The Liberal Approach
I’ll be honest, I’m not that bothered about the Blues. Not being born in Birmingham certainly took the edge off it in the early years, as did long periods of Villa not playing the Blues when I was younger.
After doing the triple over them in 1988 (having beaten them 2-0, 5-0 and 6-0), there was then five years before the next derby – the 1993 League Cup two-leg game (the first derby I went to). After that though, we didn’t play again for another nine years.
It’s only when you live in Birmingham that you get a real feeling for the fixture. It’s certainly grown on me over the years, but I’ll be honest, I’ve got both Manchester United and Liverpool in front of the Blues in my personal ‘hate list’.
The fierce hostility almost reaches comedic proportions. It’s nasty stuff. The intensity never diminishes. Other rivalries like the Manchester derby have become a vehicle for 21st century media-hype, yet there’s something very 20th century and old school about Villa-Blues.
While its almost an irrational hatred, in a strange way, it’s kind of welcome in what has become an increasingly sanitised game. Like bull fighting, while the outside world pours scorn upon its violent nature, it’s simply tradition for the locals.
‘I have no idea… it’s a little like breathing, it is something that I have done from birth!’
In recent times, it’s sometimes acted as a comfort blanket for Villa, with the Blues in a lower division. When Villa were increasingly struggling in the Premier League, some Villa supporters would seek solace in the fact they were better than the Blues, when maybe they should have been setting their sights higher to fight their way back up.
Villa-Blues works best when both teams are in the same division. if Villa are in the Premier League, I’d rather have the Blues there for the entertainment and motivation it provides.
Speaking of which, while the game on Sunday is a game within itself, it should be viewed more importantly as just another win Villa need to get in getting the promotion mission back on track.
A Villan posed me the question: ‘Would Villa fans take three points on Sunday and not get promotion, or lose and get promotion?’
I would hate not getting promotion more than I could hate the Blues. i think the Villa board feel exactly the same way. As for these guys below who answered the question ‘Why do you hate the Blues?’ on the MOMS Facebook page, it might be different story though!
Be warned, some of the answers are not for the faint hearted…
WHY DO YOU HATE THE BLUES?
And I Said Boll**ks…
Matt Parker When I was five I was in the car with my dad and the radio was on. Birmingham had won. I said “that’s good isn’t it dad? We’re from Birmingham”. Quite rightly he pulled the car over, explained to me that I was to be an Aston Villa fan, and that Blues were shi*e. And I’ve hated the bast**ds ever since.
Jason Wassall Getting the shit kicked out of me when I was about 13 by the Zulu’s after a Kinks concert in the early 80’s at the the Odeon, yeah that helped cement my feelings for the dirty bast**ds!
Sabio De’Santos Guvera I dunno, I just think, when someone says they’re “Blues fans”, of a obese family eaten kebabs and curry on a weekend doing wet farts. Don’t ask why!?
Rich Rockape Poole Been away at their farm and the horrible sh*t c**ts single out our fans. I personally saw four shi*e fans attack a Villa lad about 19-years-old on the ring road. We went wading in to help but the lad needed an ambulance. Dirty vile horrible Small Heath sh*t c*nts.
Blake Poole its the fans, generally can’t get a simple conversation going with them about the rivalry, they always come up with anti Villa shi*e. I’m a football fan, love Villa, but can talk to anyone on their team or on football, with Blues its just bile.
Graham Johnson Their shirt and club badge from the early 80s. Selling the first £million player and gloating about it. Celebrating the AutoGlass trophy on the anniversary of our European Cup win! Finding out close friends would rather say they supported Liverpool as kids, while now we are adults, they say “always been a Bluenose”. They’re wankers. Family tried to encourage me to hate them. Didn’t need encouragement.
Paul Baxter-Smith For the same reason I don’t like rats – stinking snivelling disease ridden vermin that could be wiped off the face the earth with no ill effects
‘It’s like an elephant hating an ant, no point hating something you pity.’
It’s Nature
Roger Kendall I have no idea… it’s a little like breathing, it is something that I have done from birth!
Steven Charles Rumney Because Olof Mellberg does.
Wayne Mason Because My Old Man Said Be a City fan But I said ……
It’s Personal
Keith Sharlott My old man dragged me up beating the crap out of me, he was a Blues scum and i hated him, so I chose the mighty Villa. We now don’t speak, i’m bigger than he is and still serving queen and country after 15 years, whilst he struggles through life with regret. Fu*k you Blues scum! pmsl!
Ben Cunningham The badge, their colour, the ground, the area, it’s all just one big pile of steaming shi*e. My old man who’s a nose tried to turn me as a youngster, but even then I had the sense to stand up and say “NO, I WILL NOT BE TURNED, NOT THIS DAY, NOT ANY DAY, TODAY IS MY INDEPENDENCE DAY!”
John Nutty Slater Being on H.M.P service , I saw the Zula shi*s coming past my cell window [all be it the size of a 2p] couldn’t get at them. And that’s why I hate them ,and the Screws for not letting me out.
Tom Daniels Went to my dad’s cousins wedding when I was about 12 wore my Muller black and green villa top on the evening….found out a few years after that my dad’s cousins mates were Zulu’s and were planning to give me and my little bro (11 at the time also wearing villa colours) a kicking. fu**ing petty pricks, would love to see them now a days!
