Athletes at war: what creates a rivalry?
Taylor Schablaske | Contributing Writer
The oldest rivalry in all of college football is between two teams you’ve probably never heard of. The Lehigh University and Lafayette College football teams have been playing each other since 1884, for a total of 145 matchups. Lafayette leads the all-time series with 77 wins compared to 67 for Lehigh, and they have also tied five times.
Rivalries in sports are not made overnight; they must be shaped over time under a variety of conditions and specific factors. The factors, sometimes naturally occur but are often times created by the fans or media.
The biggest rivalries usually consist of competitive if not demeaning remarks, behaviors and actions against opponent’s fans (and sometimes athletes), the locations or stadiums of the opponent’s team and prior games involving both teams. Unfortunately, some rivalries go beyond the game and become harmful toward an opponent and their fans with actions that can and have ranged from small pranks to chargeable crimes. Rivalries can be costly and have even resulted in all out brawls among parents and players from youth leagues to the professionals.
Mark Wilson, a former high school football player whose team was a part of an intense high school rivalry, explained their tradition.
“When I was playing, we would go to the rival high school’s field the night before the game and spray paint our logo all over their field,” he said. “It was just part of the rivalry, we never thought twice about it.”
In the case of the long-standing Au- burn vs. Alabama universities football rivalry, one Alabama fan went as far as poisoning two historic oak trees on the Auburn campus. Harvey Updyke, the man who was charged with poisoning (and eventually killing) the trees, was ordered to pay Auburn $796,731 in restitution.
Not all team rivalries call for such hooliganism. The location of each team can play a major role in the development of rivalries.
Former Henderson State football player Clint Wilton experienced a local rivalry in the heart of the football-crazed
South as a part of the “Battle of the Ravine.” Crosstown rivals, Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist, have faced each other since 1885.
“Their stadium is literally across the street from ours. It’s crazy how the town can change who it’s behind simply by who’ s more dominant, ” Wilton said. “There’s nothing like it. I’ve seen absolute lunacy at times, which in turn makes it all the more great.”
Even though rivalries can build excitement for the players, sometimes rivalries result in felonies, crimes and at the their worst, violence.
“There was a period of time where they had to stop playing the game because it was getting too violent amongst the fans, ” Wilton said. “Henderson State guys even kidnapped their homecoming queen years ago.”
For the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders, who have been rivals since 1970 and battle for Bay-area bragging rights, the rivalry is much more fan-related, as the teams have only played each other in the regular season 12 times.
Lifelong 49ers fan and season ticket holder Eric Rowe understands how this rivalry has affected both sets of fans.
“It’s the battle of the Bay: two teams that hate each other and two sets of fans that hate each other even more,” Rowe said. “I’ve seen plenty of fights. It’s just the nature of the rivalry, and fans are passionate about their teams and their city that they represent.”
Sometimes the athletes are not involved in the rivalry, but there are certainly instances in which the players genuinely dislike the opponent. If games have turned ugly in the past, teams might be more inclined to start up a rivalry with a team based on foul play or hard feelings about past losses.
Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, play a rivalry game known as the “Holy War” due to the religious affiliations of both schools.
Since being a part of the same conference from 1922 to 2010, the two teams have played with a conference championship on the line in several meetings, with Utah winning 24 championships and BYU winning 23.
Former BYU quarterback Max Hall stated in a postgame press conference: “I don’t like Utah. In fact I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything.“
Most players will be a bit more righteous in their statements, but the long standing tension between the two teams still fuels them to play their absolute best against each other.
“I remember watching this game as a kid, and it was always crazy,” said cur- rent BYU wide receiver Brett Thompson. “It definitely adds to the intensity of the game as a player, having seen so many games between them growing up. We all know people who go there, and they all know people who go here.”
Rivalries are what make sports entertaining. They add passion, intensity, excitement and most importantly bragging rights. After all, what is better than being able to say your team is best? At least for a year, that is…