The football rivalries that never were.

It's not disrespectful, it's factual. Support isn't the only qualifier. Nor is being a power three hundred ******* years ago.

They are frankly nobody. It is not a rivalry of note. Full stop.

but because one set of fans are catholic and the other protestant, one set of fans believe that Ireland should be united and the other that NI should remain a part of the union.

Because one set of fans is predominately Catholic and the other is anti-Catholic, if you're wanting to talk about the religious aspect. If it was straight-up Catholics vs Protestants I'm on the wrong side (although, I wouldn't bother watching it, let alone support one of the sides, if that was the case).

I was actually thinking about you when I wrote that and I knew someone would say something about it.

John Thompson, Bertie Peacock, Jock Stein, Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain, Henrik Larsson and yourself are probably the only protestant fans Celtic really have.

It's without a shadow of a doubt, the most bitter rivalry in the world, no other rivalry comes close, none.

Are you having a laugh?

Right, first of all, Kenny Dalglish started out a Rangers fan and Jock Stein came from a Rangers family but CGAF about bigotry (and thank God for that) so your post is full of fallacies as it is. Add into the fact that in the Lisbon Lions alone there were 5 Protestants and that in a cup final in the 80s (maybe even 1980 SC Final) the Protestants outnumbered the Catholics in the team and we see you're really onto a loser. If we even ignore the allegiances of players (who will naturally support the team they play for) and go for your average Joe, I know of several Protestant Celtic fans that aren't me.

Rangers set themselves up as the team exclusively for Protestants, that doesn't mean they have a monopoly on our support

When I become dictator I will force Scotland to become independent. That will stop the squabbling between fans of the EPL v fans of the SPL.

Amusing that Milan - Inter is equated with Real - Barcelona. I'd say the most typifying derby in Italy is Roma v Lazio.

Sometimes the biggest rivalries are of lower quality, such as Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb, or River Plate and Boca.

I wasn't about to name every protestant fan Celtic have had over the years, give me a break - an overwhelming majority of Celtic fans are still catholic(or from catholic background) though.

When I become dictator I will force Scotland to become independent. That will stop the squabbling between fans of the EPL v fans of the SPL.

Amusing that Milan - Inter is equated with Real - Barcelona. I'd say the most typifying derby in Italy is Roma v Lazio.

Sometimes the biggest rivalries are of lower quality, such as Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb, or River Plate and Boca.

Yes, they are, but not all of them, not by a long shot. Being a Protestant Celtic fan is not contradictory, which is the point I was making.

I'll give you a break if you hit me with some stats.

Zagreb and Belgrade are in two different countries though, but I know what you mean.

Which is probably just as well. If them two meet in the UEFA Cup. Oh boy.

They were big rivals before Yugoslavia split up. Great shame that it did.

I never said it was contradictory, you're just a very small minority, that's all.

I was being sarcastic over the independence thing.

I live in Luton, they hate Watford, and vice versa... I don't understand this as we're not even in the same county... And its extreme HATE.

The OP was asking about his criteria for rivalries including "Teams who are of a similar quality - if two teams are local but are of vastly different quality, there isn't much sense being rivals"

and asked if any teams didn't fit with these criteria. I used Leeds and Man U as teams that they are (no longer) of similar quality but are still rivals. Think the swearing was a bit ott.