Wire have 2 good seasons and suddenly they are bigger than Saints (4 times SL champions, 10 times grand finalists)? A fantastic club such as Saints does not become a 'spent force' overnight because of 1 bad season (and trust me, they still have every chance of reaching the grand final AGAIN).

Obsessively so, like they need a big rival to be considered a top team.

Wigan v Saints has a long history, Wigan v Wire will never match it.

If winning the Championship a few more times then yourselves and in more recent times to boot qualifies us as a complete nothing club then............Shweet.

well after watching the games over the weekend, the best derby game at this magic weekend was the hull derby and the cas v wakey derby, two excellent and exciting games, even if my own team did lose

Aside from WTW getting one over on Cas, I really enjoyed the Salford v Hudds game; pleasant surprise, since it was one of the games I expected to be crap.

The Hull game was also a cracker.

For me a Derby goes deeper than "who're the local club nearest to us that play on our level". To me, a Derby is more about passion for your town and an historic dislike/hatred for another town close by.
It's more than "We've beaten you five times in the last three yeas", but more about how lucky/talented one team were in a 1947 game between the two towns, or even deeper historic reasons. For example, Leigh will always regard Wigan as our Derby side for a purely historic reason. We may not like Widnes much, and we share our ground with Swinton, but neither are considered our rivals.

For this reason, surely Saints v Wigan (why does everyone hate them anyway, with Wire joining in the act....) is the only real derby on this side of the Peninnes.

(Yes, before anyone points it out, I'm aware of the lack of sporting competativeness between us and Wigan now, thank you very much!

Wakefield v Cas was actually a wretched affair, dropped ball/penalty -> try over and over again doesn't make it good. Lots of tries maybe, but that says more about the standard of defence on show than anything.

Spot on... And i think that many Wigan fans would regard a game against Leigh as a more passionate affair than a game against Warrington for those historical reasons.

BTW, we love it that other fans hate us... Just a shame that when players like Sam score a try such as he did yesterday, "fans" from other clubs boo him. I would always, and did yesterday, applaud good rugby from other teams.

I see Cleck Bulls isn't talking up the Bradford/Leeds derby as an amazing sporting contest at the moment!

I'm under no illusions on our position in the derby situation unlike idiots like Wirethunder, Saints v Wigan will always be the derby unless something drastic happens. But like the Wigan fans who love it when they hear the hatred for their club i love im equal measure those that look to belittle Wire.
We are now the best run club in superleague, we make more profit than even the mighty Wigan, we are putting it together on all levels and we will be a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future, whether we produce our own or buy is immaterial. Mock away, i'm comfortable knowing where we are going, that our derby is Widnes and that my favourite games are v Wigan.

Are you sure if that is still correct? A couple of years ago Wigan didn't make any money what-so-ever from main shirt sponsor but now they do.

Who did Leigh used to traditionally play on Good Friday?

Wigan played Saints, Wire played Widnes, Salford played Swinton so who did Leigh play? Oldham would have played Rochdale I presume.

I don't think you will find that you are being mocked Yed, but some of your mates have a very odd way of looking at things. For me a "Derby" is about the history and the passion, not about whether the teams are evenly matched thats cyclical in sport, look at our 2003 match against Saints, as an example. Or necessarrily the closest geographically. The big footballing "Derby" in Spain is Madrid and Barca, and thats purely political.

Salford v Huddersfield, fierce local rivalry.

well the best derby of the magic weekend was the hull one imo. bulls and leeds was not entertaining as usual. wigan and saints was terrible however cas and wakey was good.