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brighton palace feud origins
- Thread starter shingle
- Start date
On the Left Wing
KIT NAPIER
In brief it started in the 70s I think when we went up together ... others can fill you in ... but definitely remember it starting in the Steve Kember, Gerry Queen mid to late 1970s period ....
Braders
Abi Fletchers Gimpboy
hope this helps
The seeds of this seemingly unlikely rivalry were sown in a pub at West Street, Brighton, on Christmas Eve, 1975. In response to Palace fans shouting ‘Eagles’ Albion supporter Lee Phillips started a chant of ‘Seagulls’.
It caught on when the teams met two months later, prompting Albion to change their nickname from the Dolphins.
The rivalry exploded in the 76/77 season, when the clubs met 5 times. Alan Mullery, then Brighton’s manager became public enemy number one with Eagles fans.
Four of those matches attracted crowds of 27000 and 30,000 – the exception being an FA Cup first round, second replay at neutral Stamford Bridge, which has gone down in Albion-Palace folklore for a referee branded ‘Challis of the Palace’ by both sets of fans.
Referee Ron Challis disallowed a Brighton goal for an alleged handball by Peter Ward, although Palace defender Jim Cannon later admitted he had pushed the striker and the goal should have stood. Then Chris Cattlin was fouled in the box by Barry Silkman and Challis awarded Brighton a penalty.
Brian Horton took it and scored, but the referee made him take it again because some of their players had encroached into the box. Alan Mullery said, ‘I’ve never seen that since – a penalty scored but re-taken because of encroachments by the defending team – and I still don’t understand it. He took it again, but the keeper (Paul Hammond) saved it. I was diabolical with rage. The penalty was the culmination of a lot of things and it was just one of those nights when the referee gave us nothing’
Palace held on to win 1-0 and, at the final whistle, a furious Mullery stormed onto the pitch to confront Challis.
‘He wouldn’t talk to me about it at the time and I never spoke to him about it,’ Mullery adds. ‘As I walked off, Palace fans were spitting and throwing tea at me so I reacted the same as any manager would have. I stuck my fingers up at them. It was instantaneous, spur of the moment.’
Although he cannot remember his exact words, it was reported Mullery yelled, ‘You’re not worth that, Palace!’ as he threw a handful of notes and coins into a puddle.
Mullery was led away by police and later fined £75 by the FA.
The rivalry became even fiercer as Eagles boss Terry Venables continued to pit his wits against Mullery, his former Tottenham team-mate.
Palace replaced Portsmouth as Brighton’s biggest derby match during the late 70’s and the rivalry became enormous. Mullery explains,’ We were doing the same thing that Palace were doing – getting promotion with a manager in the limelight and big crowds. There were 33,000 at Brighton every home match.’
Both clubs went up from div 3 in that season of cup controversy – the Seagulls as runners up and Palace in 3rd place.
Brighton gained promotion from Div 3 as runners up & Palace in 3rd place.
Albion missed promotion on goal difference the following season as Spurs went up amid suggestions of a final day carve-up in a 0-0 draw with Southampton, who were also promoted. Palace finished 9th but scuppered Albion’s chances by drawing both derbies.
Brighton eventually gained promotion to the old First division winning 3-1 at Newcastle on the final day of the 1978-79 season but even then there was a Palace related twist. The Eagles pipped Mullery’s men to the title by a point as a record crowd of 51,482 watched Venables’ side confirm their own promotion beating Burnley.
Brighton tore Palace apart in front of 28,000 at the Goldstone on Boxing Day 79, as Ward gave Cannon the run around & Horton exorcised the penalty demon by scoring to make it 3-0.
In 80/81 Brighton did the double over Palace and enabled them to stay up, whereas Palace were left adrift at the bottom of the division by 13 points.
June 81 Mullery resigned after a boardroom row and a year later Ron Noades appointed him Palace manager. Many Eagles fans boycotted the club in protest.
Following the Seagulls 1983 FA Cup final appearance and relegation from the top flight, battle resumed in Div 2 with Brighton winning the next 3 matches but it was a 1-1 draw at Selhurst in April 1985 that added most to the ill feeling between the two sides, when Palace’s Henry Hughton’s leg breaking tackle ended Gerry Ryan’s career.
Brighton’s relegation in 1987 put a brief stop to the fun and games but back in div 2 88/89 Albion won a 3-1 dingdong on Boxing Day at the Goldstone. Palace got revenge at Easter with a 2-1 win but they missed a golden opportunity to humiliate their rivals. They were awarded 4 penalties but they missed 3.
Kerry Mayo says even at youth and reserve level there is no love lost between the clubs. A youth match in 96 resulted in 3 Palace players, 2 Brighton players, the Palace coach and a spectator were all sent off in a match that Brighton won 2-0.
Many of the meetings in the 70’s & 80’s had serious crowd trouble. Ref Ron Challis threatened to abandon a League game in Feb 76 if the Palace fans continued to throw smoke bombs.
The next meeting waited 13 years until Oct 2003. Brighton had escaped from the brink of the Conference to win consecutive Championships back to division 1. Steve Coppell had taken over as Brighton manager after Brighton fans had been serenading him since 1984 with his own song as a Palace manager
Agent Coppell said the Palace fans. The Seagulls did wonder as they watched their team give an inept, spineless performance which extended their losing streak to 12 league games. The score was 5-0 to Palace but the Brighton fans were still singing 6-5 we’re gonna win 6-5.
It took the dreadful events of 9/11 to extend the olive branch between the clubs. Robert Eaton a Seagull supporter was killed in the attack on the World Trade centre. Brighton fans set up a memorial fund in aid of a youth soccer team in a deprived area of New York. Around £40,000 was raised by matches between the clubs supporters, the first of which inevitably went to penalties. The website for this is www.remf.net
The story so far:-
League
Crystal Palace wins 29
Draws 20
Brighton wins 33
FA Cup
Crystal Palace win 1
Draws 2
Brighton wins 2
The seeds of this seemingly unlikely rivalry were sown in a pub at West Street, Brighton, on Christmas Eve, 1975. In response to Palace fans shouting ‘Eagles’ Albion supporter Lee Phillips started a chant of ‘Seagulls’.
It caught on when the teams met two months later, prompting Albion to change their nickname from the Dolphins.
The rivalry exploded in the 76/77 season, when the clubs met 5 times. Alan Mullery, then Brighton’s manager became public enemy number one with Eagles fans.
Four of those matches attracted crowds of 27000 and 30,000 – the exception being an FA Cup first round, second replay at neutral Stamford Bridge, which has gone down in Albion-Palace folklore for a referee branded ‘Challis of the Palace’ by both sets of fans.
Referee Ron Challis disallowed a Brighton goal for an alleged handball by Peter Ward, although Palace defender Jim Cannon later admitted he had pushed the striker and the goal should have stood. Then Chris Cattlin was fouled in the box by Barry Silkman and Challis awarded Brighton a penalty.
Brian Horton took it and scored, but the referee made him take it again because some of their players had encroached into the box. Alan Mullery said, ‘I’ve never seen that since – a penalty scored but re-taken because of encroachments by the defending team – and I still don’t understand it. He took it again, but the keeper (Paul Hammond) saved it. I was diabolical with rage. The penalty was the culmination of a lot of things and it was just one of those nights when the referee gave us nothing’
Palace held on to win 1-0 and, at the final whistle, a furious Mullery stormed onto the pitch to confront Challis.
‘He wouldn’t talk to me about it at the time and I never spoke to him about it,’ Mullery adds. ‘As I walked off, Palace fans were spitting and throwing tea at me so I reacted the same as any manager would have. I stuck my fingers up at them. It was instantaneous, spur of the moment.’
Although he cannot remember his exact words, it was reported Mullery yelled, ‘You’re not worth that, Palace!’ as he threw a handful of notes and coins into a puddle.
Mullery was led away by police and later fined £75 by the FA.
The rivalry became even fiercer as Eagles boss Terry Venables continued to pit his wits against Mullery, his former Tottenham team-mate.
Palace replaced Portsmouth as Brighton’s biggest derby match during the late 70’s and the rivalry became enormous. Mullery explains,’ We were doing the same thing that Palace were doing – getting promotion with a manager in the limelight and big crowds. There were 33,000 at Brighton every home match.’
Both clubs went up from div 3 in that season of cup controversy – the Seagulls as runners up and Palace in 3rd place.
Brighton gained promotion from Div 3 as runners up & Palace in 3rd place.
