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[Football] The rivalry with Palace



Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
It seems it came about during the seventies when Venables and Mullery were our respective managers. My first Albion game was a mid seventies game when we beat Malcolm Allison’s Palace 2~0 at the Goldstone, the birth of the Seagulls chant to counteract the Eagles chant came about around then.

Was there an intense rivalry before then?

We have had Orient, Cardiff, Reading and for a short time Southampton as a stop gap in the years when we were in a different division to Palace but other than them have we ever had a similar rivalry?

In short, who would be our biggest rivals if the controversial games and manager’s dislike of each other back in the old third division had not come about? Was there a “Derby” prior to then? Never seen much fuss about Pompey and Bournemouth, so who else?

Can you imagine Albion without a local derby? Plenty on here have said they are a bit meh about Palace so who could take their place?

I think all clubs need a really intense rivalry to spice things up, would you be happy not to have games that cause such pain or joy?

Maybe some of the younger fans still don’t really get it or care? Are you one of them?
 






Quite a honest account below which shows the extent of the rivalry,have different memories of that day but they match the account below from a different perspective. I think we are lucky that those days are in the past and hyping the rivalry up is not a very good idea:moo:


The Seagulleater

Palace V Brighton 5/4/1980

Got an early start on a Party 7. Sh*t did it taste rank at seven in the morning, but today was a special day, it was Brighton. Arranged to meet a few mates in the buffet bar at East Croydon for 8.30am, so we could have a gander at the Brighton as we thought we might take a pop at a few of the early arrivals.

Arrived at East Croydon at about 8.45am and found my mates at the corner where the post office is. Wondering what the hell they where doing there then, as I got up to them, I turned to where a lot of noise was coming from.

Outside East Croydon, there must of been 200+ hard-looking fuc*ers drinking away and having a laugh amongst themselves. I turned to my mates and said 'Fu*k this, let's go meet the others'.

We had arranged to meet other Palace in the centre of Croydon and along the way little mobs of Palace started to join us and we were turning into quite a tasty sized firm. We had a run-in with some brighton by the Forum pub, which used to be in the whitgift centre.

Give them their due, they never realised how many of us there was, and fought for as long as they could. One of them either jumped or was pushed from the first floor, and I honestly thought he was fuc*ed, but he just picked himself up and ran off towards the rest of the Brighton.

Well we all met up as planned, must of been 250/300 of us now. Imagine the sound of all 300 singing 'We hate Brighton' through the Alders arcade, so we decided to head back to East Croydon and kick it off.

We had all split up in different groups on both sides of George street and somewhere in the road. Big mistake going back to East Croydon as there was hundreds of the scum there well out-numbering us by say three to one.

Still we were up for it and carried on only to be diverted by the Old Bill and sent down Dingwell Road. A few of the BHA saw us and stampeded down towards us, but there were too many plod.

About ten of us dodged the Old Bill and in groups of two and three and headed for the Ralilway Tavern which was oppossite East Croydon Station. The best sight we ever saw over the next hour, was what our rivalry is all about as more and more Brighton kept pouring out of East Croydon Station and just collecting there.

There were so many that most were on the road and in the end the Old Bill closed it. Things were getting a bit uncomfortable where we were, and so we decided our safest bet was to get the fu*k clean out of there.

We dodged our way by using the subway which led us into Cherry Orchard Road. We stopped at the Horse and Groome, which had about 50 Palace in it and told them what we had seen at East Croydon and said we were going to Selhurst and see if we could pick off any BHA on the way.

Some came and some stayed saying that the BHA wouldn't come their way they would be diverted towards west Croydon and on to Whitehorse Road. Much the same at the next pub, The Cherry Orchard, and we went to the last pub, The Leslie Arms, where we decided to have a light ale or two.

About 20 mins later, someone from outside shouted have a look at this. So outside we went, and believe me, I have never seen anything like it in my life.