Brummie Divide
Carl Horton I’m sick of hearing their working class hero bullsh*t. They claim Villa fans are all filthy rich and spoiled while THEY are salt of the earth. Utter bollocks. Plus their fans spend more time obsessing over us than they do supporting their own club.
David Alford Because we’re Brummies. Passionate about football and fiercely loyal to our club. I’d never hurt a Blues fan, but the rivalry is unlike any other I’ve seen on TV or experienced. The atmosphere on match days sends a shiver down the spine of any one who’s been to one.
Kenton Munns I don’t hate Blues, I feel sorry for them, they’re the second cities poor relations. That’s why the TV series Peaky Blinders was based in Small Heath, so something successful comes from there.
Neil Withe Growing up in the West Midlands I don’t think i met a Nose until i was 16. I think i have met four my entire life and I have lived up and down the country. They are not a part of my life but i hate them because like Albion they are obsessed with us. They constantly follow us on social media, it’s pathetic. Also Robbie Savage. Maybe i should have just said Robbie Savage. Cu*t.
Matthew Parish ….it’s also worth remembering, that until the ’60’s, and more latterly the incarnation of those Zulu muppets, historically they were not our rivals; merely another local team. Albion are our original/historical rivals. Blues hate that.
Richard Maddox Its like having Steptoe and Son as a neighbour.
The Indifferent
Sean Smith I don’t. I’ve never cared about them, for better or worse. When Fergie time was being played out, as we were neck and neck for the title; when I was holding on to the edge of my chair and screaming at the TV feed from Rotterdam, when I despaired as we were destroyed by Arsenal in the Cup Final, no part of me thought about the Blues. Why would I?
Jonnie Greaves I don’t hate them! I don’t really think about them at all, why would i? It’s like an elephant hating an ant, no point hating something you pity.
Derek Emerson Chandler As a US-based supporter who has never even been to Birmingham, I don’t really hate them. They’ve always seemed rather insignificant to me. Oh, I do join in the Blues banter a bit …because it’s fun. But I have no history with them, that you locals do, so no real animosity. It’s the Chelsea’s, Madrid’s, the Manc clubs and the like. Those that have done so much to turn it into a mercenary game, that I hate with the heat of a thousand suns.
Sophie Ahmed I’m Villa through and through … I don’t hate the blose , that takes energy…they’re tramps. But they’re our tramps … it’s like hating on the special needs kid in ya class or kicking a three-legged dog while it’s down! C’mon don’t hate em! X
Tommy Smith I don’t hate them. I hate Man United more. My childhood is scarred with last minute winners. I love the rivalry. My old man (villa fan) used to go watch blues one week, then the villa the next week (before “away days” were a thing)
Its the only fixture i look forward to and Saturday night I’ll be like a kid at Xmas
Alan Jones I don’t hate the Blues. I’m not going to hate anyone just because society tells me to. We all grew up loving the beautiful game and when we were kids we played and hung out with other kids wearing blues/WBA/Wolves/etc kits and we were friends then. So why all of a sudden some people grow up starting to hate someone else just because of the colour of their kit. I don’t get it.
Gary Prosser I enjoy the rivalry. Got a lot of mates who are Bluenoses and while they’re all irritating (and obsessed with us) in their own way, I’d miss the rivalry if it wasn’t there.
PS – Genuinely, I couldn’t name one of their players. Just thinking about it now and apart from Gary Rowett, I can’t name one staff member.
Owen Spencer I don’t even hate them. To be honest they hate us more than we hate them, probably because they are jealous but it’s understandable. What bugs me is their attitude, it bloody stinks.
The Obsessed
Craig Fisher Their fans being more obsessed with our club than their own. They beat Rotherham not a Blues fan speaks about it, Villa draw to Wolves and it’s all they talk about! They’re experts on our club, yet ask them their starting 11 and they’d struggle to name their goalkeeper
Jay Averill I don’t hate Blues. I hate players like Robert Hopkins and Noel Blake, that suddenly told us that Blues were the best team in the city after leaving villa. I also hate the fact that Blues fans seem to hate Villa more than they love their own team. They are obsessed with our history and care more about what our results are than their own.
John Smith I hate them because they are obsessed with everything we do. They care more about our matches than they do their own. They know who our players are, who we are playing next and all the goings on at Villa Park, but ask them about their own team and they haven’t got a clue. It’s as if they don’t have an identity and have a desperate need to hang on to our success. If they win and we lose then they are more focussed on that.
Chris Watts I personally couldn’t believe it when Craig Gardner came out as being a Blues fan after leaving Villa. Just shows how obsessed they are by us, they will even play for us just to get a taste of what it’s like to play for a big club.
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I was born in Birmingham long ago last century but have lived abroad since my teens. I have always supported the Villa and was a shareholder for some 20 years. I used to employ quite a few bluenoses and they probably hated me for that but I have never seen it as an issue. I may be idealistic but I would like to see the EPL stuffed with teams from the Midlands and less from the North or London. Talk about parochial!
The rivalry turns my stomach to be honest, I spend the whole game hoping nothing nasty happens to embarrass our club. Would love to take my kid to the game but its just bile and hatred.
Apart from that period 10-15 yrs ago when they kept beating us (that Enkleman goal ruined my holiday), I have never been bothered by them. The ’88 triple ended all debate for me.