Albion missed promotion on goal difference the following season as Spurs went up amid suggestions of a final day carve-up in a 0-0 draw with Southampton, who were also promoted. Palace finished 9th but scuppered Albion’s chances by drawing both derbies.
Brighton eventually gained promotion to the old First division winning 3-1 at Newcastle on the final day of the 1978-79 season but even then there was a Palace related twist. The Eagles pipped Mullery’s men to the title by a point as a record crowd of 51,482 watched Venables’ side confirm their own promotion beating Burnley.
Brighton tore Palace apart in front of 28,000 at the Goldstone on Boxing Day 79, as Ward gave Cannon the run around & Horton exorcised the penalty demon by scoring to make it 3-0.
In 80/81 Brighton did the double over Palace and enabled them to stay up, whereas Palace were left adrift at the bottom of the division by 13 points.
June 81 Mullery resigned after a boardroom row and a year later Ron Noades appointed him Palace manager. Many Eagles fans boycotted the club in protest.
Following the Seagulls 1983 FA Cup final appearance and relegation from the top flight, battle resumed in Div 2 with Brighton winning the next 3 matches but it was a 1-1 draw at Selhurst in April 1985 that added most to the ill feeling between the two sides, when Palace’s Henry Hughton’s leg breaking tackle ended Gerry Ryan’s career.
Brighton’s relegation in 1987 put a brief stop to the fun and games but back in div 2 88/89 Albion won a 3-1 dingdong on Boxing Day at the Goldstone. Palace got revenge at Easter with a 2-1 win but they missed a golden opportunity to humiliate their rivals. They were awarded 4 penalties but they missed 3.
Kerry Mayo says even at youth and reserve level there is no love lost between the clubs. A youth match in 96 resulted in 3 Palace players, 2 Brighton players, the Palace coach and a spectator were all sent off in a match that Brighton won 2-0.
Many of the meetings in the 70’s & 80’s had serious crowd trouble. Ref Ron Challis threatened to abandon a League game in Feb 76 if the Palace fans continued to throw smoke bombs.
The next meeting waited 13 years until Oct 2003. Brighton had escaped from the brink of the Conference to win consecutive Championships back to division 1. Steve Coppell had taken over as Brighton manager after Brighton fans had been serenading him since 1984 with his own song as a Palace manager
Agent Coppell said the Palace fans. The Seagulls did wonder as they watched their team give an inept, spineless performance which extended their losing streak to 12 league games. The score was 5-0 to Palace but the Brighton fans were still singing 6-5 we’re gonna win 6-5.
It took the dreadful events of 9/11 to extend the olive branch between the clubs. Robert Eaton a Seagull supporter was killed in the attack on the World Trade centre. Brighton fans set up a memorial fund in aid of a youth soccer team in a deprived area of New York. Around £40,000 was raised by matches between the clubs supporters, the first of which inevitably went to penalties. The website for this is www.remf.net
The story so far:-
League
Crystal Palace wins 29
Draws 20
Brighton wins 33
FA Cup
Crystal Palace win 1
Draws 2
Brighton wins 2
Soton Seagull
Well-known member
Something to do with a Brighton player walking in to the Palace dressing room and waving some cash at them, incinuating that they were not worth that much. That's the edited version of the story I heard.
Closest league team as the proverbial Crow flies I beleive.
Closest league team as the proverbial Crow flies I beleive.
Bobby's Gull
DAFT Bint
A Palarse player did a nasty tackle on one of ours and broke his leg, I think and then Mullery gave a one fingered slaute to the Palarse fans and then walked into the Palarse changing room and chucked a fiver on the floor and said you're not even worth that, I think, probably wrong though.
Wish I could have been there though, would have been top quality.
Wish I could have been there though, would have been top quality.
On the Left Wing
KIT NAPIER
Braders ... couldn't have put it better myself ... you type fecking fast matey!!!!!!
Gosling
New member
...
Unfortunately, a certain site is under reconstruction at the moment. Otherwise I'd treat you to a comprehensive Palace perspective on this. Episode 2 is the best. It's got that photo of *spit* Mullery flicking the vickies at the Palace fans at Stamford Bridge, and so on.
Unfortunately, the 'hard-hitting' site because-of-boxing-day.net has ceased to be. I can't find it anyway. That one had a fairly good mix of views about the rivalry.
But going back further than the seventies, the records show that BHA has always lived in our shadow. I guess it's a jealousy thing.
Personally, the first actual taste of our rivalry was a game most of you want to forget, and I guess that just reinforced the the feelings even more. After all, it might be another 13 years...
Unfortunately, a certain site is under reconstruction at the moment. Otherwise I'd treat you to a comprehensive Palace perspective on this. Episode 2 is the best. It's got that photo of *spit* Mullery flicking the vickies at the Palace fans at Stamford Bridge, and so on.
Unfortunately, the 'hard-hitting' site because-of-boxing-day.net has ceased to be. I can't find it anyway. That one had a fairly good mix of views about the rivalry.
But going back further than the seventies, the records show that BHA has always lived in our shadow. I guess it's a jealousy thing.
Personally, the first actual taste of our rivalry was a game most of you want to forget, and I guess that just reinforced the the feelings even more. After all, it might be another 13 years...
Gosling
New member
Soton Seagull said:
I was taking the mickey in my last post everybody.
I'm making a point now. We are you're nearest club, but you aren't ours, obviously. In fact, despite the historical, LOCAL rivalry with Millwall and the later rivalry with Clowntown Pathetic, I saw a survey recently that says that Palace regard BHA as Public Enemy No. 1.
Sorry to sound a bit harsh, but I don't think the A23 thing has anything to do with it, apart from helping to sustain the rivalry through those long dark years.
Something else had happened. It was to do with betrayal and revenge, and it was strong enough to create a rivalry nobody knows about and everybody talks bollox about. Including me.
On the Left Wing said:Braders ... couldn't have put it better myself ... you type fecking fast matey!!!!!!
Well copied and pasted braders (from what I put on the official msg board a while back
) It was adapted from an article in 442 magazine.
On the Left Wing
KIT NAPIER
Yorkie said:Well copied and pasted braders (from what I put on the official msg board a while back
It was adapted from an article in 442 magazine.
Thought I recognised it Yorkie ....
Marshy
Well-known member
Gerry Ryan leg that was busted I beleive.
Marshy said:
It says so two thirds of the way through that item
Following the Seagulls 1983 FA Cup final appearance and relegation from the top flight, battle resumed in Div 2 with Brighton winning the next 3 matches but it was a 1-1 draw at Selhurst in April 1985 that added most to the ill feeling between the two sides, when Palace’s Henry Hughton’s leg breaking tackle ended Gerry Ryan’s career.
On the Left Wing
KIT NAPIER
Yorkie said:
Senility creeping in up here ..... George Dalton ( good Geordie!)... that was our full back between 1967 and 1970 who also had his career finished by a leg break in a vicious tackle ... the Gerry Ryan reference reminded me .... trying to remember his name in a thread last week!!!!!!!! But nothing to do with Palarse I'm afraid!
bhaexpress
New member
There was also the situation in the Mid 70s when Malcolm Allision brought his freshly relegated Palace side to The Goldstone for the fist match of the season. They lost 1-0 to an Ian Mellor strike and there was a lot of trouble after the game.
fatbadger
New member
The Palace perspective - the text from 'Because of Boxing Day. Rather long, I am afraid - copy it to a word file and print:
It all started back in the United League, both sides First XI's were competing in different divisions of the Southern League, so it was their respective second strings which first did battle on 11th October 1905. I'm delighted to report that Palace gained a 3-2 away victory in front 1,200 spectators. The reverse fixture saw Brighton gain revenge winning 2-0, but Palace still finished second to Brighton's seventh in a league of 10 clubs.
In Southern League in 1906/7 season - the first "official" first XI game between the two sides saw
Palace go down 2-1 at Brighton. Charles Wallace, who at the end of that season signed for Aston Villa, had the distinction of scoring our first League goal against the "Rockmakers". During our respective tenures in the Southern Leagues, the clubs met 20 times, seven games were drawn and of the other 13, Palace notched one more victory than Brighton.
The first "Boxing Day" fixture occurred in 1910 and resulted in a 2-0 away defeat, but the first home fixture on that day came in our last season as a Southern League side - the result gave Brighton most to complain about we won 4-0 and to really dampen Brightons' Christmas spirit as we had already beaten them away 3-2 the day before . This pattern was repeated in our first season as a League side, we finished as Champions of Division Three (South) whilst Brighton came a lowly 18th.