There were thousands of Brighton comming down Cherry Orchard Road. All you could see was a sea of Blue and white, with a bit of red and yellow mixed in. I felt for the Palace who we saw in the pubs on the way down, 'cos all you could here was glass breaking as the scum went passed. That was a firm and a half.

The Old Bill advised us to move on and to go up to the Wonderloaf, and turn right into Whitehorse Road, and then continue on to the ground. They said all the Brighton where heading this way and they estimated several thousand.

I'm game for most things but fu*k that lot, so we did the right thing and fu*ked off, kept looking around as all you could hear was the BHA. Not only that would you take your eye off of several thousand BHA?

Anyway in the distance we notice a mob of 250, by now we numbered the same so we ran at them, and they ran at us, turned out they were Palace too. So now we numbered around 500, a right nice firm too.

We carried on down Whitehorse Road until we got to the Big Gloucester, that's where the road splits into five ways. No sooner had we reached there, were when we were hit by all five roads, there was Brighton everywhere.

We had no choice but to have it on our toes, and all went out different ways. The Old Bill were soon on the scene, and ordered what was left of us to go straight to the ground.

It was only 1 o'clock too. On getting there, we were the first Palace in the Holmesdale, but also in there were about 50 BHA.

We did what we had to do and run 'em, right down to the pitch, and across they went, for the last big shock of the day, a sea of blue and white, appeared from nowhere in the Whitehorse Lane end and just poured down the terrace.

If they had managed to get across that pitch then I wouldn't be writing this now. As you can imagine there were offs all day and into the night, even went off in Surrey Street Market, but hey that's another story ...
 


Worried Man Blues

Well-known member
Feb 28, 2009
6,561
Swansea
I started watching circa 68 and it was the closest who were the greatest rivals. Bournemouth were always the one's top beat then. Tthe second time I watched Brighton away was Bournemouth and the first time I had ever been searched, which was a shock, so they must have been expecting trouble. Also Luton became ones to beat/dislike, possibly because they were close rivals. I'm too old to be particularly bothered anymore!
 




Official Old Man

Uckfield Seagull
Aug 27, 2011
8,487
Brighton
Having lived through the 'Seagull Special' era and been around pre Seagulls, being fenced in, scared of wearing colours away, treated like animals by police at away games and thinking on more than one occasion 'I'm not getting out of here', football was as bad as it could get. But in all those years Brighton had a reputation of being a well behaved group of fans. Something that has stuck with the open concourse policy of now. I believe the non violence was because we had no 'local' derby. I've been to a packed Pompey and it was bad, but so to were London games. The Palace thing 100% was Mullery & Venables.
When Tuesday comes around and everyone is moaning about the police and all, think back to when every game was like this.
 


Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 11, 2003
73,379
West west west Sussex
Someone needs to find, somewhere on Youtube, the claymation done by a palace fan, explaining the whole story.

Even though it's by them from their perspective, it's still a bloody good vid.
 


The Gem

New member
Oct 17, 2008
1,267
Quite a honest account below which shows the extent of the rivalry,have different memories of that day but they match the account below from a different perspective. I think we are lucky that those days are in the past and hyping the rivalry up is not a very good idea:moo:


The Seagulleater

Palace V Brighton 5/4/1980

Got an early start on a Party 7. Sh*t did it taste rank at seven in the morning, but today was a special day, it was Brighton. Arranged to meet a few mates in the buffet bar at East Croydon for 8.30am, so we could have a gander at the Brighton as we thought we might take a pop at a few of the early arrivals.

Arrived at East Croydon at about 8.45am and found my mates at the corner where the post office is. Wondering what the hell they where doing there then, as I got up to them, I turned to where a lot of noise was coming from.

Outside East Croydon, there must of been 200+ hard-looking fuc*ers drinking away and having a laugh amongst themselves. I turned to my mates and said 'Fu*k this, let's go meet the others'.

