The 10 greatest rivalries in sport history
Roar Guru By Jason Cave, 23 May 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
With State of Origin Rugby League fever now upon us, the question is whether NSW v Qld is the best rivalry in Australian sports? I’d say it’s possibly no.1 or 2, depending on your opinion.
But where does it rank alongside team rivalries such as Australia v England, Australia v New Zealand, USA v Canada, and individual rivalries such as Norman v Faldo, Navratilova v Evert, Ali v Frazier?
Here I rated my top 10 Sports Rivalries-in Australia and overseas, of all time.
1. Australia v England – cricket
2. Wallabies v All Blacks – rugby union
3. New South Wales v Queensland-rugby league
4. Carlton v Collingwood – AFL
5. Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier – boxing
6. Martina Navratilova v Chris Evert – tennis
7. Manchester United v Liverpool – football
8. USA v Canada – ice hockey
9. Greg Norman v Nick Faldo – golf
10. Barcelona v Real Madrid – football
Special mentions include:
Ayrton Senna v Alain Prost – Formula 1
Celtic v Rangers – football
England v Germany – football
England v Scotland – rugby union
What do you think is the top 10 rivalries in all sport-team or individual, of all time?
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May 23rd 2008 @ 9:06am
Spiro Zavos said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:06am | Report comment
I think the netball rivalry between Australia and NZ would come in just under the State of Origin, in an Australian – other rivalry list.These teams have contested the World Championship finals for ab out 20 years, and the close scoring nature of netball means that most of the finals have been nail-biting affairs.
May 23rd 2008 @ 9:32am
Jerry said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:32am | Report comment
Lakers v Celtics in basketball is a great rivalry. They’ve met 10 times in the NBA finals and with both leading their conference finals currently, stand a good chance of meeting again this year.
I’d also say that the All Black/Springbok rivalry is probably greater than the All Black/Wallaby one from a New Zealand point of view, though it must be said the Wallaby rivalry has grown far more intense and important in the last 10-20 years or so (and it must also be said that the AB/Bok rivalry has been fairly one sided since the Boks were readmitted in 92).
May 23rd 2008 @ 9:44am
Nixon Gill said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:44am | Report comment
Ask any Englishman and he’ll say England V Germany in football, I was lucky enough to be in a pub in Fulham in 2001 to see England beat Germany 5-1, it put an State of Origin pub atmosphere to shame…. But then the English do know how to celebrate a victory… when they finally get one…..
May 23rd 2008 @ 9:52am
Hatchet said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:52am | Report comment
Jason,
This is very much an Australia – centric view. In football their are some well developed rivalries:
Boca Juniors / River Plate.
Inter / AC Milan
Arsenal / Tottenham
Man U / City etc
I don’t have a great knowledge of american sports but the Yankees / Dodgers in the early 20th century was pretty intense.
May 23rd 2008 @ 10:01am
The Substitute said | May 23rd 2008 @ 10:01am | Report comment
For a global list, you have got to include Michigan-Ohio State in college football and Boca Juniors-River Plate in Argentina football. Yankees-Red Sox is probably up there too.
May 23rd 2008 @ 10:02am
mart said | May 23rd 2008 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Surely Spiro Zavos versus Stephen Jones should make the list somewhere in the top 10 ?
May 23rd 2008 @ 12:29pm
sheek said | May 23rd 2008 @ 12:29pm | Report comment
How could you leave out the Harlem Globetrotters & Washington Generals?!
May 23rd 2008 @ 1:00pm
Jarryd said | May 23rd 2008 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
very much an australian list! carlton vs collingwood does not come close to a celtic v rangers or manu vs man city rivalry.. manu vs city would also be bigger than manu v liverpool
May 23rd 2008 @ 1:02pm
Paul said | May 23rd 2008 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
Coming up with a list of great rivalries in sport is a very difficult task. Different people have suggested various rivalries around the world. Others have suggested that the list is Australia centric. It is an extremely subjective process. As far as rivalries in world sport are concerned I don’t think that the Wallbies vs All Blacks would rate a mention, but it is very high for Australians. Likewise, I would debate the Canada vs USA ice hockey rivalry and say that the Canadians see Canada vs Russia as a more important rivalry (after having lived in Canada).
It would thus be better to have a list purely for Australian interests and a separate list for world rivalries not involving Australians. It’s the only way to remain objective.
May 23rd 2008 @ 1:15pm
Darryl said | May 23rd 2008 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
I think England vs Germany in any sport, Manly vs anyone in the NRL, NSW vs anyone in Aus state cricket and Cantebury vs Aukland in NZ rugby.
I like the new developments in swimming too with Aus vs the USA in 4×100 FS relay.
Sampras vs Agassi, Federer vs Nadal.
Nice one on Zavos vs Jones – that gave me a great laugh!!