The results are out

By Nathan Jackson
January 22 2004

The results of the football fans census is out with some suprising results. Over 2,800 people took part and here are the results which reveal Macclesfield consider us their 3rd biggest rival.

  • INTRODUCTION
    
  • The survey was conducted online at www.footballfanscensus.com in December 2003 and contains the views of over 2,800 football fans
  • • Headline statistics include:
  • Less than half (44) of the 92 league clubs were involved in a two-way rivalry (i.e. both sides agree about being each other’s main rival)
  • A table of clubs that have the most rivals is topped by Manchester United (the only club to be considered the main rival by 5 other clubs) followed by Burnley, Leeds, Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday
  • Gillingham, Macclesfield, Torquay and York had the least number of other fans seeing them as their rivals
  • 45% of fans see history / tradition as the reason why their main rivals are so – for 35% it’s because they’re the closest club geographically
  • 22% of fans say their current main rival is not the same as their ‘traditional’ rival. This is particularly prevalent at the top of the Premiership where Liverpool and Arsenal have ‘dumped’ their traditional rivals – Everton and Spurs respectively – for Manchester Utd. Chelsea have done the same - replacing Spurs and Fulham with Arsenal
  • Fans think the Celtic / Rangers is the fiercest rivalry in the UK and that Everton / Liverpool is the most amicable
  • Although 37% of fans feel that rivalry plays a significant part in leading to football violence, 71% feel on the whole the positives of rivalry outweigh the negatives
  • 71% would support the opposition if their main rivals were playing in Europe but 59% of fans would miss their rivals if they weren’t there.
  • Divison 3 rivals (2002-3 teams - Boston)
    TEAM WHO THEY CONSIDER THEIR MAIN RIVALS
    Bournemouth Reading
    Bristol Rovers Bristol City
    Bury Bolton
    Cambridge United Peterborough
    Carlisle United Middlesborough
    Cheltenham Gloucester
    Darlington Hartlepool
    Exeter Plymouth
    Hartlepool Darlington
    Hull Leeds
    Kidderminster Cheltenham
    Leyton Orient Southend
    Lincoln Scunthorpe
    Macclesfield Altrincham
    Oxford United Swindon
    Rochdale Bury
    Rushden Northampton
    Scunny Hull
    Shrewsbury Telford
    Southend Colchester
    Swansea Cardiff
    Torquay Exeter
    Wrexham Chester
    York Hull
    
  • TEAMS WITH THE LEAST RIVALS
  • 9 clubs had hardly any other fans seeing them as their rivals: Gillingham, York, Leyton Orient, Macclesfield, Bournemouth, Walsall Torquay, Coventry, Yeovil, • 40% of fans don’t have a second team and 43% wouldn’t follow another club if their own one ceased to exist • Liverpool, Arsenal and Man Utd are the most popular second teams • Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea would be the most popular choices if a fan’s own club didn’t exist
  • BOTH MAJOR RIVALS?
  • Many people think that just because you consider a team a major rival, that they in turn will consider you as their most major rival, however, as you can see below, that is not always the case. Here are the division 3 (2003-4 examples) results. Worded example : Lincoln see Scunthorpe as their main rivals but Scunny see Hull as theirs.
    Initial fans Think their main rivals are But those fans think this team are their main rivals
    Lincoln Scunthorpe Hull
    Scunny, York Hull Leeds
    Rochdale Bury Bolton
    Hull Leeds Man Utd
    Orient Southend Colchester
    Kidderminster Cheltenham Gloucester
    Northampton Peterborough Cambridge
    Torquay Exeter Plymouth
  • NICKNAMES
  • Here are the nicknames some fans have given to their local rivals in D3.
    NICKNAME GIVEN TO BY WHY
    SQUATTERS BRISTOL ROVERS BRISTOL CITY DUE TO AT ONE POINT, NOT OWNING THEIR OWN GROUND
    BUCKETSHAKERS BURY ROCHDALE WHEN BURY ALMOST WENT BUST AND ROCHDALE USED THE NICKNAME "SHAKERS"
    OXTHUG OXFORD EVERYONE OXFORD PLAYED WERE ROUGH TACTICS
    GIMPS LINCOLN HULL WORDPLAY OF THE NICKNAME "IMPS"
    SCUNTS SCUNTHORPE LINCOLN WORDPLAY
  • 1ST, 2ND AND 3RD
  • You think you know who hates you, think again, there are some suprising results, for example, Lincoln fans would never think Macclesfield consider them a major rival because they are miles away.

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    TEAM MAIN RIVALS SECONDARY RIVALS 3RD RIVALS
    BRISTOL ROVERS BRISTOL CITY CARDIFF CITY SWINDON TOWN
    BURY BOLTON ROCHDALE OLDHAM, SHEFF UTD, MAN UTD, BURNLEY
    CAMBRIDGE PETERBOROUGH NORTHAMPTON COLCHESTER
    CARLISLE MIDDLESBOROUGH CHESTERFIELD HARTLEPOOL
    CHELTENHAM GLOUCESTER KIDDERMINSTER RUSHDEN
    DARLINGTON HARTLEPOOL CARLISLE CHESTER
    DONCASTER ROVERS ROTHERHAM SCUNNY BARNSLEY, CHESTER
    HUDDERSFIELD BRADFORD LEEDS BARNSLEY
    HULL LEEDS SCUNNY GRIMSBY
    KIDDERMINSTER CHELTENHAM SHREWSBURY RUSHDEN
    LEYTON ORIENT SOUTHEND WEST HAM BRIGHTON
    LINCOLN SCUNNY BOSTON HULL
    MACCLESFIELD ALTRINCHAM ROCHDALE LINCOLN CITY (????)
    MANSFIELD CHESTERFIELD NOTTS COUNTY DONCASTER
    NORTHAMPTON PETERBOROUGH RUSHDEN LUTON
    OXFORD SWINDON READING WYCOMBE
    ROCHDALE BURY BURNLEY OLDHAM
    SCUNNY HULL GRIMSBY LINCOLN
    SOUTHEND COLCHESTER CANVEY ISLAND LEYTON ORIENT
    SWANSEA CARDIFF BRISTOL CITY BRISTOL ROVERS
    TORQUAY EXETER PLYMOUTH YEOVIL
    YEOVIL HEREFORD WEYMOUTH BATH
    YORK HULL SCARBOROUGH DONNY