After our four year sojourn in Division Two was halted by relegation on goal average from Oldham
Athletic, we played each other every season up to the war. Strangely in those fourteen seasons, the clubs' finished higher than the other an equal number of seven times. Palace, however, notched fifteen wins as opposed to Brightons' eight -five games were drawn. Three other games were played in the period, Brighton were responsible for Palace's dismissal from the FA Cup in their first ever Cup meeting, in the 1932-33 season and in 1938 & 1939 games were played for the Football League Jubilee Fund, Palace won the first of those games at Selhurst, 5-0, whilst the away game the following year was drawn 3-3.
As War broke, we had been due to take Brighton on, in a new Competition which Palace and Brighton had qualified for by finishing second and third respectively in the Division the previous season. It took the form of a knockout semi-final in which the winners would have played either Doncaster or Bradford City, our counterparts from Division Three (North), on a neutral pitch with gold Medals for the eventual victors.
The first game at Selhurst following the declaration of War was a friendly against Brighton which ended 2-2 (that's World War 2, by the way, not the commencement of hostilities with the Seaweed). Our first meetings in Wartime competition occurred in early 1940 and really gave Brighton something to moan about. Our first game in League South 'D' Division was away to Brighton, where we scored an impressive 4-1 victory, the best was saved for the return leg though when we scored five goals in each half without reply, to record an incredible 10-0 scoreline. Brighton even changed Goalkeepers at Half Time to no avail. Palace took the regional league title, whilst Brighton finished bottom.
The following season, Palace again did the double, this time scoring 10 goals over the season with a 5-2 home and 5-1 away victories. The figure ten was to haunt Brighton once more the following season, when after managing a 2-2 draw at the Goldstone they went down 10-1 back at Selhurst.
Another 8-1 away thrashing was handed out early the following season, but Palace blotted their
copybook somewhat in the home game going down 4-1. 1943 saw another set of Christmas fixtures and again Palace did the double, 3-1 away and 6-2 at home, although the games were overshadowed by the death of the Club Secretary, Frederick Burrell en-route to that first fixture at the Goldstone on Christmas morning. That season saw further encounters in the first round of Football League Cup - South -played on a League basis with two other Clubs -Brentford and Charlton, Brighton won the first game 3-2 at Selhurst, but Palace overturned them in the away leg 4-2, although the earlier result was enough to stop Palace qualifying for the Semi-Finals; Charlton went on to win the Competition that year.
Another season, another double- 5-2 at home and 3-0 away, but then in the September immediately after the end of the war a shock 3-7 reverse away from home, corrected swiftly a week later with a 5-1 home victory, later in what turned out to be fragmented season we met twice more in the opening games of the League Cup Qualifying Competition, securing a 2-2 draw away and a 6-1 victory at home.
So the War competitions drew to a close and with it the extraordinary scorelines, the Third Division (South) reforming where it left off seven years ago. With the cessation of the War came an almost total cessation of the goals in games between the Clubs. The home side, on each occasion, managing only one without reply in the resumed League and Brighton finishing just one point and place above Palace.
Palace and Brighton met continuously for twelve seasons in Division Three (South), although never in the Cup. Palace only finished above Brighton twice in that period, in 1947-48 when Brighton finished bottom and had to apply for re-election and also in 1949-50 season when the Clubs were only separated for seventh place by goal average, settled by Palace beating Brighton 6-0 at home. Brighton also dominated the games against Palace, only four wins and seven draws meant that Brighton won over half of those matches. Palace also suffered a 5-0 away defeat, our worst ever League performance against them in the 1955-56 season. Also tucked away in the midst of those years was another Christmas double fixture when Brighton managed only their second League double over Palace in the 1951-52, the first came in the previous season.
The Clubs became divided when Brighton won the Division in 1957-58 and Palace finished 14th, thus becoming founder members of the new Fourth Division. Brighton recorded a double over us that season and Palace only failed to retain third division status by one point. So began a period of three seasons when the Clubs were separated by two divisions.
The Clubs did not meet again until the 1962-63 season following Brighton's relegation from Division Two, Palace improved upon a 2-2 home draw to win 2-1 at the Goldstone, but not even those points would have saved Brighton from another relegation. That game, which proved to Palace's last league win at the Goldstone, has an unusual story surrounding it. The coldest winter in living memory had locked the Goldstone under a sheet of ice and snow. In an effort to stage the Palace game there on 12 Jan 1963, the club hired a tar-melting machine off the council. It thawed the pitch, but turned it into a quagmire!
Although Brighton climbed out of Division Four as Champions two seasons later, Palace had by this time established themselves as a force in Division Two. For the rest of the sixties Brighton continued to be, at best, a mid-table third division outfit, whilst Palace scaled the heights to Division One. A potential pairing in the third round of the F.A. Cup was narrowly missed in the first year of Palaces' First divison tenancy. The draw gave us a home tie with either Brighton or Walsall, but Brighton lost 2-1 in a third replay, played at Coventry. Brighton gained promotion alongside Aston Villa in 1971-72, but were relegated the following season as Palace also lost their top flight status.
The start of the 1973/74 season saw the first first team encounter between the sides when Palace
travelled to the Goldstone for a pre-season friendly and promptly lost 2-1. Warning signs for what
would be a disastrous start to life in Division 2 under Malcolm Allison.
In truth, the rivalry really only got going between Palace and Brighton in the mid-seventies with the general nationwide upsurge in football hooliganism, coupled with two managers who hated each other's guts and both club images getting a make-over.
It was August 1974 that the teams met again in full competition, once more both in Division Three with new nicknames to boot. "The Dolphins" versus "The Eagles" was the first game of that season and Palace suffered a 1-0 reverse in front of the largest crowd to watch Palace home or away that season. The following March, 3-0 revenge was metered out. The win did little to aid Palace's limp promotion effort, but it almost spelt disaster for Brighton, who narrowly missed relegation.
The following season Palace shot off the starting grid undefeated in seven games and top of the division. And then came the visit of Brighton and the attendant 1-0 defeat. It hardly mattered as we were seven pounds clear by Xmas. By the time the away fixture came around, Palace were in the midst of the great Cup run of 1976, league form however had deserted us and we went down 2-0. Brighton finished fourth a place above us on goal average alone and having completed a double over us. Its a little known fact, that our coach at the time (and soon to be Manager) Terry Venables actually turned out for Albion against Spurs in Joe Kinnear's Testimonial on 23 March 1976.
At the end of that season, Brighton's manager Peter Taylor rejoined his old mate Cloughie, up at Forest and Brighton turned to Alan Mullery. The reason he got the job was even due to a punch-up! Back in Jan 1973, Brighton played Fulham and upon conceding a goal, Mullery physically lashed out at fellow Fulham player, Jimmy Dunne! This event actually impressed upon Brighton's Chairman, Mike Bamber who saw a real desire to win within Mullery - in fact, it was more a sign of Mullery's petulant streak which would surface early in the following season.
In the 1976-77 season the sides were to meet five times: twice in the league and three times to decide a First Round F.A Cup tie. To say neither Manager had much time for the other would be understating the case. Palace remained undefeated over the season notching three draws and two victories. It was the FA Cup Second Replay at neutral Stamford Bridge that finally ignited the already smouldering Blue touch paper. Mullery got out of his pram about a number of dodgy decisions from referee Ron Challis, including a converted Brighton penalty that had to be retaken and a disallowed goal! The retake was saved by Paul Hammond. That referee is still known as "Challis of the Palace" down in Brighton! It culminating in him blowing his top in front of the Palace fans giving him stick for his outraged protests. He flung down about a fiver's worth of notes & change into a puddle and screamed "You're not worth that, Palace" whilst flicking the viccy's - in the end, the police had to lead him away!
Alan Mullery's outspoken-ness continued to fan the flames of a rivalry that often violently spilled over into the alleyways, railway stations and parks of Brighton and Hove and, on more than one occasion, the side-streets and shops of Croydon. It was rumoured that he was motivated by jealousy having wanted the Palace managerial job himself. He decided to change the Club nick-name once again, this time to "the Seagulls". This came about because the Brighton fans often sang "Seagulls" in response to our "Eagles" chants. According to local legend, Brighton fan Lee Philips started the chant in a West Street pub one Christmas Eve, as a direct response to our cry of "Eagles". Thus, Palace are directly responsible for Brighton's current nickname just as much as we are the alternative, and far more fitting, "Seaweeds"!
