"Clarets" V "Rovers" rivalry - Full Answer

Message Details:

Name: Anna Question below

Talk about a hot potato or what? Well the second part of the question is the

easier part so we can begin there. As most people are aware, association

football bloomed up as a mass sport at the end of the nineteenth century and

Lancashire in particular was one of the two areas where football quickly gained

ground and became a much loved spectator sport. Nevertheless, Blackburn

Rovers, who were founded in 1875 and Burnley Football Club, who were

founded in 1882, actually played their first competitive match four years before

the Football League began. The two teams locked horns on September 27 in

1884 at Turf Moor and Rovers ran out winners 2-4 in front of a crowd of

approximately 5,000.

Four years later in 1888, the two teams would meet again for the first time in

the inaugural Football League, season number one! Again the fixture was

played at Turf Moor, this time on November 3, and again Rovers came out on

top, winning emphatically 1-7! The two teams to date have played each other

102 times with 42 wins for the clarets, 41 wins for Rovers and 19 draws. The

biggest gate of the East Lancs Derby, or the Cotton Mills Derby as it was

originally known, was at Blackburn on March 16, 1960, when 53,892 crammed

into Ewood Park to watch Rovers beat the high flying clarets in an FA Cup tie, 2-

0.

The explanation for rivalry in football is more often than not attached to two

football clubs being in close geographical closeness to each other. Both

Manchester teams or Liverpool and Everton are singular examples of this

proximity factor. As Blackburn is a bare 11 miles from Burnley both clubs fill

this criteria. Inevitably, this competitiveness ebbs and wanes pending league

positions, recent encounters and the changing social environment. Fans in the

1950’s and 1960’s most certainly mixed without too much trouble, whereas

from the 1970’s and onwards supporter segregation has been necessitous as

both sets of fans appear all too often ready to engage in physical violence with

each other.

The modern game of football has evolved significantly in the last few decades

and many changes have affected the game. All-seated stadiums and a large

increase in the number of women attending football matches has impacted on

the supporter side of football, the majority would agree in a positive if not

sometimes too sedate manner. Nevertheless, the rivalry between Rovers and

the clarets trundles on incessantly and as I write, with Rovers stuck in mid-

Championship table and Burnley yet without a Premier League win, the two

teams could well be limbering up for game number 103 somewhere in the

autumn of 2022! Then again……..there’s always Sean Dyche.

Put the kettle on mum!

Peter John Fyles

Message: Why is there rivalry between Burnley FC and Blackburn Rovers and when did it start?