a little pointless as we have been the better team (in a higher league), for many of the last few seasons, and I get more wound up by the cl**ns up the road, but Brighton is now a tradition for us, and as long as we keep on beating them long may it continue ))