Both sides were promoted with Brighton again finishing one place above us in second. In truth, Palace were lucky to get there relying on a freak combination of fixtures and results to beat Wrexham to the third promotion place. Palace had the better of the next four encounters on the pitch and, although three were draws, Palace and Vince Hilaire stole the show on televised 3-1 victory in 1978 - a performance captured twice on the two Classic matches videos produced. In the 1977/78 season Brighton failed to, win promotion on goal average from Spurs, although they again finished higher than our ninth place they twice dropped points against us. The following season saw Palace, Brighton, Stoke and Sunderland all slog out a nail-biting promotion race.
On the last Saturday of the season, the three other Clubs finished the season, Brighton ended up top on Goal difference, Stoke and Sunderland provisionally claimed second and third, but we still had a game in hand: win it and we were Champions, displacing Brighton; lose and we would miss out on promotion by Goal difference. The opposition was Burnley, the score 2-0 and 51,801 people (or 51,482 depending on what book you read -I was there and the former was the figure John Henty read out during the game) saw us snatch the Second Division Championship away from Brighton at the last. There will never be a better way to win a Championship.
The news was broken to the Brighton players at 30,000 feet whilst on route to play in a tournament in the US. That wasn't the only bad news they were receive that day, when they landed they found the tournament had been scrapped, due to a fuel crisis!
The next season saw both clubs in the First Division, Brighton for the first time in their history. To cope with the larger crowds that top-flight football brings, Brighton erected the naffest temporary grandstand of all time on one side. Even their own fans nicknamed it 'The "Lego" stand'. Palace fans quickly coined the phrase and the Goldstone became known as "Legoland" - a nickname which lasted for a good many more years than the stand itself. Later that season, fire swept through the South Stand, gutting the seats and wooden structure. An act for which many local fans pointed the finger at Palace fans who lived in the area!
By the end of October Palace were riding high in third, Brighton were bottom, but fate meant that the Clubs did not meet during at this time. The Boxing day fixture raised its head again but their was no Christmas cheer for Palace, we suffered a 0-3 defeat away. Whilst we were on the slide down the table and Brighton were still skulking around the relegation zone. An Easter home draw did little to restore Palace pride, eventually Palace finished thirteenth, three places above Brighton, who had spent heavily to get out of trouble.
Finishing thirteenth was ominously prophetic for Palace, but in truth they just continued the fall from grace that started around the previous Christmas. It was also the beginning of our worst sequence of results against the Seaweed. A year to the Boxing Day later and Palace were on their third manager of the season-Malcolm Allison and adrift at the bottom. Palace lost 2-3 in controversial circumstances. By the time Easter came around, we were already relegated, but Brighton too, were in trouble, needing a win desperately. Palace did not seem to want to take their rivals down with them and completely let them off the hook by gifting them a 3-0 scoreline. Brighton went on escaping relegation for another two seasons, but managed a Cup Final appearance in their last season there.
In November 1981 Palace played a friendly against Brighton and came away witha credible 1-1 draw amidst another management upheaval at the club as Dario Gradi made way for Steve Kember. Then in a enormously unpopular move, Ron Noades appointed Alan Mullery. Palace fans could not swallow this and deserted the Club in large numbers, many ended up at Stamford Bridge ne'er to return, whilst some drifted back slowly over the years - plenty never came back at all. One of Mullery's first games in charge was a home friendly against Brighton which Palace managed to win by a single goal.
We renewed acquaintance with Brighton again in the 1983/4 season, the second year of Mullery's two years. The now traditional Christmas and Easter games saw Mullery stick the dagger even further into mortally wounded Palace hearts, yes, he let them get away with all six points again. This were the nadir of recent Palace history and the serious violence that followed the April trip to the Goldstone, served only to counterpoint the frustrations.
Mullery slipped away quietly to Q.P.R. after two relegation struggles, giving way to managerial new boy Steve Coppell. His first season saw an early South Coast encounter end in 1-0 defeat, but the home game saw a Trevor Aylott goal ensure a deserved draw. The game was surrounded by controversy, Palace's Henry Hughton was sent off for a late tackle on Gerry Ryan, who sustained a broken leg. The Brighton Manager Chris Cattlin claimed in the press it was the worst tackle he'd ever seen, but Ryan himself refused to condemn Hughton. Once again Brighton finished above us.
As the song goes "the fun didn't last" as just a couple of months later, we suffered a 1-3 defeat at
Selhurst in the new Full Members Cup, conceding a goal with only 50 seconds on the clock. A week on from Boxing Day, we met in the League proper losing 2-0 away. A game remembered by Palace fans mainly for a scandalous dive by Terry Connor which earned Brighton a penalty. Late in March, Palace managed to chalk up a League victory against our rivals. The score again was 1-0, courtesy of a Paul Brush free-kick. A year before the Play-Offs came into being, this result contributed to our position as promotion outsiders. We eventually finished fifth, well ahead of mid-table Brighton, who had recently re-appointed the Prince of Darkness A.Mullery OBE as their Manager.
When the fixture computer popped out a Boxing Day home fixture against the Seaweed, the following season, Palace fans saw this as their chance for revenge on Mullery. Palace for once got their lines right, dealing a 2-0 defeat on the relegation strugglers on an unseasonally warm day. By Easter Monday, Barry Lloyd was in charge of a side that had not won a League game for three months, enter Palace chasing one of those new-fangled Play-off places; with typical perversity, Palace contrived to lose 2-0 and ultimately it was this result that destroy our play-off hopes.
The mood of the Palace fans was not pleasant, angry at the scoreline and fed up at being so tightly packed onto a tiny corner terrace, when the Brighton fans had the run of the open East terrace. With ten minutes left, a sizeable number stormed out of the terrace, to confront Brighton fans in their own end. The ensuing violence spilled out of the ground into Phoenix Park which played host to several running battles form the best part of half-an-hour. The Sussex Constabulary looked more like the Keystone Kops belatedly chasing the action around the fields.
There was some consolation for Palace that the result did nothing to assist Brighton's survival. They ended up getting relegated, thanks in the main to the ministrations of their one-time idol.
Two seasons on found Brighton back in Division Two, Palace had narrowly missed the play-offs again and were now generally regarded as a class act. The Palace fans looked forward to laying the ghost of the Goldstone in a another Boxing Day encounter. Yet again, Palace departed from the script, played like horses and lost 3-1. In the words of Alan Pardew "Ian Evans was distraught. He was going mad, I'd never seen him like it ... I thought 'Christ what have we done here'". The Palace crowd added their own sentiments booing the team from the pitch.
The return match still holds a place in the English League record books thanks to a certain referee named Kelvin Morton: 5 penalties, 4 to Palace, 3 missed, 2 scored &1 man sent off.
Eagle Eye caught the mood perfectly although we managed to win 2-1 against 10 men, we had missed a golden opportunity to inflict a modern-day hiding on our most hated rivals. Early in the game, Wrighty scored the goal he later claimed was the best of his Palace career, that was before Mr.Morton stepped in. Brighton's midfielder Trusson was dismissed and Bright converted the first of three penalties given before Half Time. Bright and then Wright contrived to miss.
Kelvin calmed down in the second half, only managing to award two spot-kicks, the first of those was to Brighton which gave them an undeserved consolation, but Pembo stole the show, his rocket up and almost over the Holmesdale reduced both sets of fans to hysterical laughter. It is perhaps fitting that this to date is our last League meeting with them, nothing will top it and the game can still be found in a surprising number of fan's video collections. That season Palace escaped Division Two via the play-offs, whilst Brighton finished 19th.
The end of the following season saw us at last sample the delights of an F.A. Cup Final. and with that the Seaweeds could never again sing to us their favourite taunt of the eighties: "You'll never get to Wembley". Midway through the following season and Brighton were languishing in the lower regions of Division Two, whilst Palace, enamoured with life at the top, were sitting pretty - third in Division One. The chances of either side meeting again in the near future seemed remote, Eagle Eye gave their back page over to a "6 Months Notice of Termination of Rivalry"
The joke began to take on a more sinister tone when, a few days after publication, the Zenith Cup draw provided us with an unexpected return to the Gallstone. Then their League form began to pick up and, having drawn Liverpool away in the cup, they managed to earn themselves a Replay. Had the Brighton players got wind of the wind-up?
The evening of the Zenith game arrived via several postponements and the IRA Bombing of Victoria station earlier in the day. Despite the travelling difficulties around 2,000 Palace fans made it onto an icebound away terrace. Palace took it upon themselves to play their usual role here and Brighton forced extra-time without too much difficulty, but there they crumbled. A devastating two goals in two minutes one each for Bright and Wright sent Palace home with a Police helicopter escort and a quarter-final place in the bag. Strangely both Palace and Brighton made Wembley that year, Palace in the Zenith, whilst Brighton, their promotion push having faltered in April, made it through to the play-off final, which was now being staged there. Notts County ran out easy 3-0 winners. The scoreline meant Brighton hadnow let in 9 goals at Wembley, a useful statistic when faced with the ubiquitous 9-0 chants from the North Bank non-entities.
