Bispham Seasider
14 Mar 2008, 02:48 PM
Saturday 15th March 12.30pm Bloomfield Road we finally get the match we have all looked forward to all season. Forget every other match. Forget everything else. Monday morning it will be either time to gloat or time to hide.
In towns like Kirkham, which is halfway between the two towns, families are split with brothers supporting both teams.
Over 100 pubs will be closed before and after the match to try and prevent the trouble which happened before and after the game over at Dumpdale earlier this season when Wes Hoolahan made himself a Blackpool legend with his cheeky chipped penalty to seal our 1-0 win.
This months FourFourTwo magazine has devoted a four page article to the derby, with the title, "Sheep Shaggers vs Donkey Lashers"
To give a small taste some small extracts:
"Sheep shagging in-bred bas**rds, I can't wait until the morning". Welcome to the Devonshire Arms in Blackpool's northern suburbs (*). It's a local pub for local people - "no tourists in here trying to take the pi$$"..... Preston was the first thing we thought about when we won at Wembley in May said a Devonshire Arms regular Blackpool fan who runs coaches to away games under the glorious title, "Tate Independent Travel Services" (TITS).
One former Preston manager, Gary Peters took the rivalry so seriously he publicly refused to utter the name Blackpool, always referring to the Seasiders as "that lot with the Tower". It almost earned him a good thumping when he was cornered on the car park outside Bloomfield Road after one game, but he faced them up and managed to get away unharmed.
The Devonshire lads, who talk under a framed picture of Blackpool Tower, "See that?" said one, "I don't ever want to live where I can't see that tower."
The article also mentions all the usual stuff about the towns. How Blackpool has more visitors each year than the whole of Greece and more hotel beds than the whole of Portugal; how the town eats more chip (french fries!) per capita than anywhere on earth (yuk) and has Europes second most popular tourist attraction with the Pleasure Beach fun park being only topped by The Vatican in Rome. But of course it is till run down!
The article also refers back to 1970 and how the real rivalry began one night in April of that year. A night that saw Blackpool win 3-0 at Dumpdale and earn promotion back to the top flight (what is now the Premiership) inf front of a crowd of over 34,000 with over 15,000 from Blackpool + another 3,000 Seasiders fans locked out. The result also went a long way to PKE's relegation a few weeks later.
And of course the train journey to Preston for Blackpool fans back in December and how they were greeted with airport style security scanners searching for weapons (the same will happen tomorrow for PKE fans on trains). And the same will happen on the M55 with banners aimed at PKE fans the same they did to us back in December.
Also tomorrow the drummers have said how they will be beating extra loudly given that they were banned from Dumpdale back in December.
First team coach Steve Thompson is Blackpool born and bred and knows all about what the "West Lancashire Derby" means to the fans, especially Blackpool fans. The management have tried all week to play down the match to the players, but they know how we feel. Everywhere Wes Hoolahan goes in and around Blackpool and on the Fylde coast he now gets asked about "that penalty".
The only player who has been directly transferred between the two clubs is Tony Ellis- a move which many PKE fan have never forgiven him. He was a legendary striker at PKE, he even scored a hat-trick at Bloomfield Road when PKE won 3-2. But in 1994 he signed for Blackpool and PKE fans still to this day have never forgiven him. I remember still the first game we played them at Dumpdale since his transfer, and the abuse he got was constant lasting from kick-off to final whistle, literally every time he touched the ball. "Tony Ellis = Judas" banners were held up. He didn't score unfortunately but we still all think it is funny that he is the only player to ever go directly between the two clubs. Other players, such as Michael Jackson (now our club captain and who got a decent response by the Nobbers to be fair when we played them back in December) and Brett Ormerod (who is now at PKE) have played for both clubs, but neither of them, nor the other handful of players to have played for both clubs, went directly between the two clubs. Jackson signed for us from Tranmere Rovers. Ormerod signed for them lot from Southampton.
Anyway, I have rabbited on enough now, I think that sort of gives something of the flavour of this derby. Forget Celtic vs Rangers. Forget ManUre vs Liverpool or any other derby in England. Tomorrow, to Blackpool and Preston fans, the West Lancashire Derby is "the derby".
