To answer my own questions, over the years there have been teams I dislike for some reason - currently Palace are high on that list - but my dislike of Luton remains. As someone noted earlier, perhaps younger Hornets will not develop an abiding dislike of all things Luton, but those of us of more mature years will remember. I can't get overly excited by 'derby' games against QPR etc. I still want to beat them but I enjoy their supporters visiting us on this site. Apparently Wycombe fans dislike us. I've never been sure why. It must be galling for them that we don't care.
I'm not overly keen on them either - but they do have my sympathy over this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24105809 How long before his Watford connection starts the blame coming our way for his diving antics?
Ditching rivalry with L*t*n is not something you can vote on on a forum or suddenly dispel from your heart and new rivalries come about through some event or situation, not manufactured to suit. For me some of the best games ever were the 4-0 thrashing up at The Kennel in '97 (after 10 years of losses or, at best, draws) and the 94th minute equaliser at home when they bought down 6,000 fans. Stop hating L*t*n? NEVER. Maybe we'll not play them again for years but believe me, whenever we do, they or Watford fans who know the history will be looking forward to it for weeks. The passion is already being sucked out of the game by corporates intent on turning it into a global sponsor-friendly circus so please leave this small flicker of genuine venom alone.
I am with most that they will never stop being our rivals even though we are not likely to play them, unless the cup gods get aligned, for many many years. Again, as with most it's because of the beatings, having to be escorted to coaches and trains that I never travelled on and having Little Miss W_Y bullied at school by a few idiots. But my dislike is more based on the club and the foul toilet that is bandit central and not the fans generically as living in bandit country for over 30 years, I have a lot of scummer friends that I have a good laugh with. I was in my local last Friday when they were on the TV live and I took a bit of stick as I left (as normal) about 7.30 to avoid being in there whilst the game was on - but all very good natured. Personally I quite dislike QPHa as well as I have quite a few "incidents" down at The Steptoes as well over the years - so they will do you me in the meantime!
My one trip to the Kennel was pretty much incident free. The only place I've felt scared at a football match was at Elland Road and the Leeds fans weren't even directing their anger at us but their own manager/board!
Wouldn't be the 1-0 win there in the late 80s? when Glyn Hodges got the goal? My son & I got the Leeds supporters' bus down from the station - sat there in complete silence whilst the neanderthals gibbered threateningly around us. Then my son (aged around 6) got pushed off a barrier on to the ground - by a Leeds steward! Lovely place.....
Interestingly I'm reading Garry Nelson's book 'Left Foot in the Grave' at the moment - its about his time as the assistant player coach with Torquay United and I have just read Saturday 16th November when Torquay played L***n in the cup. Torquay lost 0-1 but Nelson's young son had been mascot so he took his family (wife and two young children) to the local McDonalds as a treat after the game. The dross of football supporters were in attendance and begun chanting 1-0 etc towards Nelson and his family. Now Nelson - who by all accounts is a thoroughly decent guy (the books a good read by the way) tries to joke with the scummers "yeah well done lads you deserved it"etc. But did they stop - did the heck - so in the end Garry and his family move upstairs only to be followed by the so called 'men' who carried on intimidating him and his family. Garry Nelson concludes "With supporters like these who needs enemies". I relate this story here because i had forgotten what a bunch of 'back side holes' they are and I've just been reminded by Garry Nelsons account of some of the treatment I and others I know have been subjected to by L***N and so I will change my view and agree I still hate them and will continue to do so. Interestingly too - its clear it isn't just Watford supporters who dislike L***n - judging from Mr Nelson and others I have spoken to over the years - most people do because of the behaviour of their supporters. They are in the same league as Millwall, Leeds and West Ham.
That's the one. I was with the Junior Hornets for that game and we were guests in their family area for the match. Unlike where our family area was along the front of the East Stand, there's was in one corner in the top tier. Unfortunately, we could see the main entrance to the stadium out of the windows in that corner, so saw the number that was gathered out there. As I was only a few months from my 16th birthday, I was one of the eldest children there. Not sure if any of the others saw what was going on but the adults there did try and keep most of the children away from the windows.
I thought QPR were the rivals,except when Brendan Rodgers moved to Reading even if that was personal.
this discussion has been going on for a while on Twitter and feelings are mixed but i have to agree with the 'you can't change your rivals' camp. It's actually more realistic to say...you can't choose a rival. A rival is historic, and for that reason, wherever they are...those up the road will always be our rivals. However, some might say more local London teams, like CP or QPR or even Reading are a good substitute, but they wouldn't see it that way...and in truth, neither would we, it would be manufactured, and could never work. So, we have to keep going with the rival that we have, despite never getting the chance to play them and hope that at some point we get drawn with them in some cup or other, just to refresh the memories
Years ago some West Ham fan wrote a book titled "An Irrational Hatred Of L*t*n." Nothing irrational at all. The story above about a family being terrorised in a McDonalds by scum thugs AFTER they've won sums them up. Kids and women wearing Watford scarves/shirts (admittedly not the brightest move but they have a right to) have been attacked near the dark Victorian alleyways around the dung heap they call a ground by groups of snarling 'men'. Hate them with a passion, laugh at their pitiful demise constantly and if we ever play them again I hope we give them a proper thrashing.
Very much this. For years many of their fans have been really dismissive and patronising of us when really and truly their club is not really any better. Palace are the same - I have them on a par.
It's a while since I've read it, but if I remember correctly from the Centenary Book, in the earliest derby matches when the team used to travel to the games by cart, stones were thrown at our players as they were getting in to/out of the cart by the L***n fans of the time.
It was not just one way - my father used to tell me that in the 30's, Watford supporters used to congregate in Garston and when the L*t*n coaches drove down from St Albans, they were stopped, the occupants turfed out and chased back up the St Albans Road with "sticks & stones", before the police arrived..... Jolly good!
Funny this, we don't meet the scum very often and they still hold this place in our affection. When I first started watching Watford our rivals, to me anyway, were Southend and Brentford, with that ghost in the background. When eventually we got to meet Luton all things became clear, always seeming to come off second best never helped. Now they are playing slightly higher than pub levle I still hate them unconditionally, but they are now a joke as well.
Funnily enough the only time I have felt frightened at the Vic was during a game against Brentford. Some serious fighting stated in the Rookery. Tis was before fans were segregated.
For me, it was against Arsenal in a 'friendly' - Ken Furphy's testimonial - in 1969. A reasonable crowd in attendance, around 15000 from memory, with the Rookery split 50:50 between the two sets of segregated fans. The police down the middle didn't/couldn't stop the friendly gooners from tossing bottles of acid into the Watford fans. I've disliked them ever since...
It seems that we all have our own memories. For me the most scary time was in Vicarage Road after a game against Liverpool. Clearly they were out to create violence and there was not a single PC in sight.
