Anyone who hates Bournemouth more than Luton is objectively wrong. I was at that League Cup game. I still remember being corralled by the police after the game round a load of back streets of Watford I didn't even recognise to protect us from the rabble of orcs that would have happily kicked my 12 year old head in. Comparing that to Bournemouth who dive a bit is laughable in the extreme.
I can't see that many Luton players will care that much that it's a derby, and the idea that they'd be more motivated than a team who needs to win for promotion is almost laughable. The fact is, if we play even at 80% of our best we should beat Luton comfortably.
True, but singing those songs when we were in the Prem & they were tier 3 was a bit meh, if you ask me. But all the same, we will fight for evermore because of Boxing Day.
Really good chants tended to die out at the same time as Top Of The Pops & the pirate radio/radio 1 top 20 stopped dominating popular music. There are now very few anthemic hit songs well known by effectively all of those supporters who feel inclined to chant so it is not so easy to get chants based around them to be picked up on by a large number of people.
Agreed. The football club "end" that leads the chanting has normally been centred around young males in the 16-24 age group, much like the war bands of earlier times, and also like the Mods & Rockers self-identification that just pre-dated & briefly co-existed with organised football gangs. It is a necessity for such groups to reinforce that mutual identity to retain their internal cohesion & effectiveness. Singing that we all hate L*t*n is important in that process, which is why people who self-identify in that group do so. And because they are absolutely sc*mmy c..unt5, of course.
I will say that I think the contention is more that active 'hate' is a bit outmoded in any direction, and that the footballing rivalry between us and Muff is and has been far, far more relevant and tangible in the modern era for many reasons, chief of which being they are the only club we have been in the same division as for the last eight straight seasons - we have played them more than any other club in that time, therefore, and then to boot you add the dual promotion campaign, the extremely unfair comparative media narratives, and the fact that they have a sickening culture embedded into them as a club and set of players. I've never been to a Luton game - I was not an adult the last time we played them with fans in the ground, and in purely practical terms, that does tell you something about the relationship between the two clubs. Once this season is done, and barring hideous, unthinkable collapse, we're going to have guaranteed an effective 20-year period where in a footballing sense, Luton mean basically nothing to us as a club. I have no criticism for those who keep the spirit of the derby/rivalry alive, and of course, you don't get to pick and choose who they are/that rivalry is with - to me, Luton are the enemy because that's the story, and the history, of our club and is down to geographic location as much as anything else. But I've never felt any tangible effect from that as a supporter, and nor have a legion of fans the same age or, indeed, younger than me. Essentially, it's as much about the strength of feeling towards Luton diminishing thanks to inactivity as the strength of feeling towards Muff. I don't think anyone is trying to construct a replacement relationship in their direction, they're just responding to the only needling, constant opponent that they have experienced in their lives as Watford fans.
Re the Bournemouth v Luton rivalry debate, simply ask yourself if you had the wings of a sparrow and the arse of a crow, which of those two towns would you fly over tomorrow with the sole purpose of sh1t1ng on the ba5tard5 below, below? I think I know how most Watford fans will answer
I've been to plenty of games vs Bournmouth and Luton and at no point have I've been remotely concerned for my safety at Bournemouth. Far from it in fact. I would actually say going to Bournemouth is one of the safest away games to go to. I go to the cess pit to watch us play and it's far different. There are groups of them waiting round every corner, it is a poisonous atmosphere that I have never experienced at any other game, possibly Birmingham in the play offs, it could kick off at any time and usually does. Look at the League cup game. Can you imagine that happening at Bournemouth?
Chuck Berry once told me that when he was a little boy, his mother gave him a brand new toy - a Luton fan on a piece of string. She then told him to kick it's f***ing head in. Note Chuck - a lifelongWatford fan - was given a Luton fan on a piece of string - not a Bournemouth fan.
This is my point. I am someone who avoids trouble when I can, but I would happily walk through Bournemouth town centre in a Watford shirt. I wouldn't walk down Luton high street in a Watford shirt for all the tea in China as I would be assaulted by an EDL thug within seconds.
