The Local Derby - Highlight of the Season?

As a young football fan in the 60s and 70s, 'local derby' day was the highlight of the football calendar. These matches were usually played on the second Saturday of the season and on New Year's Day. They attracted bumper crowds, with thousands of people who didn't normally go to matches turning out to see local honour settled. Yet by the early years of the 21st Century local derbies seem to have becomde devalued and less important in the fabric of Scottish football.

So what were the big local derbies in Scottish football? Books have been written on the Celtic v Rangers fixture. In truth it isn't really a local derby - it's a meeting of two diametrically opposed forces. They repel each other like conflicting poles on a magnet. Drawing support from across the country, games between these teams have long been 'above' mere local rivalry.

Hearts v Hibernian, on the other hand, was a true local derby. So too was Dundee v Dundee United, at least from the 1960s onwards. Before then United were habitually in the lower divisions so Dundee v Aberdeen was the big game. More recently, when Dundee have been the strugglers, Aberdeen v Dundee United has taken on the mantle of 'North East Derby'. St Johnstone have long viewed Dundee as their local rivals although the strength of feeling is not reciprocated. Dundee fans would regard games against the Saints as a poor second to matches against their near neighbours within the city.

Angus, with four teams of a similar standing, should be a mecca for derby afficionados. Montrose v Arbroath is the fixture with the strongest local rivalry, followed by Brechin v Forfar. The other games have no more significance than other run of the mill fixtures.

In Fife arguments can be made for both Dunfermline v Raith and Raith v East Fife as being the most significant derby. Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy are the largest towns, but Kirkcaldy and Methil are closer together. With teams bouncing around from division to division, it was always hard to determine which was the most keenly felt local rivalry in this part of the world. Cowdenbeath look to Dunfermline as their big neighbours, but over the past 30 years it is east Fife who they have come up against on the most regular basis.

Central Scotland poses a derby problem. Over the years Falkirk have been by far the most powerful side. East Stirlingshire, Stenhousemuir, Alloa and particularly Stirling Albion would see games against Falkirk as a big local match. Bairns fans, on the other hand, have developed a huge rivalry in the 'Kincardine Bridge' derby against Dunfermline. Shire v Stenhousemuir and Stirling v Alloa have become the derbies of preference for the also-rans of the area.

Airdrie and Coatbridge are adjoining towns but Albion Rovers have seldom aspired to the heights of Airdrieonians or Airdrie United. The last time them met was in 1983. The riot that ensued confirms the strength of local feeling but down the years it has been the Airdrie v Motherwell fixture that has been the top Lanarkshire Derby.

In Glasgow, the rivalry between Partick Thistle and Clyde has centred on who is the 'third force' of Glaswegian football. Even since Clyde moved out to Cumbernauld the rivalry has been maintained as most of their loyal support continue to travel from Rutherglen. Queen's Park and Clyde was a true local derby in the geographical sense, but Queen's Park have always tended to be above such distractions.

The Renfrewshire set-to between St Mirren and Morton raises the passions. Even today Renfrewshire Cup ties between the sides would be regarded by the police as 'Category A' security risks. In Ayrshire as well, the emnity between Kilmarnock and Ayr United seldom fails to produce explosive matches.

Poor Queen of the South have usually been out on their own without a proper local rival. Stranraer, Kilmarnock and Ayr have, at times, been their derby day fixture, and the match against Hamilton Accies is also keenly anticipated. Accies have lost out in the Lanarkshire stakes with Motherwell looking down their noses at their nearest geographical neighbours.

Ignorant hacks have sometimes classed Berwick v Stranraer as the 'Borders Derby'. It must be one of the most awkward and lengthy away trips in the land - 'derby it most certainly is not. The brief rise of Gretna gave Queen of the South a new local rival but it was not to last.

In the North the match between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County is one that retains the features of a true local derby. When these two meet, be it at Inverness or Dingwall, the attendance is usually more than the normal combined home crowds of the two teams. That is the mark of a fixture with real appeal and significance.

But the local derby isn't quite what it was . . . for two main reasons.

The four-division structure of Scottish football, with mini-leagues of 10 and 12 clubs, means that many teams are removed from playing their traditional local rivals. It is quite different from the days of two divisions when rivalries built up over a long period of time with clubs remaining in the same division. Elgin City suffer more than most. As a Highland League club they had half-a-dozen local derbies. In Division three their nearest away game is at Montrose, more than two hours drive away. It's no coincidence that their biggest crowd since joining the SFL was for a Scottish Cup tie against Buckie Thistle. Peterhead, in Division Two, would look to Brechin for their closest away game. Their traditional rivalry with Fraserburgh is reduced to a pre-season friendly, which still attracts one of their best crowds of the season.

Such a high proportion of Scottish clubs jump divisions each year that it is difficult to build-up the long-term rivalry associated with a true derby game. Yes, competition is important, but football may have lost something as a result of it.

Derbies have become like waiting for buses - a real famine or feast. If teams are in the same division then they meet four times in the season. That's just too many to make the games feel important. When teams met twice there was a greater sense of anticipation for something special. And back in the 60s and 70s you didn;t have to book tickets weeks in advance and games weren't moved to Sunday lunchtimes and Monday evenings to suit television. The New Year's Day match was just that - played in the afternoon and a vital part of the ritual that surrounded the celebrations for many people.