We had arranged to meet other Palace in the centre of Croydon and along the way little mobs of Palace started to join us and we were turning into quite a tasty sized firm. We had a run-in with some brighton by the Forum pub, which used to be in the whitgift centre.

Give them their due, they never realised how many of us there was, and fought for as long as they could. One of them either jumped or was pushed from the first floor, and I honestly thought he was fuc*ed, but he just picked himself up and ran off towards the rest of the Brighton.

Well we all met up as planned, must of been 250/300 of us now. Imagine the sound of all 300 singing 'We hate Brighton' through the Alders arcade, so we decided to head back to East Croydon and kick it off.

We had all split up in different groups on both sides of George street and somewhere in the road. Big mistake going back to East Croydon as there was hundreds of the scum there well out-numbering us by say three to one.

Still we were up for it and carried on only to be diverted by the Old Bill and sent down Dingwell Road. A few of the BHA saw us and stampeded down towards us, but there were too many plod.

About ten of us dodged the Old Bill and in groups of two and three and headed for the Ralilway Tavern which was oppossite East Croydon Station. The best sight we ever saw over the next hour, was what our rivalry is all about as more and more Brighton kept pouring out of East Croydon Station and just collecting there.

There were so many that most were on the road and in the end the Old Bill closed it. Things were getting a bit uncomfortable where we were, and so we decided our safest bet was to get the fu*k clean out of there.

We dodged our way by using the subway which led us into Cherry Orchard Road. We stopped at the Horse and Groome, which had about 50 Palace in it and told them what we had seen at East Croydon and said we were going to Selhurst and see if we could pick off any BHA on the way.

Some came and some stayed saying that the BHA wouldn't come their way they would be diverted towards west Croydon and on to Whitehorse Road. Much the same at the next pub, The Cherry Orchard, and we went to the last pub, The Leslie Arms, where we decided to have a light ale or two.

About 20 mins later, someone from outside shouted have a look at this. So outside we went, and believe me, I have never seen anything like it in my life.

There were thousands of Brighton comming down Cherry Orchard Road. All you could see was a sea of Blue and white, with a bit of red and yellow mixed in. I felt for the Palace who we saw in the pubs on the way down, 'cos all you could here was glass breaking as the scum went passed. That was a firm and a half.

The Old Bill advised us to move on and to go up to the Wonderloaf, and turn right into Whitehorse Road, and then continue on to the ground. They said all the Brighton where heading this way and they estimated several thousand.

I'm game for most things but fu*k that lot, so we did the right thing and fu*ked off, kept looking around as all you could hear was the BHA. Not only that would you take your eye off of several thousand BHA?

Anyway in the distance we notice a mob of 250, by now we numbered the same so we ran at them, and they ran at us, turned out they were Palace too. So now we numbered around 500, a right nice firm too.

We carried on down Whitehorse Road until we got to the Big Gloucester, that's where the road splits into five ways. No sooner had we reached there, were when we were hit by all five roads, there was Brighton everywhere.

We had no choice but to have it on our toes, and all went out different ways. The Old Bill were soon on the scene, and ordered what was left of us to go straight to the ground.

It was only 1 o'clock too. On getting there, we were the first Palace in the Holmesdale, but also in there were about 50 BHA.

We did what we had to do and run 'em, right down to the pitch, and across they went, for the last big shock of the day, a sea of blue and white, appeared from nowhere in the Whitehorse Lane end and just poured down the terrace.

If they had managed to get across that pitch then I wouldn't be writing this now. As you can imagine there were offs all day and into the night, even went off in Surrey Street Market, but hey that's another story ...

