Just for fun, I created a map of displaying the local rivalries in germany. (Top three divisions only) But I need you guys to help me sort this out, as it's likely to be full of errors. http://i42.tinypic.com/35jvuip.jpg Some adjustments I could think of right now: H96-HSV -> slight, medium ? VfB-Bayern -> slight, medium ? Bielefed-Münster-> slight ? Rostock-St.Pauli ? Oberhausen-Bochum/Schalke ? Bayern-U'Haching -> slight, delete ? OFC-Darmstadt -> medium ? Mainz-Frankfurt -> slight, medium ? Babelsberg ? And I think I'm especially in need of help with Eastern Germany. So what are your clubs most important local rivalries?
St. Pauli - Rostock is a strong rivalry, but that is not so much based on distance between both cities, but on the political view of the fanbases.
Hanover vs Hamburg is a friendly rivalry, the only bad blood between some of the fans is because some 96 fans have sympathies for Pauli. I don't think it is a real rivalry at all. Werder is seen as a rival from us, but most of them don't care that strongly about us. Would make it medium though, it is definitely more of a rivalry than with WOB. You could make Pauli vs us also light, certainly more so than HSV.
You can't really objectively measure rivalries. Especially if you include something like Stuttgart - Aalen, which, if it exists at all, must be one of the most one sided rivalries ever. That being said - there seems to be the usual overrating of Bundesliga "rivalries". I mean, Bayern - Nürnberg is a strong rivalry (I won't even mention Bayern - freaking Haching), but Jena - Erfurt is only a "slight" one? Even the not mentioned Union - Cottbus (even Hertha - Cottbus), Dresden - Rostock, Dresden - Aue etc. are probably more fierce than Bayern vs. everyone. Normally I wouldn't mention something like Eintracht - Osnabrück as a rivalry, but it's certainly stronger than a lot that makes the list.
Well, you can try. But only because you play against each other and are located close to another club does not make it a rivalry. Take 96 vs HSV for example, or 96 vs Wolfsburg. What we feel towards Bremen, as one-sided as it is, qualifies much more as a rivalry than those two, probably even more so than Braunschweig - Wolfsburg.
Thanks for your replies! Updated it: http://i39.tinypic.com/2weffar.png I'm starting to think it would be more wise to turn this into a directed graph, as for clubs like Mainz their biggest rival is FCK, but Kaiserslautern thinks of Eintracht as their main rival, however if FFM would have to play Offenbach again that match would overshadow pretty much anything in that region. It's currently also confusing whether or not this map is from a global perspective and tries to weight all the pictured rivalries with each other (if so the smaller clubs couldn't have strong rivalries with each other), or only display the fierceness solely from the perspective of the involved clubs. tbh, I'm not so sure myself anymore...
Kaiserslautern do not think of Eintracht as their main rivals, but you are right that Mainz sees us as their main rivals and not vice versa.
As far as I know the friendship between HSV and H96 is pretty much the most noticeable friendship among 1. Bundesliga clubs. H96 is treated with a respect in Hamburg that is not afforded to any other club. Of course you'll find some individual fans or fan clubs who see this differently, but overall there is no real rivalry there. At the same time Darmstadt vs. Offenbach is a long-standing feud that is likely among the most intense in Germany. It's been somewhat dormant for a while because they haven't been in the same league for some time, but as of this year it's back in full force. It doesn't really matter which team visits in Darmstadt, most of the chants being sung by Lilien fans will be anti-OFC on any given day.
I think Nuremberg and Schalke's friendship is bigger than the one between both HSVs (but those two are obviously not as close in geographical standards, so HH - H is still unique). Hanover has had a small feud with Frankfurt as well, not sure how recent and urgent that is now and whether you could claim that we are geographically close. We don't like Cottbus neither, but that is clearly not because of geographic distance.