The following season, Brighton, with money troubles really beginning to mount, were relegated, although they would still compete in a Division "Two", due to the creation of the Premier League of which Palace in tenth place became founder members.
Since then there have been a number of pre-season friendlies staged between the sides, all away. The first in August 1992, saw an injury-struck Palace side once more deliver a below par performance,,although still managing to win 1-0. Former Brighton player Eric Young, silenced the "Reject" taunts when he rose to head home a corner. A new terrace chant got an airing by Palace fans based around Brighton's Wembley ineptitutes: "You'll never win at Wembley", although at one point in recent times the FA Trophy looked a distinct possiblity! This game was originally scheduled for a Saturday afternoon, when it would have attracted a much larger crowd, but was eventually played on Friday night. Possibily the only friendly fixture ever to have been moved on Police advice!
After the game, however, it was Palace fans getting back on the train with tears in their eyes, when they were subject to a CS gas attack at Hove station. That season ended with Palace's relegation from the Premier League, whilst Brighton having survived a number of High Court actions maintained their Division Two status.
In August 1993, the second friendly took place, the game was to have been a Testimonial for Gary O'Reilly, but a row apparently about Gate receipts scuppered that. Once again, some Palace fans were subjected to another Tear gas attack, this time in a Pub, before the game. Just for once, Palace really turned on the style, even though both Armstrong and Rodger were out injured. A 2,000-strong Palace possee saw Southgate, Osborn and Bowry grab three goals, without reply. A performance that underlined the major difference in class that now existed between the sides
The last ever meeting between the sides at the DIY store, err sorry, Goldstone, took place in July
1995. Guess what? Another really crap performance, but still the Eagles managed a 1-0 victory thanks to Bruce Dyer - the following games resounded to the terrace chant of "Drinks lots of Holsten, Scores at the Goldstone" to the tune of Robin Hood.
Midway through the season, Liam Brady, the new messiah who was supposed to lead them out of Division Two looked to be doing a grand job. Perhaps no-one told him that they were supposed to leave by the front door not the tradesman entrance, ah but then this is Brighton we are talking about.
Midway through the season Brady had to make way for Jimmy Case, although strangely Brady turned up again as part of a consortium bidding for the Club. The fans unrest began to swell unpleasantly as the Goldstone eyesore was sold for development without a new ground being agreed. A ground-sharing link with Portsmouth was muted, but in the final game of the season with Brighton already relegated, their fans poured onto the pitch in numbers and caused the abandonment of a game crucial to the other relegation places in the division. The league were not amused and slapped a suspended points deduction on the Club.
At the start of the following season, things really began to hot up as the fans became more orchestrated in their campaign to oust who they believed to be the principal villians of the piece, Archer & Bellotti. Both were targeted for abuse and even death threats, match-by-match demonstrations and set-pieces were executed until the inevitable happened, more fans strayed onto the pitch causing a long delay to another game. The FA were unbending and handed out a two point deduction - despite much wailing and many appeals the ruling was not overturned. The deduction wouldn't really count for too much if the 'Weeds had not been fighting for their League existence. Once again, Brighton failed to perform on the pitch and coming into the last four weeks of the season were five points adrift at the foot of Division Three, with yet another manager, Steve Gritt at the helm.
Palace fans invented their own song to rejoice in Brighton's plight (to the tune of the Laughing Policeman):
"I know a fat old Policeman, he's always on the beat,
That fat & jolly red-faced man, he really is treat,
You'll always find him laughing, he's never known to frown,
The reason for his jollity is Brighton going down ...
AH! HAH! HAH! HAH! HAH! HAH! HA!" (ad lib to fade)
Surprisingly though, the ex-Charlton man kept them in the League with a string of home victories. They stayed at the expense of Hereford, whom they played away on the last game of the season. A 1-1 draw was enough to keep them in the League thanks to a superior number of goals scored. The following week, the dentists in and around Croydon were full of patients having teeth ungritted.
Whilst the ownership battle headed for a reasonably amicable resolution after months of arbitration, the question about where they would play next season was still in the air. Earlier in the season, Brighton announced they would be ground-sharing with Gillingham, but the new consortium then wanted to move to Hove Dog-track (appropriate really) instead. Gillingham demanded the full rent as per their original agreement, so Brighton had little option but to go there to play - a round trip of over 150 miles.
When their fans arrived at Priestfield for their first friendly, who should they find giving piss-take
interviews to the local radio and TV stations, but US! The inaugural game at their temporary home was a friendly against Palace at the distinctly unfriendly time of noon on a Saturday morning (Police advice again). Only about 400 Brighton fans bothered which meant they were just about outnumbered by the 600 or so Palace fans. In terms of atmosphere it was more like a reserve game.
Neither side seemed too bothered on the pitch in temperatures of over 90 degrees and when Palace fell behind, they took most of the match struggling to find a way back. Thankfully they managed this, albeit in the last few moments of the game. Brighton's bete-noire, Bruce Dyer, popped up to head home from close range. Up to this point in time there had never been more than one division between the two sides, but with Palace having one of their brief Premiership sojourns and Brighton glued to the wrong end of the third division table, they were almost separated by a league!
Doncaster Rovers fulfilled the trap-door spot from quite early on, but Brighton couldn't struggle out of 23rd place at all. The following season saw Brighton under the stewardship of another anti-Christ - Brian Horton and he dragged them up to amongst the play-off hopefuls. Horton, in the end, showed his true colours as a "Seagull" manager - Flew in, made a lot of noise, shat all over everyone and flew away again - off to join the mighty glamour club, Port Vale.
Brighton had also finally moved back "home" to the Withdean Stadium (capacity 7,000) with space for up to 1,000 away fans! What would the police advise about this, if we were to play them there, we wondered? In Season 2000/01 we so nearly found out. Brighton, under the stewardship of Mickey Adams, led Brighton out of Division 3 as Champions, albeit after runaway leaders Chesterfield had been hauled back by the League for Finanacial misdemeanours. Palace on the other hand, had a terrible season and coming into the last week of the season were firmly esconsed in the relegation zone.
On the morning of Sunday 6th May, the Seaweeds paraded their trophy through the streets of Brighton and afterwards their supporters settled in pubs everywhere to watch Palace get relegated to Division 2, thereby setting up two mouth-watering encounters. For 87 minutes, the party was in full swing, then Dougie Freedman worked his magic and the pubs of Brighton emptied fast! Worst still the consolation prize of Portsmouth getting relegated leaving Brighton again, derby-less, and facing a long schlepp up to West Yorkshire next season. Even their most hated team in Division 3, Leyton Orient couldn't manage a Play off final win which would have given the 'Weeds something to look forward to.
Whilst Man Utd continue to generate a great deal of vocal hatred at Palace, due mainly to the actions of an unhinged Frenchman and the subsequent repercussions, in truth, this is not and never will be a proper rivalry. Those that have been around a few years will remember QPR in the early 80's and Arsenal after Wrighty defected attracted large amounts of vocal bile, but that faded eventually, just as the Man Utd chants will. At the end of the day, for every "Stand up if you hate Man U" song there will be a small posse singing about going off to war with Brighton. For every Beckham or Cantona chant there will be a chorus of "The famous Alan Mullery". Brighton is still the score most Palace fans look for and delight in when they've lost.
Sorry also to Wimbledon, Charlton and Millwall - you are merely pretenders at the throne of our only true rivals - Brighton & Hove Albion - Why? Quite simply "Because of Boxing Day".
It all started back in the United League, both sides First XI's were competing in different divisions of the Southern League, so it was their respective second strings which first did battle on 11th October 1905. I'm delighted to report that Palace gained a 3-2 away victory in front 1,200 spectators. The reverse fixture saw Brighton gain revenge winning 2-0, but Palace still finished second to Brighton's seventh in a league of 10 clubs.
In Southern League in 1906/7 season - the first "official" first XI game between the two sides saw
Palace go down 2-1 at Brighton. Charles Wallace, who at the end of that season signed for Aston Villa, had the distinction of scoring our first League goal against the "Rockmakers". During our respective tenures in the Southern Leagues, the clubs met 20 times, seven games were drawn and of the other 13, Palace notched one more victory than Brighton.
