Well according to the telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... wba115.xml

Pity we wont be playing them anytime soon

Well thats one thing us and them down the road can agree on.

Is Mick McCarthy singing an aria?

The comments from Mackems and bar codes below in that article are fooking hilarious

They really do think they are massive, especially the one who takes offense to it being called 'the also rans derby' It's a spot on description of the game, when was the last time they contested a real big game? The play offs in 1990 is the only one I can remember maybe the one when Gullit was sacked but in terms of league positions it was still played between two also rans. Even the game on Saturday is totally meaningless, yet they are deluded enough to believe the whole world will be watching and actually give a shite.

You don't need 50,000 fans to have fierce rivalry and you don't get much more fierce than between Pools and Darlo. The ignorance and total missing of the point of the article is laughable.

This one for example;

"Posted by Duncan on April 15, 2008 11:40 AM
Report this comment

Hee hee hee!

Newcastle v Sunderland - an also ran derby.

Everton v Liverpool - an also ran derby.

Arsenal v Tottenham - an also ran derby.

Man Utd v Man City - an also ran derby.

Real football fans will find this piece hilarious."

No Mr Premiership knobjockey REAL football fans actually understand where it's coming from......

Our rivalry will mean nothing in a few years when we are in the championship I do hope you can match our stadium capacity one day to keep our rivalry alive Come on ior .. or

I really wish I could take you seriously

Would that be your stadium capacity of 10,000 which it actually is or how many seats are in your soulless folly?

Have you actually ever been to the White Elephant Mr Sussex as you appear to be the only Loid who remains boastful about the place?

I preferred feethams but when up in darlo the ground is easy for me Good times are just around the corner

Whats the choice of drug/substance that keeps you high??

Smack, Coke, Glue, Turps, Gas???

Darlows future is built on a Roman road, there are no corners at all!!

The closeness between Pools and Darlo, whether it be town size, footballing history (wins in head to heads, wins against other teams, average attendances, or anything else) is really remarkable and I'm sure lends fuel to the fire of rivalry.

Only yesterday I was looking at town populations and came across this:

2001 populations of towns (actual towns as opposed to local authority areas):

Grimsby 87,574
Darlington 86,082
Hartlepool 86,075
Lincoln 85,963

Yes, Darlo is bigger than Hartlepool ... by SEVEN people!

Similarly, the four smallest unitary authorities (smallest first) are Rutland, Hartlepool, Darlington, and Bracknell Forest

Just of passing interest, the only towns smaller than Hartlepool and Darlo with Football League clubs are Lincoln, Birkenhead, Wigan, Chester, Burnley, Scunthorpe, Carlisle, Barnsley, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Doncaster, Crewe, Shrewsbury, Bury, Hereford, Morecambe, Wrexham, Yeovil, Accrington, and Milton Keynes.

So we are both very much small town clubs.

Wigan eh??

Bugger.....

Well according to the 2006 one which I have just checked...

Darlington is 99,475
Hartlepool is 90,290.

Bzzzztttttt - wrong answer.
An easy mistake to make but a mistake nonetheless.

Those are the populations of the unitary authorities, not the towns.
Go and stand in the corner and wear your dunce's cap for not reading correctly.
Mind you, almost nobody on the board reads what's actually written, so why should you.

Milton Keynes has a population of 184,000, making it more than twice the size of Hartlepool.

Milwall v West ham is a frightening prospect

Almost as much as swansea/Cardiff

Bzzzzttttt. Wrong again.
Here we go again. *sigh*

The URBAN AREA of Milton Keynes does indeed have a large population: 218K in fact, as it covers a shitload of other boroughs.

Milton Keynes TOWN, however, is home to a mere 31,442 mortals.

What area is Milton Keynes town?

Birkenhead then ? Mr head

Milton Keynes is the 5th largest TOWN in England and has a population of 184,506 making it more than twice the size of Hartlepool which has a population of 90,240.

I still can't see what the area of Milton Keynes town has got to do with anything at all.

surely Doncaster isn't smaller than Hartlepool? It's hyowge. And I'm on about the town.

At the 2001 census the population of Donny was 286,866.

I'm just not getting through am I.

Doncaster metropolitan district had 286k inhabitants in 2001, yes, no problem.
This district includes Doncaster but also towns like Armthorpe, Thorne, Moorends, Hatfield, Edenthorpe, Barnaby Dun, Adwick-le-Street, and probably even Tickhill for all I know.

The metropolitan district just so happens to have been given the same name as the town at its centre, which has a population smaller than that of Hartlepool.
"According to the 2001 census the urban sub-area of Doncaster had a population of 67,977"


To help get my point home, the 2001 census shows Sedgefield local authority has a population of some 87 thousand. Now no one in their right mind is going to claim the town of Sedgefield has a population that big, are they?



Well, on the bunker they might.

I'm sorry mate but there is no such place as Doncaster town. Where does this Doncaster town start and finish?
Doncaster is like most other places.............a collection of former towns/villages/hamlets..........just like Hartlepool is. Is Seaton Carew in Hartlepool?
As for Tickhill ...........it is Tickhill, Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
Maybe in years gone by the centre of Doncaster was the only place to be named as such, but not any more.
Doncaster Borough is probably what you are referring to, but that is now Doncaster Metropolitan Borough. Doncaster has expanded. it is as simple as that.

What I do not understand about Mr Head's research is it's relevance.

Even if what he says is true about the quoted populations being the core population, it's out of context with the point he is seems to be trying to make which is that Pools and Darlo have similar sized catchment areas.

Hartlepool and Darlington don't both only have 86,000 people in their catchment area and MK Dons and Donny certainly don't only have catchment areas of 31,000 and 68,000 fans respectively!

It has no relevance at all. All I was trying to do was point out similarities that make the rivalry more striking. If Darlo was a megalopolis I doubt we'd have much rivalry with them. It was others who started bitching about my figures!

Anyway, enough of these arguments. I know the difference between a town and a local authority area even if no one else does.

You must also be the only person who cares too!