Aldershot rivalry

[westongeezer]

My last memory of The Shits was the day it starting raining bricks, last game of the season as i recall.....

[Silver Fox]

You only have to have seen the witless mongs on the bus to the ground on Saturday to learn that obsessing too much over a rival wil end badly

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Aldersh*t - the only game that *really* matters.

The 4-0 in '79. The pre-season 'friendly' at the Rec. The list goes on.

The young'uns gravitate towards Oxford and Swindon as our local derby but only because that blot on the landscape of north Hants has never been on their radar.

Still, nice to see that the home improvements at the Rec last night. The rope behind the goal has been replaced .... with a Portakabin.

And yes, I certainly keep the "You're so quiet.... " going on the few occasions I make it to a match and it is appropriate.

[Big Foot]

Hate Oxford, not bothered about Swindon or Aldershot

[who are ya?]

I definitely see Oxford as our main rivals and I think it would also be fair to say that Oxford are more bothered about us than Swindon are. I'm also too young for the Aldershot rivalry but after a couple of incidents I've started to massively dislike the kunts.

[Ian Royal]

Dislike Swindon the most, bit of a soft spot for Oxford. Aldershot are more like an unimportant joke than a rival to me.

[Barry the bird boggler]

To be honest our main rivals currently are those clubs who we've been regularly playing over recent years from this area which currently means Watford.

Regional rivals are Aldershot, Oxford, Swindon and Wycombe

Historical rival is Aldershot

Portsmouth, Southampton, QPR, Brentford, Chelsea, Fulham and Wimbledon are probably our next batch of localish rivals

[Wimb]

Barely consider Chelsea a rival considering we've played them in the league four times in 20 odd years

[Big Foot]

Dislike Swindon the most, bit of a soft spot for Oxford.

Get out

[who are ya?]

Only a Reading fan could have a soft spot for a rival.

[Toxteth O'Grady (USA)]

To be honest our main rivals currently are those clubs who we've been regularly playing over recent years from this area which currently means Watford.

Regional rivals are Aldershot, Oxford, Swindon and Wycombe

Historical rival is Aldershot

Portsmouth, Southampton, QPR, Brentford, Chelsea, Fulham and Wimbledon are probably our next batch of localish rivals

Historical rival is not the Shits. The original club was formed in 1926, six years after Reading and Swindle were founder members of Div 3 South and circa 30 years before the first "derby" between the sides. The shits were only in he league from about 1930 and the Pox only entered about 20 years later I think (and we don't have much history with their previous incarnation as Headington United that I am aware of).

The genuine, bona fide derby match is Swindle, by the historic measure if only on the grounds it pre-dates any of the others.

[Royal Prince]

Not that I've got any beef with them, but shirley our 'historical' rivals are Bournemouth?

IIRC it's the team we've played the most games against, it's still relatively close, and they are forgotten about by the other teams on the south coast just like none of our closest geographical rivals give a hoot about us!

[manny96]

Looking forward to Brighton this year, although they probably have more issue with us than we with them. Too young for Aldershot rivalry but the place is one of the worst towns I've ever been to. Also only ever lost when played at the Rec. as well.

[Ian Royal]

Dislike Swindon the most, bit of a soft spot for Oxford.

Get out

You get out, you Swindon loving traitor.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Not that I've got any beef with them, but shirley our 'historical' rivals are Bournemouth?

IIRC it's the team we've played the most games against, it's still relatively close, and they are forgotten about by the other teams on the south coast just like none of our closest geographical rivals give a hoot about us!

Believe Bournemouth fans think there is a rivalry but we generally don't give a monkeys about them.

Just because you play a team loads of times doesn't make it a rivalry, we've played Watford just as much and that is much nearer but neither set of fans really see it as a derby type rivalry.

Which is why Aldershot is the one historical rivalry, yes we may have been with Swindon, Bournemouth and Watford longer but Aldershot is the only one where both sets of fans really care.

