Brighton v Palace - 'A rivalry as big as any other'

Brighton and Hove Albion and Crystal Place fans generally consider the other club to be their biggest rival

The clubs may be 45 miles (72.4km) apart, but fans of Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion say their rivalry is among the biggest in football.

It's a hostility born out of 1970s FA Cup drama and the bitter rivalry between former Tottenham Hotspur stars Terry Venables and Alan Mullery - and it shows no signs of abating.

"People who write off the match do it due to ignorance," said Palace fan Dan Cook, who runs the HLTCO podcast.

The clubs meet on Sunday in the Premier League, where they are separated by one point.

Seagulls fan Russell Guiver, who hosts the Brighton Rock Podcast, said: "It's the game I'm always looking forward to the most."

But he said explaining the rivalry to fans of other clubs was "getting tiresome".

"It does certainly seem to confuse people because it's not seen as the nearest team," he said.

And Mr Guiver still meets fans of other clubs saying it is not a real rivalry.

"I just scoff at them, and tell them they're wrong," he said.

"It very much is. It absolutely is. It's felt as keenly by our fans and theirs as other rivalries in the country."

Russell Guiver hosts the Brighton Rock Podcast

The story of the rivalry dates back to 1976, when teams played each other five times.

Palace were managed by Venables and Brighton were led by Mullery, who despite having been teammates at Spurs were never on the friendliest terms.

It was an FA Cup first round tie that year which caused the original controversy.

Rather than extra-time and penalties to find a winner, games would be replayed if they were drawn, and Crystal Palace eventually beat Brighton 1-0 in the third game.

And in a more recent clash between the sides, Palace, led by Wilfried Zaha, knocked Brighton out of the Championship play-offs on their way to sealing promotion to the Premier League in 2013.

But before the game, the Eagles were greeted with excrement in their dressing room.

Palace won a play-off match between the two sides in 2013, before promotion to the Premier League

Kieran Maguire, who is the co-host of The Price of Football podcast, is a season ticket holder at Brighton.

He said Sunday's game was "the derby match which nobody else can understand apart from Palace and Brighton fans".

It's an animosity that manifests as a "birth right", which is passed down through families, he adds.

However, there was a "grudging respect" between the sides.

"Neither of us are glamourous clubs. We both know we're, to a certain extent, probably living on borrowed time in the Premier League and making the most of it while we're there."

He also said there were few other options for Brighton, given Southampton and Portsmouth were "too busy hating each other" and Bournemouth were not 'rival' material.

"You can't dislike Bournemouth," he said,

"There's nothing to dislike about them."

Kieran Maguire is the co-host of The Price of Football podcast

Palace fan Dan Cook had no hesitation in defining the relationship between the two clubs.

"We hate Brighton and Brighton hate us," he said.

"It's not a derby, unlike when we play Charlton or Millwall. It's a rivalry, not the M23 derby as people outside the clubs seem to call it.

"There's a sense of bragging rights due to the journey that both clubs have been on in the last few years."

Nigel Summers is the chairman of the Brighton & Hove Albion Supporters' Club

Nigel Summer, chairman of the Brighton and Hove Albion Supporters' Club, also said that despite the antagonism, both sets of supporters respected each other as part of the football family.

"When they were going out of business, a lot of Brighton fans were dipping in the buckets and chipping in for them, and when we were in big trouble in the late 90s there were a lot of Palace fans who were rooting for us," he said.

'Bragging rights'

Both clubs have had an upturn in fortunes in recent years, with Brighton seen as a conveyor belt of talent and a successful business model in the age of Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

Palace, meanwhile, had a season to remember last year - winning their first ever trophy with the FA Cup.

Both clubs are now placed 9th and 10th in the Premier League.

Palace fan and comedian Kevin Day said the fact both clubs had similar fortunes through the years meant there was a "strange mutual pride" between supporters.

But he added: "For the first time in a while, we currently have the bragging rights, and I'm sure we will be singing about our FA Cup win for at least the first 20 minutes of the match."

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.