The first "Boxing Day" fixture occurred in 1910 and resulted in a 2-0 away defeat, but the first home fixture on that day came in our last season as a Southern League side - the result gave Brighton most to complain about we won 4-0 and to really dampen Brightons' Christmas spirit as we had already beaten them away 3-2 the day before . This pattern was repeated in our first season as a League side, we finished as Champions of Division Three (South) whilst Brighton came a lowly 18th.
After our four year sojourn in Division Two was halted by relegation on goal average from Oldham
Athletic, we played each other every season up to the war. Strangely in those fourteen seasons, the clubs' finished higher than the other an equal number of seven times. Palace, however, notched fifteen wins as opposed to Brightons' eight -five games were drawn. Three other games were played in the period, Brighton were responsible for Palace's dismissal from the FA Cup in their first ever Cup meeting, in the 1932-33 season and in 1938 & 1939 games were played for the Football League Jubilee Fund, Palace won the first of those games at Selhurst, 5-0, whilst the away game the following year was drawn 3-3.
As War broke, we had been due to take Brighton on, in a new Competition which Palace and Brighton had qualified for by finishing second and third respectively in the Division the previous season. It took the form of a knockout semi-final in which the winners would have played either Doncaster or Bradford City, our counterparts from Division Three (North), on a neutral pitch with gold Medals for the eventual victors.
The first game at Selhurst following the declaration of War was a friendly against Brighton which ended 2-2 (that's World War 2, by the way, not the commencement of hostilities with the Seaweed). Our first meetings in Wartime competition occurred in early 1940 and really gave Brighton something to moan about. Our first game in League South 'D' Division was away to Brighton, where we scored an impressive 4-1 victory, the best was saved for the return leg though when we scored five goals in each half without reply, to record an incredible 10-0 scoreline. Brighton even changed Goalkeepers at Half Time to no avail. Palace took the regional league title, whilst Brighton finished bottom.
The following season, Palace again did the double, this time scoring 10 goals over the season with a 5-2 home and 5-1 away victories. The figure ten was to haunt Brighton once more the following season, when after managing a 2-2 draw at the Goldstone they went down 10-1 back at Selhurst.
Another 8-1 away thrashing was handed out early the following season, but Palace blotted their
copybook somewhat in the home game going down 4-1. 1943 saw another set of Christmas fixtures and again Palace did the double, 3-1 away and 6-2 at home, although the games were overshadowed by the death of the Club Secretary, Frederick Burrell en-route to that first fixture at the Goldstone on Christmas morning. That season saw further encounters in the first round of Football League Cup - South -played on a League basis with two other Clubs -Brentford and Charlton, Brighton won the first game 3-2 at Selhurst, but Palace overturned them in the away leg 4-2, although the earlier result was enough to stop Palace qualifying for the Semi-Finals; Charlton went on to win the Competition that year.
Another season, another double- 5-2 at home and 3-0 away, but then in the September immediately after the end of the war a shock 3-7 reverse away from home, corrected swiftly a week later with a 5-1 home victory, later in what turned out to be fragmented season we met twice more in the opening games of the League Cup Qualifying Competition, securing a 2-2 draw away and a 6-1 victory at home.
So the War competitions drew to a close and with it the extraordinary scorelines, the Third Division (South) reforming where it left off seven years ago. With the cessation of the War came an almost total cessation of the goals in games between the Clubs. The home side, on each occasion, managing only one without reply in the resumed League and Brighton finishing just one point and place above Palace.
Palace and Brighton met continuously for twelve seasons in Division Three (South), although never in the Cup. Palace only finished above Brighton twice in that period, in 1947-48 when Brighton finished bottom and had to apply for re-election and also in 1949-50 season when the Clubs were only separated for seventh place by goal average, settled by Palace beating Brighton 6-0 at home. Brighton also dominated the games against Palace, only four wins and seven draws meant that Brighton won over half of those matches. Palace also suffered a 5-0 away defeat, our worst ever League performance against them in the 1955-56 season. Also tucked away in the midst of those years was another Christmas double fixture when Brighton managed only their second League double over Palace in the 1951-52, the first came in the previous season.
The Clubs became divided when Brighton won the Division in 1957-58 and Palace finished 14th, thus becoming founder members of the new Fourth Division. Brighton recorded a double over us that season and Palace only failed to retain third division status by one point. So began a period of three seasons when the Clubs were separated by two divisions.
The Clubs did not meet again until the 1962-63 season following Brighton's relegation from Division Two, Palace improved upon a 2-2 home draw to win 2-1 at the Goldstone, but not even those points would have saved Brighton from another relegation. That game, which proved to Palace's last league win at the Goldstone, has an unusual story surrounding it. The coldest winter in living memory had locked the Goldstone under a sheet of ice and snow. In an effort to stage the Palace game there on 12 Jan 1963, the club hired a tar-melting machine off the council. It thawed the pitch, but turned it into a quagmire!
Although Brighton climbed out of Division Four as Champions two seasons later, Palace had by this time established themselves as a force in Division Two. For the rest of the sixties Brighton continued to be, at best, a mid-table third division outfit, whilst Palace scaled the heights to Division One. A potential pairing in the third round of the F.A. Cup was narrowly missed in the first year of Palaces' First divison tenancy. The draw gave us a home tie with either Brighton or Walsall, but Brighton lost 2-1 in a third replay, played at Coventry. Brighton gained promotion alongside Aston Villa in 1971-72, but were relegated the following season as Palace also lost their top flight status.
The start of the 1973/74 season saw the first first team encounter between the sides when Palace
travelled to the Goldstone for a pre-season friendly and promptly lost 2-1. Warning signs for what
would be a disastrous start to life in Division 2 under Malcolm Allison.
In truth, the rivalry really only got going between Palace and Brighton in the mid-seventies with the general nationwide upsurge in football hooliganism, coupled with two managers who hated each other's guts and both club images getting a make-over.
It was August 1974 that the teams met again in full competition, once more both in Division Three with new nicknames to boot. "The Dolphins" versus "The Eagles" was the first game of that season and Palace suffered a 1-0 reverse in front of the largest crowd to watch Palace home or away that season. The following March, 3-0 revenge was metered out. The win did little to aid Palace's limp promotion effort, but it almost spelt disaster for Brighton, who narrowly missed relegation.
The following season Palace shot off the starting grid undefeated in seven games and top of the division. And then came the visit of Brighton and the attendant 1-0 defeat. It hardly mattered as we were seven pounds clear by Xmas. By the time the away fixture came around, Palace were in the midst of the great Cup run of 1976, league form however had deserted us and we went down 2-0. Brighton finished fourth a place above us on goal average alone and having completed a double over us. Its a little known fact, that our coach at the time (and soon to be Manager) Terry Venables actually turned out for Albion against Spurs in Joe Kinnear's Testimonial on 23 March 1976.
At the end of that season, Brighton's manager Peter Taylor rejoined his old mate Cloughie, up at Forest and Brighton turned to Alan Mullery. The reason he got the job was even due to a punch-up! Back in Jan 1973, Brighton played Fulham and upon conceding a goal, Mullery physically lashed out at fellow Fulham player, Jimmy Dunne! This event actually impressed upon Brighton's Chairman, Mike Bamber who saw a real desire to win within Mullery - in fact, it was more a sign of Mullery's petulant streak which would surface early in the following season.
In the 1976-77 season the sides were to meet five times: twice in the league and three times to decide a First Round F.A Cup tie. To say neither Manager had much time for the other would be understating the case. Palace remained undefeated over the season notching three draws and two victories. It was the FA Cup Second Replay at neutral Stamford Bridge that finally ignited the already smouldering Blue touch paper. Mullery got out of his pram about a number of dodgy decisions from referee Ron Challis, including a converted Brighton penalty that had to be retaken and a disallowed goal! The retake was saved by Paul Hammond. That referee is still known as "Challis of the Palace" down in Brighton! It culminating in him blowing his top in front of the Palace fans giving him stick for his outraged protests. He flung down about a fiver's worth of notes & change into a puddle and screamed "You're not worth that, Palace" whilst flicking the viccy's - in the end, the police had to lead him away!
Alan Mullery's outspoken-ness continued to fan the flames of a rivalry that often violently spilled over into the alleyways, railway stations and parks of Brighton and Hove and, on more than one occasion, the side-streets and shops of Croydon. It was rumoured that he was motivated by jealousy having wanted the Palace managerial job himself. He decided to change the Club nick-name once again, this time to "the Seagulls". This came about because the Brighton fans often sang "Seagulls" in response to our "Eagles" chants. According to local legend, Brighton fan Lee Philips started the chant in a West Street pub one Christmas Eve, as a direct response to our cry of "Eagles". Thus, Palace are directly responsible for Brighton's current nickname just as much as we are the alternative, and far more fitting, "Seaweeds"!
