EARLIER in the week we saw NSW heartbreakingly defeated for the seventh year in a row in rugby league’s biggest on-field rivalry, the State of Origin.
I am sure Blues’ supporters are well and truly used to the bragging rights our northern rivals have employed since 2005.
But it seems that at every level of sport, rivalries are just part of the deal.
In professional sport we see these sorts of competitions unite fans and nations.
We wear our scarves and beanies proudly and we all become experts in the sports various sports that we watch.
But even a little closer to home, this weekend St Alberts and Robb College will battle it out on the rugby field in one of the University of New England’s biggest sporting rivalries.
This afternoon, both colleges will field an all-female rugby team in their annual ‘Chugby for Charity’ event.
Both Albies and Robb rugby teams will then battle it out tomorrow afternoon at Bellevue Oval.
When I have spoken to students at either college, the first thing they say about the games this weekend is that it is a rivalry that is steeped in tradition.
It is often these traditions that bring passion to our own sport and the sports that we support.
Yes, sometimes things get a little out of hand, like the 2011 riots in Vancouver following the Canuck’s loss to Boston in ice hockey.
But generally, the rivalries in sport tend to be healthy ones.
The divide that is created by these rivalries, tends to do more to unite us though.
You only have to look around your own office, home or group of friends to see the joy and frustration that tsport brings.
These clashes of sporting teams brings people together in a way that only sport can.
It is enough to receive a call from my brother once a week to remind me exactly where the Roosters are placed on the ladder.
It is even enough that my biggest rivals in my own sport have somehow become some of my greatest friends.
The nature of sport is that there can only be one winner, but often the joy of sport is not in being victorious alone.
In saying that, no matter how many times NSW fall victim to the Maroons, there has been little joy in listening to those north of the border for the last seven years reminding us that a Blues’ victory is merely a distant memory.
I’d be interested to hear of any other intense sporting rivalries around the area apart from Albies and Robb. I know of the Norths, Souths and Demon Knights rivalry in football, but there has to be others. Send your thoughts to the above email.