With the festive season underway, the age old traditions that make Christmas such a special time are followed as they always have been.
However one tradition was left by the wayside in the UK back in 1996 with the onset of Super League – and that was the Boxing Day derby.
The halfway point of the old winter season and the biggest game in the rugby league championship calendar was due to take place on Boxing Day.
Hull FC would play Hull KR, Widnes would play Warrington and so on. But there was one game, the one, the red V against the cherry and white. The derby – St Helens versus Wigan.
Kids whose excitement had reached fever pitch on Christmas eve and Christmas Day would have to keep the butterflies fluttering for another 24 hours with the prospect of meeting the old enemy on the packed terraces of either Knowsley Road or Central Park.
The build up to 3 o’clock on a grey and freezing afternoon would be buzzing, the atmosphere electric. Kids stuffed senseless with chocolate from their selection boxes on a sugar rush and adrenalin high at the prospect of battle to come, adults floating in the air after the yuletide libation and keeping warm with a nip from the hip flask and then the kick off.
The two towns border each other, just 10 miles from town hall to town hall, and are separated by Billinge Lump, an old Viking warning beacon and two very different accents.
This was the game that brought out the best in the local lads on either side, who had grown up steeped in the folklore of this fiercest of rivalries. Some of them were average squad players, but come Boxing Day and suddenly they were a foot taller, could run faster and longer and would smash into the opposing line like their lives depended on it.
Some of the greatest names in rugby league graced the fixture – from Vince Karalius, Alex Murphy, Tom Van Vollenhoven, Eric Ashton, Billy Boston and Brian McTigue of the golden generation. Then there were the likes of Harry Pinner, Neil Holding, Ellery Hanley, Andy Gregory, Martin Offiah and even the current coaches of both sides Keiron Cunningham and Shaun Wane.
But there have also been some great Aussie and Kiwi players that have been inducted into the mysteries and culture of the ‘old firm’, the likes of Mal Meninga, Fatty Vautin, Jarrod McCracken, Shane Cooper, Brett Kenny, Graeme West, Dean Bell, Chicka Ferguson all know what Christmas used to mean and many, many more.
Of course none of the rivalry has diminished since the start of Super League and plenty of modern greats have donned the V and hoops of these two grand old clubs. Indeed they still meet every Good Friday.
However the anticipation and enjoyment of Boxing day has been consigned to the nostalgia of Christmas past and I for one will always look back with great affection to the best match of the year!
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