If people think Bournemouth is the rivalry now then so be it. I don't so that basis please, please don't **** this up against them. I'm nervous already. Friday kick would be great
I'm sure that Luton games are nasty affairs. I can only imagine how poisonous the atmosphere is. My point is though that you can't argue with the statistics from the thread. Nearly 40% of voters see Bournemouth as bigger rivals. If fans were allowed in stadiums and the Watford fans of my generation were allowed to travel to Kenilworth Road, then going on what you and others have said, the statistics would probably lean even more heavily towards Luton as the bigger rivals. Fairly so. I'm just going off the stats in the other thread. Clearly, us having played Luton only a couple of times within the last 15 years but having played Bournemouth every season for the last 7 years, and each game being a fiery occasion with them diving and conning the ref suggests a sway in the way voters percieve these 2 sides. I'm sure things would be different if we were fans were allowed in stadiums though.
No contest for me this rivalry thing. The feeling after beating them 1-4 at their shed in 1997, by far outweighs the 6-1 home or 0-3 away victories we have had against Bournemouth in recent times. I wasn't even there in person for the 1997 one, but I remember it well even if I was only following on teletext at the time, my teenage self was happy for days afterwards.
Funnily enough I once spoke to Little Richard and he wanted was a bottle, a brick, a Watford scarf, and a walking stick and said that would be lovely
It's a fair point that many have not seen us play the scum so I do understand to a point what you are saying but if you look at your last paragraph, you are talking about the players. Fans make derbies, not players
Same. I remember the moment the page came round and score went from 0-2 to 0-4 up after only 29 mins. I seriously thought it was a dream, or teletext was having a fit. You can feel the passion in these reports. "Bournemouth our rivals"....you've got to be kidding ! http://www.bsad.org/9798/reports/lutona.html
I think without fans, players will be aware of derbies in two club towns, like Liverpool, Manchester etc. It’s basically ingrained within the cities and part of the culture, they couldn’t not be aware of it and respond accordingly in games. With a rivalry like ours which is cross county, I think it’s completely different. The players would only be aware of it from picking it up from the fans, as we don’t have any fans at the games the only way the players will really be aware is if the manager tells them. Will they care? Probably not that much.
Is that your definition of a rival, is how scared they make you feel? I agree Luton fans are animals, but that shouldn't be the definitional of a rival. Millwall, West Ham and Derby would be rivals too if that was the yardstick. I've been to matches against those clubs and it's kicked off big time. Luton were rivals 100%, but they are a rival from the past, and are largely irrelevant now. It's only a "thing" because Luton fans have very little going on to get interested in these days and some older Watford fans remember the past (as I do). But I also recognise the irrelevance of them now. If we go up, we'll probably not play them again for years (decades). Bournemouth have followed our path for quite a few years now and have overtaken Luton (IMHO). Not saying it wont ever revert back at some stage or Bournemouth will become as irrelevant as Luton are in a few years if we operate in different leagues, but that's not the situation right now.
Routine win. Jones will get them up for the game after he whinged about the first game, but the fact is their players are absolute gash compared to ours.
If we go up and Muff don't and we stay up for a couple of years I reckon that by the next time we're back in the Championship that Muff will be back in the lower half of the EFL, in 20 years time will we be reminiscing over our faux rivalry?
Tbf even if we go up, we'd be favourites for the drop, if that happens, all L*ton would need to do is stay up again next season (not saying it'd be easy for them, but they've done it comfortably this season) and the rivalry would be rekindled yet again. We've been in the same division as Bournemouth for the last 8 years now, we've been very competitive with them and the games have been far more edgy than the L*ton game at the start of the season, with or without fans, but what happens when we stop playing them even just for one season?
I'm not saying its a coincidence but covid coming along exactly when we play the scum is very handy indeed!
No new date / time yet? Blackburn and Derby announced earlier that they are putting their game back to 6pm Friday. I imagine there will need to be quite a bit of consultation with Herts / Beds Police before ours gets agreed. I'd be amazed if some of their Tommy Robinson devotees don't try and put the team bus windows through.
Was kind of surprised this wasn't an early kick-off to start with, perfect excuse to just shove it back a few hours anyway, especially with the pubs open again now
