Football's Greatest Rivalries (Part 2)

Link to Part 1:   http://bit.ly/1LTpY3k

Football rivalries are born out of different situations. Sometimes, it's just out of competition. Other times, more complicated geographical or even ethnic or political tensions lead to fierce rivalries. In this series, we are covering the biggest rivalries in world football.

The Milan Derby (Derby Della Madonnina) 
Many, many years ago, the two Milanese giants, AC and Inter, were the same club. The split happened in 1908. The Milan Football and Cricket club, today known as AC Milan, came first. But after a few members of the club were angered when their Swiss friend wasn't allowed to play for AC, they left the club and decided to create another club in Milan that would be beyond national biases and be 'international' in spirit. The result? F.C. Internazionale Milano or Inter Milan. This coincided with a growing divide among the people of Milan, some of whom wanted to stick to an Italian nationalist ideology, while others preferred a more open, international way of thought. 

Over the past century, the rivalry has often gone on to extreme levels, with reported incidences of fan deaths during post match fights. In recent years, several pacts and peace treaties initiated by the city police have led to the fan fights restrained to chants and banners on the stands. When police confiscated banners from the AC Milan fans in a recent derby, Inter fans removed their banners in solidarity.

At the height of Italian football's power, AC and Inter regularly contested for national and continental glory. These days, the derby might not make big that big a splash in international football anymore but continues to be the most important day of the year in Milan. 

Boca Juniors vs River Plate (Superclásico)
Both Boca Juniors and River Plate originated from the same part of Buenos Aires, La Boca. But shortly afterwards, River moved to the affluent district of Núñez. This became an issue of division, Boca quickly becoming known as the working man's club and River, the club for the upper class. That class divide formed the basis for a very fiery rivalry over the past century.
River fans are quick to use slurs about Boca fans and their supposed lower class roots, using chants that say Boca's stadium smells like pigs.

The most heated incident during the rivalry is the famous Puerta 12 Tragedy. On the 23rd of July in 1968, after a match at River's El Monumental stadium, seventy one fans were killed in a crush at Gate 12. 
Both sets of fans have blamed the other group. Boca fans claim it happened because River fans had arrived at the Boca section, causing a stampede. River fans claim that it happened because Boca fans threw burning banners at the River section, causing the River fans to rush out and hence cause a stampede.
Tensions have somewhat cooled in recent years but the uniquely complicated political scenario of Latin America has meant the rivalry has never gotten dull.

Rayaan Ibtesham Chowdhury is an aging man with pent-up years of teenage angst who loves to complain about most things while listening to blues guitar tracks. Ask him to stop writing at rayaansmail@gmail.com