Both sides were promoted with Brighton again finishing one place above us in second. In truth, Palace were lucky to get there relying on a freak combination of fixtures and results to beat Wrexham to the third promotion place. Palace had the better of the next four encounters on the pitch and, although three were draws, Palace and Vince Hilaire stole the show on televised 3-1 victory in 1978 - a performance captured twice on the two Classic matches videos produced. In the 1977/78 season Brighton failed to, win promotion on goal average from Spurs, although they again finished higher than our ninth place they twice dropped points against us. The following season saw Palace, Brighton, Stoke and Sunderland all slog out a nail-biting promotion race.
On the last Saturday of the season, the three other Clubs finished the season, Brighton ended up top on Goal difference, Stoke and Sunderland provisionally claimed second and third, but we still had a game in hand: win it and we were Champions, displacing Brighton; lose and we would miss out on promotion by Goal difference. The opposition was Burnley, the score 2-0 and 51,801 people (or 51,482 depending on what book you read -I was there and the former was the figure John Henty read out during the game) saw us snatch the Second Division Championship away from Brighton at the last. There will never be a better way to win a Championship.
The news was broken to the Brighton players at 30,000 feet whilst on route to play in a tournament in the US. That wasn't the only bad news they were receive that day, when they landed they found the tournament had been scrapped, due to a fuel crisis!
The next season saw both clubs in the First Division, Brighton for the first time in their history. To cope with the larger crowds that top-flight football brings, Brighton erected the naffest temporary grandstand of all time on one side. Even their own fans nicknamed it 'The "Lego" stand'. Palace fans quickly coined the phrase and the Goldstone became known as "Legoland" - a nickname which lasted for a good many more years than the stand itself. Later that season, fire swept through the South Stand, gutting the seats and wooden structure. An act for which many local fans pointed the finger at Palace fans who lived in the area!
By the end of October Palace were riding high in third, Brighton were bottom, but fate meant that the Clubs did not meet during at this time. The Boxing day fixture raised its head again but their was no Christmas cheer for Palace, we suffered a 0-3 defeat away. Whilst we were on the slide down the table and Brighton were still skulking around the relegation zone. An Easter home draw did little to restore Palace pride, eventually Palace finished thirteenth, three places above Brighton, who had spent heavily to get out of trouble.
Finishing thirteenth was ominously prophetic for Palace, but in truth they just continued the fall from grace that started around the previous Christmas. It was also the beginning of our worst sequence of results against the Seaweed. A year to the Boxing Day later and Palace were on their third manager of the season-Malcolm Allison and adrift at the bottom. Palace lost 2-3 in controversial circumstances. By the time Easter came around, we were already relegated, but Brighton too, were in trouble, needing a win desperately. Palace did not seem to want to take their rivals down with them and completely let them off the hook by gifting them a 3-0 scoreline. Brighton went on escaping relegation for another two seasons, but managed a Cup Final appearance in their last season there.
In November 1981 Palace played a friendly against Brighton and came away witha credible 1-1 draw amidst another management upheaval at the club as Dario Gradi made way for Steve Kember. Then in a enormously unpopular move, Ron Noades appointed Alan Mullery. Palace fans could not swallow this and deserted the Club in large numbers, many ended up at Stamford Bridge ne'er to return, whilst some drifted back slowly over the years - plenty never came back at all. One of Mullery's first games in charge was a home friendly against Brighton which Palace managed to win by a single goal.
We renewed acquaintance with Brighton again in the 1983/4 season, the second year of Mullery's two years. The now traditional Christmas and Easter games saw Mullery stick the dagger even further into mortally wounded Palace hearts, yes, he let them get away with all six points again. This were the nadir of recent Palace history and the serious violence that followed the April trip to the Goldstone, served only to counterpoint the frustrations.
Mullery slipped away quietly to Q.P.R. after two relegation struggles, giving way to managerial new boy Steve Coppell. His first season saw an early South Coast encounter end in 1-0 defeat, but the home game saw a Trevor Aylott goal ensure a deserved draw. The game was surrounded by controversy, Palace's Henry Hughton was sent off for a late tackle on Gerry Ryan, who sustained a broken leg. The Brighton Manager Chris Cattlin claimed in the press it was the worst tackle he'd ever seen, but Ryan himself refused to condemn Hughton. Once again Brighton finished above us.
As the song goes "the fun didn't last" as just a couple of months later, we suffered a 1-3 defeat at
Selhurst in the new Full Members Cup, conceding a goal with only 50 seconds on the clock. A week on from Boxing Day, we met in the League proper losing 2-0 away. A game remembered by Palace fans mainly for a scandalous dive by Terry Connor which earned Brighton a penalty. Late in March, Palace managed to chalk up a League victory against our rivals. The score again was 1-0, courtesy of a Paul Brush free-kick. A year before the Play-Offs came into being, this result contributed to our position as promotion outsiders. We eventually finished fifth, well ahead of mid-table Brighton, who had recently re-appointed the Prince of Darkness A.Mullery OBE as their Manager.
When the fixture computer popped out a Boxing Day home fixture against the Seaweed, the following season, Palace fans saw this as their chance for revenge on Mullery. Palace for once got their lines right, dealing a 2-0 defeat on the relegation strugglers on an unseasonally warm day. By Easter Monday, Barry Lloyd was in charge of a side that had not won a League game for three months, enter Palace chasing one of those new-fangled Play-off places; with typical perversity, Palace contrived to lose 2-0 and ultimately it was this result that destroy our play-off hopes.
The mood of the Palace fans was not pleasant, angry at the scoreline and fed up at being so tightly packed onto a tiny corner terrace, when the Brighton fans had the run of the open East terrace. With ten minutes left, a sizeable number stormed out of the terrace, to confront Brighton fans in their own end. The ensuing violence spilled out of the ground into Phoenix Park which played host to several running battles form the best part of half-an-hour. The Sussex Constabulary looked more like the Keystone Kops belatedly chasing the action around the fields.
There was some consolation for Palace that the result did nothing to assist Brighton's survival. They ended up getting relegated, thanks in the main to the ministrations of their one-time idol.
Two seasons on found Brighton back in Division Two, Palace had narrowly missed the play-offs again and were now generally regarded as a class act. The Palace fans looked forward to laying the ghost of the Goldstone in a another Boxing Day encounter. Yet again, Palace departed from the script, played like horses and lost 3-1. In the words of Alan Pardew "Ian Evans was distraught. He was going mad, I'd never seen him like it ... I thought 'Christ what have we done here'". The Palace crowd added their own sentiments booing the team from the pitch.
The return match still holds a place in the English League record books thanks to a certain referee named Kelvin Morton: 5 penalties, 4 to Palace, 3 missed, 2 scored &1 man sent off.
Eagle Eye caught the mood perfectly although we managed to win 2-1 against 10 men, we had missed a golden opportunity to inflict a modern-day hiding on our most hated rivals. Early in the game, Wrighty scored the goal he later claimed was the best of his Palace career, that was before Mr.Morton stepped in. Brighton's midfielder Trusson was dismissed and Bright converted the first of three penalties given before Half Time. Bright and then Wright contrived to miss.
Kelvin calmed down in the second half, only managing to award two spot-kicks, the first of those was to Brighton which gave them an undeserved consolation, but Pembo stole the show, his rocket up and almost over the Holmesdale reduced both sets of fans to hysterical laughter. It is perhaps fitting that this to date is our last League meeting with them, nothing will top it and the game can still be found in a surprising number of fan's video collections. That season Palace escaped Division Two via the play-offs, whilst Brighton finished 19th.
The end of the following season saw us at last sample the delights of an F.A. Cup Final. and with that the Seaweeds could never again sing to us their favourite taunt of the eighties: "You'll never get to Wembley". Midway through the following season and Brighton were languishing in the lower regions of Division Two, whilst Palace, enamoured with life at the top, were sitting pretty - third in Division One. The chances of either side meeting again in the near future seemed remote, Eagle Eye gave their back page over to a "6 Months Notice of Termination of Rivalry"
The joke began to take on a more sinister tone when, a few days after publication, the Zenith Cup draw provided us with an unexpected return to the Gallstone. Then their League form began to pick up and, having drawn Liverpool away in the cup, they managed to earn themselves a Replay. Had the Brighton players got wind of the wind-up?
