Quote Pemps="Pemps"
There does seem to be quite a vile rivalry between our 2 clubs sets of fans and it's one of the few games were there does seem to be isolated incidents of trouble. I'm not sure where this comes from because it doesn't really exist between Wigan and any other club.
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It's been like that for as long as I can remember, which surprises me, because apart from certain pockets like you get everywhere, Warrington is a reasonable area.
Warrington have, apart from a short spell in the 90s, always been our bogey team. We could not beat them for love nor money when I first got into the game, and the same has been true of late. The fiercest matches, for me, have never been the Wigan/Saints ones - they have been the Wigan/Warrington ones. They've been the closest games, they've been the dirtiest games, especially when people like Les Boyd and Paul Cullen played for them, and the results were never foregone conclusions. You can't say the same for Wigan/Saints Matches.
Then there's the Widnes situation. Warrington's traditional rivals have spent most of the last few years in the lower division, so who can Warrington hate now? Not St Helens, because they've been too good for them. No, they'll go for the team that they've half a chance of beating, and still have that 'aura' of being just that bit more well known than them. Winning as an underdog is a great feeling. Remember Murrayfield?
Irrespective of our current position as 'distinctly average', Wigan are still seen as the team everyone wants to stuff. People have long memories, and I've no doubt that people feel the same about St Helens and Leeds, and will do for the next 20 years, no matter how crap they become in that period.