Just for the record, the teams we've played most across the 3 main competitions (League, Cup & League Cup) are as follows - this includes the league games we're due to play this season.

1. Watford - 110 games (94 league)
2. Bournemouth - 105 games (100 league)
3. Gillingham - 100 games (88 league)
4. Swindon Town - 99 games (92 league)
5. Millwall - 94 games (88 league)
6. Northampton Town - 94 games (88 league)
7. Southend United - 92 games (88 league)
8. Bristol Rovers - 91 games (80 league)
9. Bristol City - 91 games (84 league)
10. Brighton - 88 games (84 league)
11. Exeter City - 84 games (82 league)

We've also played Newport County 90 times (80 in the league) and have olny played Aldershot 61 times (50 league)

[Ark Royal]

Historically, it has always been Sw*ndon, as the rivalry goes back further than any other local rival. Very rarely crossed paths with the Shite in the 50s/60s/70s and they are beneath contempt; and O*ford are just arriviste vvankers, only gaining league status in '62.

Sw*ndon matches in the 60s were always intense affairs, especially as the jerky scum had a good team back then: Rogers, Noble, Smart, Trollope etc. For me, it is Sw*ndon.

[Jackson Corner]

It's 20 years since we have played them so that's a whole generation of fans who have no idea what the rivalry was like in the 70's and 80's. It was the first fixture you looked for when the list came out. More often than not we got the better of them on and off the pitch. The 4-0 game about 79 loads of fights police helmets flying everywhere and a false leg!

JC, you may have been one of the many that came to my rescue in 84 I believe. As a young 15 year old I was following around with Southbank lads at the time. Remember about 20 of us going into a pub in Aldershit with a larger group of Reading following behind.
Within a few seconds of going to the gents, I had been confronted by a group of squadies, seconds later I was laying on my back on top of the three toilet cubicles that had collapsed. I was in too much of a daze to witness the events afterwards until a chuckling Reading fan came to give me a hand up.

It wasn't me that came to your rescue but I do remember the game. We had bit of a skinhead following around then and the squadies seemed to pick on them. It may have been the same pub as I remember a lot of glass being chucked and tables from the pub garden ending up in the street outside. I was 20 at the time and considerd myself one of the first Reading casuals with Sergio Tachini trainers. Lacoste Polo shirt with Pringle jumper and of course the Farah trousers. I remember running from a police horse then falling on to a prickly garden hedge and me Pringle jumper got ripped and nearly crying as I had saved for ages to buy it. It was then I decided being football hooligan wasn't for me.

[Ian Royal]

Which is why Aldershot is the one historical rivalry, yes we may have been with Swindon, Bournemouth and Watford longer but Aldershot is the only one where both sets of fans really care.

But the majority of our fans really don't give a rats arse about Aldershot because they've never seen us play them and Aldershot have been a non-league non-entity for the majority of their supporting lives.

Aldershot seem to care a lot, but the majority of us are more into superior sneering, or saying "Alderwho?".

[No Fixed Abode]

Did anyone go to the Aldershot friendly what must have been nearly 8-10 years ago now? I recall Ben Thornley was playing for you. It was raining bricks and stones then. Few fights in the ground and some carnage in the pub beforehand.

[bloody Volvo driver]

Did anyone go to the Aldershot friendly what must have been nearly 8-10 years ago now? I recall Ben Thornley was playing for you. It was raining bricks and stones then. Few fights in the ground and some carnage in the pub beforehand.

Certainly did. After about 10 minutes play, one abiding memory I have was stood on one of the low terraces on the railway side towards the "non end", saw a (for Reading) a tidy looking set of lads coming up the steps leading from the turnstyles, a good 40 - 50 strong. They got to the top, looked around for a few seconds before one declared loudly "Aldershot aren't ******* here either" and off they trooped back down the steps and out of the ground. Arrived 3.10, departed 3.12.....