The evening of the Zenith game arrived via several postponements and the IRA Bombing of Victoria station earlier in the day. Despite the travelling difficulties around 2,000 Palace fans made it onto an icebound away terrace. Palace took it upon themselves to play their usual role here and Brighton forced extra-time without too much difficulty, but there they crumbled. A devastating two goals in two minutes one each for Bright and Wright sent Palace home with a Police helicopter escort and a quarter-final place in the bag. Strangely both Palace and Brighton made Wembley that year, Palace in the Zenith, whilst Brighton, their promotion push having faltered in April, made it through to the play-off final, which was now being staged there. Notts County ran out easy 3-0 winners. The scoreline meant Brighton hadnow let in 9 goals at Wembley, a useful statistic when faced with the ubiquitous 9-0 chants from the North Bank non-entities.
The following season, Brighton, with money troubles really beginning to mount, were relegated, although they would still compete in a Division "Two", due to the creation of the Premier League of which Palace in tenth place became founder members.
Since then there have been a number of pre-season friendlies staged between the sides, all away. The first in August 1992, saw an injury-struck Palace side once more deliver a below par performance,,although still managing to win 1-0. Former Brighton player Eric Young, silenced the "Reject" taunts when he rose to head home a corner. A new terrace chant got an airing by Palace fans based around Brighton's Wembley ineptitutes: "You'll never win at Wembley", although at one point in recent times the FA Trophy looked a distinct possiblity! This game was originally scheduled for a Saturday afternoon, when it would have attracted a much larger crowd, but was eventually played on Friday night. Possibily the only friendly fixture ever to have been moved on Police advice!
After the game, however, it was Palace fans getting back on the train with tears in their eyes, when they were subject to a CS gas attack at Hove station. That season ended with Palace's relegation from the Premier League, whilst Brighton having survived a number of High Court actions maintained their Division Two status.
In August 1993, the second friendly took place, the game was to have been a Testimonial for Gary O'Reilly, but a row apparently about Gate receipts scuppered that. Once again, some Palace fans were subjected to another Tear gas attack, this time in a Pub, before the game. Just for once, Palace really turned on the style, even though both Armstrong and Rodger were out injured. A 2,000-strong Palace possee saw Southgate, Osborn and Bowry grab three goals, without reply. A performance that underlined the major difference in class that now existed between the sides
The last ever meeting between the sides at the DIY store, err sorry, Goldstone, took place in July
1995. Guess what? Another really crap performance, but still the Eagles managed a 1-0 victory thanks to Bruce Dyer - the following games resounded to the terrace chant of "Drinks lots of Holsten, Scores at the Goldstone" to the tune of Robin Hood.
Midway through the season, Liam Brady, the new messiah who was supposed to lead them out of Division Two looked to be doing a grand job. Perhaps no-one told him that they were supposed to leave by the front door not the tradesman entrance, ah but then this is Brighton we are talking about.
Midway through the season Brady had to make way for Jimmy Case, although strangely Brady turned up again as part of a consortium bidding for the Club. The fans unrest began to swell unpleasantly as the Goldstone eyesore was sold for development without a new ground being agreed. A ground-sharing link with Portsmouth was muted, but in the final game of the season with Brighton already relegated, their fans poured onto the pitch in numbers and caused the abandonment of a game crucial to the other relegation places in the division. The league were not amused and slapped a suspended points deduction on the Club.
At the start of the following season, things really began to hot up as the fans became more orchestrated in their campaign to oust who they believed to be the principal villians of the piece, Archer & Bellotti. Both were targeted for abuse and even death threats, match-by-match demonstrations and set-pieces were executed until the inevitable happened, more fans strayed onto the pitch causing a long delay to another game. The FA were unbending and handed out a two point deduction - despite much wailing and many appeals the ruling was not overturned. The deduction wouldn't really count for too much if the 'Weeds had not been fighting for their League existence. Once again, Brighton failed to perform on the pitch and coming into the last four weeks of the season were five points adrift at the foot of Division Three, with yet another manager, Steve Gritt at the helm.
Palace fans invented their own song to rejoice in Brighton's plight (to the tune of the Laughing Policeman):
"I know a fat old Policeman, he's always on the beat,
That fat & jolly red-faced man, he really is treat,
You'll always find him laughing, he's never known to frown,
The reason for his jollity is Brighton going down ...
AH! HAH! HAH! HAH! HAH! HAH! HA!" (ad lib to fade)
Surprisingly though, the ex-Charlton man kept them in the League with a string of home victories. They stayed at the expense of Hereford, whom they played away on the last game of the season. A 1-1 draw was enough to keep them in the League thanks to a superior number of goals scored. The following week, the dentists in and around Croydon were full of patients having teeth ungritted.
Whilst the ownership battle headed for a reasonably amicable resolution after months of arbitration, the question about where they would play next season was still in the air. Earlier in the season, Brighton announced they would be ground-sharing with Gillingham, but the new consortium then wanted to move to Hove Dog-track (appropriate really) instead. Gillingham demanded the full rent as per their original agreement, so Brighton had little option but to go there to play - a round trip of over 150 miles.
When their fans arrived at Priestfield for their first friendly, who should they find giving piss-take
interviews to the local radio and TV stations, but US! The inaugural game at their temporary home was a friendly against Palace at the distinctly unfriendly time of noon on a Saturday morning (Police advice again). Only about 400 Brighton fans bothered which meant they were just about outnumbered by the 600 or so Palace fans. In terms of atmosphere it was more like a reserve game.
Neither side seemed too bothered on the pitch in temperatures of over 90 degrees and when Palace fell behind, they took most of the match struggling to find a way back. Thankfully they managed this, albeit in the last few moments of the game. Brighton's bete-noire, Bruce Dyer, popped up to head home from close range. Up to this point in time there had never been more than one division between the two sides, but with Palace having one of their brief Premiership sojourns and Brighton glued to the wrong end of the third division table, they were almost separated by a league!
Doncaster Rovers fulfilled the trap-door spot from quite early on, but Brighton couldn't struggle out of 23rd place at all. The following season saw Brighton under the stewardship of another anti-Christ - Brian Horton and he dragged them up to amongst the play-off hopefuls. Horton, in the end, showed his true colours as a "Seagull" manager - Flew in, made a lot of noise, shat all over everyone and flew away again - off to join the mighty glamour club, Port Vale.
Brighton had also finally moved back "home" to the Withdean Stadium (capacity 7,000) with space for up to 1,000 away fans! What would the police advise about this, if we were to play them there, we wondered? In Season 2000/01 we so nearly found out. Brighton, under the stewardship of Mickey Adams, led Brighton out of Division 3 as Champions, albeit after runaway leaders Chesterfield had been hauled back by the League for Finanacial misdemeanours. Palace on the other hand, had a terrible season and coming into the last week of the season were firmly esconsed in the relegation zone.
On the morning of Sunday 6th May, the Seaweeds paraded their trophy through the streets of Brighton and afterwards their supporters settled in pubs everywhere to watch Palace get relegated to Division 2, thereby setting up two mouth-watering encounters. For 87 minutes, the party was in full swing, then Dougie Freedman worked his magic and the pubs of Brighton emptied fast! Worst still the consolation prize of Portsmouth getting relegated leaving Brighton again, derby-less, and facing a long schlepp up to West Yorkshire next season. Even their most hated team in Division 3, Leyton Orient couldn't manage a Play off final win which would have given the 'Weeds something to look forward to.
Whilst Man Utd continue to generate a great deal of vocal hatred at Palace, due mainly to the actions of an unhinged Frenchman and the subsequent repercussions, in truth, this is not and never will be a proper rivalry. Those that have been around a few years will remember QPR in the early 80's and Arsenal after Wrighty defected attracted large amounts of vocal bile, but that faded eventually, just as the Man Utd chants will. At the end of the day, for every "Stand up if you hate Man U" song there will be a small posse singing about going off to war with Brighton. For every Beckham or Cantona chant there will be a chorus of "The famous Alan Mullery". Brighton is still the score most Palace fans look for and delight in when they've lost.
Sorry also to Wimbledon, Charlton and Millwall - you are merely pretenders at the throne of our only true rivals - Brighton & Hove Albion - Why? Quite simply "Because of Boxing Day".
On this subject, I was approached by some magazine or other (think it might have been 'Front') who run a rivals page every issue. In their May issue (available March 26th, I think) it is Albion v Palace.
I received a number of questions which I replied to and I understand a Palace fan did likewise.
They said they will pay 20p per word for my efforts. Any funds received will go to the Falmer For All fund.
I received a number of questions which I replied to and I understand a Palace fan did likewise.
They said they will pay 20p per word for my efforts. Any funds received will go to the Falmer For All fund.