What ever happened to that seagulleater, used to be on here gobbing it all the time.
 




rocker959

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2011
2,802
Plovdiv Bulgaria
Started August 17th 1974
 




Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
18,249
Born In Shoreham
Having lived through the 'Seagull Special' era and been around pre Seagulls, being fenced in, scared of wearing colours away, treated like animals by police at away games and thinking on more than one occasion 'I'm not getting out of here', football was as bad as it could get. But in all those years Brighton had a reputation of being a well behaved group of fans. Something that has stuck with the open concourse policy of now. I believe the non violence was because we had no 'local' derby. I've been to a packed Pompey and it was bad, but so to were London games. The Palace thing 100% was Mullery & Venables.
When Tuesday comes around and everyone is moaning about the police and all, think back to when every game was like this.
Tuesday will be nothing like days gone past maybe a few handbags but due to the restrictions in place It will go down as a non event off the pitch.
 




Not Andy Naylor

Well-known member
Dec 12, 2007
8,787
Seven Dials
Quite a honest account below which shows the extent of the rivalry,have different memories of that day but they match the account below from a different perspective. I think we are lucky that those days are in the past and hyping the rivalry up is not a very good idea:moo:


The Seagulleater

Palace V Brighton 5/4/1980

Got an early start on a Party 7. Sh*t did it taste rank at seven in the morning, but today was a special day, it was Brighton. Arranged to meet a few mates in the buffet bar at East Croydon for 8.30am, so we could have a gander at the Brighton as we thought we might take a pop at a few of the early arrivals.

Arrived at East Croydon at about 8.45am and found my mates at the corner where the post office is. Wondering what the hell they where doing there then, as I got up to them, I turned to where a lot of noise was coming from.

Outside East Croydon, there must of been 200+ hard-looking fuc*ers drinking away and having a laugh amongst themselves. I turned to my mates and said 'Fu*k this, let's go meet the others'.

We had arranged to meet other Palace in the centre of Croydon and along the way little mobs of Palace started to join us and we were turning into quite a tasty sized firm. We had a run-in with some brighton by the Forum pub, which used to be in the whitgift centre.

Give them their due, they never realised how many of us there was, and fought for as long as they could. One of them either jumped or was pushed from the first floor, and I honestly thought he was fuc*ed, but he just picked himself up and ran off towards the rest of the Brighton.

Well we all met up as planned, must of been 250/300 of us now. Imagine the sound of all 300 singing 'We hate Brighton' through the Alders arcade, so we decided to head back to East Croydon and kick it off.

We had all split up in different groups on both sides of George street and somewhere in the road. Big mistake going back to East Croydon as there was hundreds of the scum there well out-numbering us by say three to one.

Still we were up for it and carried on only to be diverted by the Old Bill and sent down Dingwell Road. A few of the BHA saw us and stampeded down towards us, but there were too many plod.

About ten of us dodged the Old Bill and in groups of two and three and headed for the Ralilway Tavern which was oppossite East Croydon Station. The best sight we ever saw over the next hour, was what our rivalry is all about as more and more Brighton kept pouring out of East Croydon Station and just collecting there.

There were so many that most were on the road and in the end the Old Bill closed it. Things were getting a bit uncomfortable where we were, and so we decided our safest bet was to get the fu*k clean out of there.

We dodged our way by using the subway which led us into Cherry Orchard Road. We stopped at the Horse and Groome, which had about 50 Palace in it and told them what we had seen at East Croydon and said we were going to Selhurst and see if we could pick off any BHA on the way.

Some came and some stayed saying that the BHA wouldn't come their way they would be diverted towards west Croydon and on to Whitehorse Road. Much the same at the next pub, The Cherry Orchard, and we went to the last pub, The Leslie Arms, where we decided to have a light ale or two.

About 20 mins later, someone from outside shouted have a look at this. So outside we went, and believe me, I have never seen anything like it in my life.

There were thousands of Brighton comming down Cherry Orchard Road. All you could see was a sea of Blue and white, with a bit of red and yellow mixed in. I felt for the Palace who we saw in the pubs on the way down, 'cos all you could here was glass breaking as the scum went passed. That was a firm and a half.

The Old Bill advised us to move on and to go up to the Wonderloaf, and turn right into Whitehorse Road, and then continue on to the ground. They said all the Brighton where heading this way and they estimated several thousand.

