[Football] League Two Play-Off Final: Crawley Town vs Crewe Alexandra (Sunday, 13:00)

[London Irish]

To get to the nub of the issue, there is genuinely ZERO rivalry between Brighton and Crawley - yes I know Crawley fans tried to whip some up in the dim and distant early 90s but come on it lasted 5 minutes and one heavy defeat.

As recently as around 2012 ish (not sure exact date around then) the two teams were quite near each other in the league structure, Crawley were doing well in and around the league one playoffs and Brighton were in the Champ, not a huge number of places apart at all. But did anyone notice? Of course not -- because no one cares, it's as dumb as having a rivalry with Worthing and Whitehawk!

The reality is Crawley still very much has the infrastructure of a top non-league even tho they are going through a historical golden age for the club on pitch. The Albion have one if the best set-ups in the land - a rivalry between two such different clubs is largely impossible and, if ever attempted, very silly whichever set of fans brings it up!

On a 5 page thread, 7 people could be bothered to vote and I'm one of them! sums it up, no one cares

 

[Guinness Boy]

Yes, I felt pretty uncomfortable at the "We pay your benefits" chanting at Everton. A minority, yes, but a sizeable one. Probably the same people who like to sermonise on here about the need for compassion and equality.

I was at Everton. No one sang that.

 

[Flounce]

Nice merge mods, thanks

 

[Flounce]

I was at Everton. No one sang that.

In the 1970s they did

 

[Flounce]

To get to the nub of the issue, there is genuinely ZERO rivalry between Brighton and Crawley - yes I know Crawley fans tried to whip some up in the dim and distant early 90s but come on it lasted 5 minutes and one heavy defeat.

As recently as around 2012 ish (not sure exact date around then) the two teams were quite near each other in the league structure, Crawley were doing well in and around the league one playoffs and Brighton were in the Champ, not a huge number of places apart at all. But did anyone notice? Of course not -- because no one cares, it's as dumb as having a rivalry with Worthing and Whitehawk!

The reality is Crawley still very much has the infrastructure of a top non-league even tho they are going through a historical golden age for the club on pitch. The Albion have one if the best set-ups in the land - a rivalry between two such different clubs is largely impossible and, if ever attempted, very silly whichever set of fans brings it up!

On a 5 page thread, 7 people could be bothered to vote and I'm one of them! sums it up, no one cares

Poll has only just been merged onto this thread

 

[Krafty]

It looks like someone has added a poll to this thread. I’ll be supporting Crawley Town.

EDIT: Was there a poll on another thread?

 

[S.T.U cgull]

Crawley would have been little more than a selection of villages then. It was mainly farm land to serve London.
Two things changed all that - WW2 and LGW.
Crawley became a new town to rehouse Londoners, it’s the main reason there are lots of Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs etc families in Crawley. Croydon wouldn’t have been affected as much and was itself just a town.
The expansion of LGW in the 60s meant lots of work and immigration.
My dad’s family were all rehoused from Battersea to Crawley in the 50s, they’re all Chelsea, my generation are all Albion (thank god!)
I think the palace line is drawn at Horley.

Recall a work colleague telling me some years back that at the time of rehousing persons from London to Crawley - whole neighbourhoods moved in block. So you would have say Tilgate be a Battersea estate and thus Chelsea - whereas Pound Hill moved into from Plaistow - thus West Ham. (Cannot remember the actual examples!)
No idea if true or not, and more than likely no longer a thing given population change but interesting nonetheless

 

[London Irish]

Crawley, as they are Sussex, we don't really have any adverse history with them, and I'd like to see another Sussex club do well. They don't really have the potential to rise the leagues, but you never know, just look at Luton. Another Sussex club in the PL would be fun. I'm done with Palace, I'd prefer we had a proper local derby, and Crawley is the best bet for that.

Indeed - if Crawley transformed as a club, then the fun could potentially begin. But it remains a very remote prospect. Luton is historically a much bigger club. Crawley is more a Stevenage. It's League One for a few years kind of thing at best and then inevitable relegation thanks to the near-Conference facilities.

