Who do we consider our rivals?

[genome]

Yeah, why hate other clubs when you can just hate your own, eh floyd?

[floyd__streete]

Yeah, why hate other clubs when you can just hate your own, eh floyd?

I am certainly more concerned with how we're doing (ie. badly) than what Swindon, Oxford etc. are up to, yep.

[Green]

Personally I consider our rivals to be the other 23 teams in the league.

+1.

Never really understood the obsession football supporters have with clubs other than their own. H8ing people from another town simply because it happens to be nearby Weird behaviour.

Football is pathetically tribal for sure but this is a relatively trivial gripe in the grand scheme of things.

People who support a club "for life", even when they've moved to the other side of country and commute back to watch their team are worse.

Or people who'd miss a significant occasion (family wedding) for a match, or who would turn down a great opportunity to move somewhere else solely because of the football.

They're the real weirdos in this.

[St. Brynjar]

Been following since 03-04, so never really had any Swindon/Oxford/Aldershot games to get excited about.

QPR - Generally hated team, the cringey 'fake hoops' makes this one at least somewhat interesting.
West Ham - Pardew, Kebe etc.
Any Warnock team - Sheff Utd, Leeds
Chelsea - Mourinho being a cunt

Bournemouth and Brighton seem to loathe us for no real reason, can't say it's mutual.

[genome]

Personally I consider our rivals to be the other 23 teams in the league.

+1.

Never really understood the obsession football supporters have with clubs other than their own. H8ing people from another town simply because it happens to be nearby Weird behaviour.

Football is pathetically tribal for sure but this is a relatively trivial gripe in the grand scheme of things.

People who support a club "for life", even when they've moved to the other side of country and commute back to watch their team are worse.

Or people who'd miss a significant occasion (family wedding) for a match, or who would turn down a great opportunity to move somewhere else solely because of the football.

They're the real weirdos in this.

Say you were Paul Black and hadn't missed a match since 1976 or whatever his record is, and a family wedding came up, would you break that record?

[Green]

Yes.

I'd have broken it in 1976 for something far less significant.

At what point does supporting become obsession, and then obligation - and a chain around your neck? Probably mid 1977.

[Ian Herring]

I've enjoyed all of our spats with whomever over the years when the bile has risen.

But we're not cut out for local rivalry.

At our best at Elm Park we were supreme piss-takers, winding up so-called superior opposition when the armlock went our way.

Have witnessed some nasty cross-county nonsense at Oxford and Swindon over the years, but all in all small change really.

If I were to pin anyone down it would possibly be Pompey and the 'Pikey Derby'.

They really don't like us and we really don't like them and it's gone on for more than fair few years.

And it manifests quite well when push comes to shove.

My two penn'th, for what it's worth.

[Royal Ginger]

Personally I consider our rivals to be the other 23 teams in the league.

+1.

Never really understood the obsession football supporters have with clubs other than their own. H8ing people from another town simply because it happens to be nearby Weird behaviour.

Football is pathetically tribal for sure but this is a relatively trivial gripe in the grand scheme of things.

People who support a club "for life", even when they've moved to the other side of country and commute back to watch their team are worse.

Or people who'd miss a significant occasion (family wedding) for a match, or who would turn down a great opportunity to move somewhere else solely because of the football.

They're the real weirdos in this.

But i don't WANT to support Bournemouth. *stamps foot*

[Crowbar6753]

Having supported Reading for nearly 35yrs i would say Aldershot as our No1 rivals...but as has been said this changes as we move up and down through the leagues. Most of our pre millennium rivals are in the lower leagues now and rarely get to play them. So at this moment in time i would say West Ham for that 6-0 bashing and the 4-2 Upton Park win the season we got promoted. Maybe Southampton for the same reason that promotion winning campaign, and i guess Brighton because they are much bigger and better than anything we will ever be (According to their fans).
But, if they day was ever to come that Aldershot, Swindon and Oxford and us were in the same division then in my mind that would be when the real rivalries would clash again.

[West Stand Man]

Having supported Reading for nearly 35yrs i would say Aldershot as our No1 rivals...but as has been said this changes as we move up and down through the leagues. Most of our pre millennium rivals are in the lower leagues now and rarely get to play them. So at this moment in time i would say West Ham for that 6-0 bashing and the 4-2 Upton Park win the season we got promoted. Maybe Southampton for the same reason that promotion winning campaign, and i guess Brighton because they are much bigger and better than anything we will ever be (According to their fans).
But, if they day was ever to come that Aldershot, Swindon and Oxford and us were in the same division then in my mind that would be when the real rivalries would clash again.

Having suppored Reading for 55 years I have always considered the main rivals to be the other teams in our league (whichever that is). How Aldershot can be rivals when we don't play them they don't stand between us and promotion etc etc defeats me.

Maybe this is about semantics - and you are talking about some throwback to the hooligan days of the 70s? Ergo it isn't about the club rivals but which oppo fans you loved to do aggro with.

[Pepe the Horseman]

QPR are pretty much the only other team whose results I look out for. Not sure why I h8 them so much. Just do.

[tidus_mi2]

QPR are pretty much the only other team whose results I look out for. Not sure why I h8 them so much. Just do.

They are our evil twin.

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Oh, FFS..... not this again.

Always has been, always will be Aldersh*t.

I look forward to the day when Plod allows a pre-season friendly again.

See you in the Golden Lion.

[Forbury Lion]

Reading Town, the sleeping giants..... currently for sale and yours for ~£40k (presumably you inherit some debt with that). Only a matter of time before they climb the leagues and become a major rival (I hope).

[tidus_mi2]

Reading Town, the sleeping giants..... currently for sale and yours for ~£40k (presumably you inherit some debt with that). Only a matter of time before they climb the leagues and become a major rival (I hope).

They will implode when Reading becomes a city and they have to change their name.

[Royal Ginger]

[AthleticoSpizz]

Oh, FFS..... not this again.

Always has been, always will be Aldersh*t.

I look forward to the day when Plod allows a pre-season friendly again.

See you in the Golden Lion.

+1

I look forward until the day that Aldershot become credible opponents again.

One of my first experiences of "the biscuitmen" at the age of 9 was against the shots.........the smell of wet tobacco and the Police "portable" jail full to the brim with flare-wearing aggresive bay city roller look alikes.

I guess nothing much will've changed....apart from the venue

[oldebiscuit]

It's funny that most clubs fans say that they don't care about us, but they always see us as a big day out. Take Bournemouth for example, (prior to their expedition in the Premier League) we were the only away game that they sold their entire allocation for, and aren't they always up for it at our place. The same applied to Portsmouth a few years back too, Brighton too, and plenty of other clubs that for some strange reason always saw Reading as a big day out. But hey! They are not our rivals.

PS Aldershot are, despite their lowly position, our true derby rivals.

[Winchester Royal]

I guess that it's just not fashionable amongst fans of the other clubs to consider us as their rivals when there are traditional rivalries such as Brighton v Palace, Weat Ham v Millwall and Bournemouth v Southampton to consider. I suppose that it's a matter of reciprocation over anything else.

[Barney]

Oh, FFS..... not this again.

Always has been, always will be Aldersh*t.

I look forward to the day when Plod allows a pre-season friendly again.

See you in the Golden Lion.

+1

I look forward until the day that Aldershot become credible opponents again.

One of my first experiences of "the biscuitmen" at the age of 9 was against the shots.........the smell of wet tobacco and the Police "portable" jail full to the brim with flare-wearing aggresive bay city roller look alikes.

I guess nothing much will've changed....apart from the venue

100% aldersh1t. And yes, I am going back a few years. I hate them with a passion.