Quote:Bournemouth v Southampton is a relatively 'friendly' rivalry. That's mainly because for a long, long time Bournemouth were in the lower leagues so never really posed a threat to Southampton. Brighton is about 70 miles from Southampton and about 100 miles from Bournemouth. The biggest rivalry on the South Coast is Southampton v Portsmouth. Portsmouth have fallen from grace somewhat, but when they play each other it gets really violent. Fans of the away team have been known to only be allowed to enter the stadium via official club transport and have a police escort in and out of the respective cities. They also bring those games forward to a 12pm kick off in favour of the traditional 3pm kick off, that way the fans don't have time to spend all day in the pub.

 

OK ... so when I was watching Bournemouth play Stoke on May 6 a few Saturdays ago at Bournemouth, there was a big cheer when Stoke scored.  I initially thought the Stoke fans traveled down for the game as part of their vacation. THEN A LOUD CHANT CAME ACROSS THE AUDIO .... the fans were singing "When the Saints Come Marching In" ...... I could only come to the conclusion that the Southampton fans made the 70 mile trip to watch the game since their away match vs Liverpool was scheduled for Sunday May7.  ---- It was crazy ... and LOUD !!

---