I'm quite sceptical the current ground can be developed to any significant degree. It's owned by the council for starters, so they like most councils they don't have a pot to piss in, so there would be a complicated arrangement of private money developing a community owned asset. And though they've done better than their very vociferous critics have thought they would, the US crypto owners of Crawley don't have anywhere near the money for a sizable development or a brand new stadium. Tho they have said the current ground can be developed, I'll believe it when I see it.

Coming back to the snobbery angle. I guess this is because Crawley is perceived to be a more working class town than Brighton.

But I dunno - I guess there is data out there that can look at the sociological class categories and compare. But In Crawley I see council estates and then more leafy areas, in Brighton I see the same. In Crawley, it's a "London overspill", well I have news for you about how Brighton population growth has happened. As for "we pay your benefits", Crawley has always had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the UK cos of Gatwick and its associated development, it's arguably a much more economically successful area than Brighton. I tend to think part of why some people see Crawley as a dump is the same dodgy reason why they see Luton as a dump, anywhere with a large south Asian population has to be. But again this is a very economically upwardly mobile community, not inconceivable that Brighton may have that in common with Crawley one day too.

 

[sully]

I was at Everton. No one sang that.

Sorry to correct you, but they certainly did.
Only a few and not for long, but I definitely heard it (and I’m not the person you responded to).

 

[portlock seagull]

I know / work with more Albion fans here than Palace?

Given Crawley had been non league at the time any cash raised from a ground share would have been welcomed.

Why would they have said no?

Talking years ago, of course now they’ve probably switched the JCL glory hunters

 

[portlock seagull]

loads of Albion fans in Crawley and your post is full of crap and bullshit

Not in the 90s so there. Of course now we’re on the up…

 

[portlock seagull]

I’m not sure that’s true - I go to Crawley games and chat to plenty Albion fans there. I remember for many years I had to send my little cheque off to the Brighton Supporters Club and it was to an address in Crawley!

Creepy’s always been good for employment, entirely different matter old boy. That and an airport so you can get away from fast as another poster pointed out

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Recall a work colleague telling me some years back that at the time of rehousing persons from London to Crawley - whole neighbourhoods moved in block. So you would have say Tilgate be a Battersea estate and thus Chelsea - whereas Pound Hill moved into from Plaistow - thus West Ham. (Cannot remember the actual examples!)
No idea if true or not, and more than likely no longer a thing given population change but interesting nonetheless

When I was going to school there in the eighties there were definitely a lot of chelsea and West Ham fans. Not sure they went to specific areas, but pretty sure there was more movement form the inner areas of London than the dulller suburbs Palace support is drawn from.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Sorry to correct you, but they certainly did.
Only a few and not for long, but I definitely heard it (and I’m not the person you responded to).

Must have been top tier then. Regulars were bottom tier in front of the post and we know better.

Poor form really.

 

[pigmanovich]

I was at Everton. No one sang that.

They did, three youths right behind me (bottom tier). And I reported them to the club.

 

[Guinness Boy]

They did, three youths right behind me (bottom tier). And I reported them to the club.

A whole three people? #PrayForTheScousers

 

[pigmanovich]

A whole three people? #PrayForTheScousers

Well, they led the chant. But sure, it wasn't taken up by most of us, otherwise you would have heard it. Still unseemly!

Edit: Worth adding it's not the scousers I was upset for, it was my own sensibilities that were offended.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Recall a work colleague telling me some years back that at the time of rehousing persons from London to Crawley - whole neighbourhoods moved in block. So you would have say Tilgate be a Battersea estate and thus Chelsea - whereas Pound Hill moved into from Plaistow - thus West Ham. (Cannot remember the actual examples!)
No idea if true or not, and more than likely no longer a thing given population change but interesting nonetheless

In the early 80s Hyde Drive (Ifield) was literally just Londoners, they used to walk round town like their shit didn’t stink with their flash trainers and Tachini tracksuits which meant all the local girls fancied them while we skulked around dressed like Rodney Trotter from series one.
Fed up with this we marched over to Ifield to give them a good hiding. What a surprise, we got ran all over the place! We learned to live in relative harmony after that and the local lads started washing their hair and wearing some decent clobber.

 

[Wardy's twin]

I was at Everton. No one sang that.

Unfortunately they did GB though not many , ironically it was mainly young kids (16+ ) who probably pay no tax, NI or make any contribution to the state coffers....

 

[BrianB]

It would have made my old friend Mike Dobie RIP happy ....