I am a student at Loughborough University working in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts, to help research rivalries in the English Football League. The Know Rivalry project is seeking to learn more about the psychological, cultural and commercial effects of football rivalries in the UK.

The views of Hartlepool fans could be used to support the marketing and broadcasting of the club, especially in the build-up to games against rivals. At the moment we're focusing on who you view as your rivals in League 2 and above, so Darlington couldn't be selected as a rival for example. However, your views on other EFL clubs would be recognised and provide data on what games Hartlepool fans look forward to most.

As an AFC Wimbledon fan, I am pleased to have been given the task of collecting data on League 2 clubs this season and it would be greatly appreciated if you could share your views using the following link: https://umassamherst.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3FdJ8eN2EgFCfCB?collID=10&grpID=1424

Feel free to ask any questions.
Thanks, Jude.

Darlington will always be Hartlepool's one and only rival.

Not sure about Darlington mind, seem a bit barmy whenever they visit Spennymoor!

We're still the biggest name in Co Durham however you look at it.

Sorry to disappoint you Mr Sussex, but Hartlepool has been back in County Durham since 1996 when Cleveland County was euthanised.
It’s a CountyBorough in effect within the County of Durham.
The Tees Valley name is just branding bollocks, a loose confederation for the convenient and opportunistic.

I'd need to speak to my historian friends before i judged on our land..even Steve Strange and the New Romantics were around before 96 Snowy?

Hartlepool had a Royal Charter from King John, so we spent a fair old bit of time in the County apart from being kidnapped by Cleveland from 1974 to 1996.

for me until my dying breath the town has always been in county durham and will remain so no matter what the suits think up. had this conversation with a bloke i bought a car off on sunday who lived a few miles south of southport. same age as me and refuses point blant to put merseyside on his address as its still lancashire to him even though he is an evertonian.

Southport …they despise the word Merseyside and they give you a look as though they’ve put their finger through the toilet paper.

And Sunderland and South Shields and Gateshead are in County Durham and always have been.

Southport isn't part of Merseyside? Absolutely loaded with Liverpool fans last time I checked!

Oh yes it is….they were not impressed at the time they were pulled into the Merseyside Metropolitan area and they still aren’t impressed.

the only thing southport residents have in common with merseyside is that if they are into football they support everton or liverpool. they only attend haig avenue for a laugh or piss take. seems funny though that most sound like posh scousers rather than lancastrians who they wish to be.