I'm game for most things but fu*k that lot, so we did the right thing and fu*ked off, kept looking around as all you could hear was the BHA. Not only that would you take your eye off of several thousand BHA?

Anyway in the distance we notice a mob of 250, by now we numbered the same so we ran at them, and they ran at us, turned out they were Palace too. So now we numbered around 500, a right nice firm too.

We carried on down Whitehorse Road until we got to the Big Gloucester, that's where the road splits into five ways. No sooner had we reached there, were when we were hit by all five roads, there was Brighton everywhere.

We had no choice but to have it on our toes, and all went out different ways. The Old Bill were soon on the scene, and ordered what was left of us to go straight to the ground.

It was only 1 o'clock too. On getting there, we were the first Palace in the Holmesdale, but also in there were about 50 BHA.

We did what we had to do and run 'em, right down to the pitch, and across they went, for the last big shock of the day, a sea of blue and white, appeared from nowhere in the Whitehorse Lane end and just poured down the terrace.

If they had managed to get across that pitch then I wouldn't be writing this now. As you can imagine there were offs all day and into the night, even went off in Surrey Street Market, but hey that's another story ...

I went to that match and don't remember any of that. You'd think I would, wouldn't you? I don't suppose it's possible that this is just another case of old hoolies getting misty-eyed about their past, er, 'glories' ...
 


Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,110
Surrey
We have had Orient, Cardiff, Reading and for a short time Southampton as a stop gap in the years when we were in a different division to Palace but other than them have we ever had a similar rivalry?

In short, who would be our biggest rivals if the controversial games and manager’s dislike of each other back in the old third division had not come about? Was there a “Derby” prior to then? Never seen much fuss about Pompey and Bournemouth, so who else?

Everyone seems to forget Pompey when talking about rivals, I've witnessed more disorder against them than Palace.
I'd agree. Pompey was a big rivalry in the early and mid 1980s when I started going home and away. Then Orient was big(ish) when we were shite.

Apparently we've had our run-ins with both Luton ('60s) and Bournemouth ('70s) in the past too but I'm not old enough to remember either.

You can see why the Palace rivalry developed though - as much as it was organic through big head to head games, it also solved a problem for both clubs. We were similar sized clubs occupying a similar place in the footballing food chain. And then we stopped being a club with no main rival (thus separating us from irritating clubs like Gillingham and Bournemouth), and Palace got away from being lumbered with Millwall as their main rival (who have always been much smaller anyway). And let's face it, who'd choose to pick a permanent argument with them?
 


Tuesday will be nothing like days gone past maybe a few handbags but due to the restrictions in place It will go down as a non event off the pitch.



Also its not that fashionable to be involved, the 1980 game at selhurst prduced a Brighton mob over 2000 strong! Bigger than the whole allocation for this season fixtures Not sure of our total away support back then 6,000 to 8,000? potg helped cause the problems:rolleyes:
 








I went to that match and don't remember any of that. You'd think I would, wouldn't you? I don't suppose it's possible that this is just another case of old hoolies getting misty-eyed about their past, er, 'glories' ...

That's pretty much how things went,i thought it was quite a measured summary of the day tbf.
 


Feb 23, 2009
22,840
Brighton factually.....
I am positive I read in Seagulls the story of Brighton & Hove Albion by Tim Carder & Roger Harris, that back in 190 something a paddle steamer booked by a group of Brighton fans got turned back half way on route to an away game at Southampton due to drunk & rowdy behaviour by our fans.
 




I am positive I read in Seagulls the story of Brighton & Hove Albion by Tim Carder & Roger Harris, that back in 190 something a paddle steamer booked by a group of Brighton fans got turned back half way on route to an away game at Southampton due to drunk & rowdy behaviour by our fans.

Apparently it all kick off over an argument over a left back and if one day in the future Haywards Heath should have a wetherspoons??? 1907:wink:
 
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