BRING IT ON!
In towns like Kirkham, which is halfway between the two towns, families are split with brothers supporting both teams.
Over 100 pubs will be closed before and after the match to try and prevent the trouble which happened before and after the game over at Dumpdale earlier this season when Wes Hoolahan made himself a Blackpool legend with his cheeky chipped penalty to seal our 1-0 win.
This months FourFourTwo magazine has devoted a four page article to the derby, with the title, "Sheep Shaggers vs Donkey Lashers"
To give a small taste some small extracts:
"Sheep shagging in-bred bas**rds, I can't wait until the morning". Welcome to the Devonshire Arms in Blackpool's northern suburbs (*). It's a local pub for local people - "no tourists in here trying to take the pi$$"..... Preston was the first thing we thought about when we won at Wembley in May said a Devonshire Arms regular Blackpool fan who runs coaches to away games under the glorious title, "Tate Independent Travel Services" (TITS).
One former Preston manager, Gary Peters took the rivalry so seriously he publicly refused to utter the name Blackpool, always referring to the Seasiders as "that lot with the Tower". It almost earned him a good thumping when he was cornered on the car park outside Bloomfield Road after one game, but he faced them up and managed to get away unharmed.
The Devonshire lads, who talk under a framed picture of Blackpool Tower, "See that?" said one, "I don't ever want to live where I can't see that tower."
The article also mentions all the usual stuff about the towns. How Blackpool has more visitors each year than the whole of Greece and more hotel beds than the whole of Portugal; how the town eats more chip (french fries!) per capita than anywhere on earth (yuk) and has Europes second most popular tourist attraction with the Pleasure Beach fun park being only topped by The Vatican in Rome. But of course it is till run down!
The article also refers back to 1970 and how the real rivalry began one night in April of that year. A night that saw Blackpool win 3-0 at Dumpdale and earn promotion back to the top flight (what is now the Premiership) inf front of a crowd of over 34,000 with over 15,000 from Blackpool + another 3,000 Seasiders fans locked out. The result also went a long way to PKE's relegation a few weeks later.
And of course the train journey to Preston for Blackpool fans back in December and how they were greeted with airport style security scanners searching for weapons (the same will happen tomorrow for PKE fans on trains). And the same will happen on the M55 with banners aimed at PKE fans the same they did to us back in December.
Also tomorrow the drummers have said how they will be beating extra loudly given that they were banned from Dumpdale back in December.
First team coach Steve Thompson is Blackpool born and bred and knows all about what the "West Lancashire Derby" means to the fans, especially Blackpool fans. The management have tried all week to play down the match to the players, but they know how we feel. Everywhere Wes Hoolahan goes in and around Blackpool and on the Fylde coast he now gets asked about "that penalty".
The only player who has been directly transferred between the two clubs is Tony Ellis- a move which many PKE fan have never forgiven him. He was a legendary striker at PKE, he even scored a hat-trick at Bloomfield Road when PKE won 3-2. But in 1994 he signed for Blackpool and PKE fans still to this day have never forgiven him. I remember still the first game we played them at Dumpdale since his transfer, and the abuse he got was constant lasting from kick-off to final whistle, literally every time he touched the ball. "Tony Ellis = Judas" banners were held up. He didn't score unfortunately but we still all think it is funny that he is the only player to ever go directly between the two clubs. Other players, such as Michael Jackson (now our club captain and who got a decent response by the Nobbers to be fair when we played them back in December) and Brett Ormerod (who is now at PKE) have played for both clubs, but neither of them, nor the other handful of players to have played for both clubs, went directly between the two clubs. Jackson signed for us from Tranmere Rovers. Ormerod signed for them lot from Southampton.
Anyway, I have rabbited on enough now, I think that sort of gives something of the flavour of this derby. Forget Celtic vs Rangers. Forget ManUre vs Liverpool or any other derby in England. Tomorrow, to Blackpool and Preston fans, the West Lancashire Derby is "the derby".
BRING IT ON!