At the risk of sounding chauvinistic, the Canadian-Nordiques rivalry remains unavoidable in my eyes. Not only did it liven up my adolescence, at a time when I wrote articles for myself while dreaming of one day covering matches for La Presse, but it has too many tentacles to ignore it. It was a rivalry between two clubs, the reds and the blues, but also a war of breweries, Molson with the reds, and O’Keefe with the blues, who were fighting for the beer market in Quebec; a rivalry between two cities, Quebec and Montreal, the first wanting to prove to the second that it had the dimension of the second and that it could also play in the big leagues; a political rivalry, in a great period of nationalist identity ferment with, paradoxically, an owner in Quebec, Marcel Aubut, an ardent federalist, who nevertheless played on the nationalist fiber of his fans; and finally, a linguistic rivalry, between the French-speakers who wanted to use the sporting symbol to complete their emancipation and who also succeeded, under pressure from the Nordics, by driving out the English-speaking elite at the head of the Canadian to replace it with Ronald Corey and Serge Savard from 1982.
After the two teams tapped each other in an exhibition game, we were led to believe, a few days ago, that a rivalry was between the Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators. Also, every time CH faces the Toronto Maple Leafs, we hear the usual clichés about the uniqueness of Saturday night’s shocks. This is all very nice, but none of these scenarios comes close, in my opinion, to the rivalry between the Flannel and the Boston Bruins. Since the two organizations are at opposite stages of their development, the ambient animosity is currently on the back burner. But we feel that a spark would be enough to make the powder keg explode. The six playoff duels in the 2000s obviously contributed to this situation, not to mention the personalized matchups: McLaren-Zednik, Pacioretty-Chara, Marchand-Subban, Andrew Ference’s middle finger… Even Tim Thomas and Carey Price came to blows! Who in Quebec sincerely hates the Senators? Alright. What about the Bruins? So.
Canada–United States, in hockey. As much for men as for women. Since 2000, this rivalry has given us four World Junior Championship finals and seven Olympic finals. The golden goals of Sidney Crosby at the Vancouver Games and Marie-Philip Poulin at the Sochi Games left their mark. I also have a vivid memory of the final of the 2017 Junior Championship, played in Montreal. Thomas Chabot played 44 minutes in a shootout loss for the Canadiens. One of the best matches I have attended in person.
There is only one possible answer. I’m even surprised that people are asking this question. The best rivalry in professional sport is the one between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. From a sporting point of view, clasicos are always great spectacles. The tension is at its height, in the stands and on the field. Because winning a clasico is almost like getting your hands on a trophy. Madrid has won 102 official matches. Barcelona, 100. A Madrid-Barça also involves a clash of sporting philosophies. And that was never more true than during the years between José Mourinho’s Madrid and Pep Guardiola’s Barça, between 2010 and 2013. On the Madrid side, Mourinho’s pragmatism. On the Catalan side, Guardiola’s tiki-taka. In addition to featuring Cristiano Ronaldo against Lionel Messi, both in the prime of their lives. And all this is without mentioning the socio-political context which opposes the two clubs. Real Madrid is Spanish nationalism. FC Barcelona represents in many ways Catalan identity, as well as its sovereignist movement. Hence the motto Més que un club – more than a club, in Catalan. Both clubs are among the richest in the world. These are the two sports teams most followed on social networks internationally. All this, and more, is in the air when the two face off. That’s good, there will be a clasico soon: on October 29, at Barça’s Camp Nou.
We forget it, but there was a time when a game between the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens caused more than a shrug of the shoulders. Of course this rivalry will never take away from those with the Bruins or the Nordiques, but between 2013 and 2015, things were brewing along the 417. We remember Lars Eller left in a pool of his blood by a check leading Eric Gryba in the playoffs in 2013. Then Senators coach Paul MacLean who accused Raphael Diaz for his suicide pass leaving the zone. Then Brandon Prust who called MacLean a “big, bulging-eyed walrus” before wishing that Gryba would not be suspended, certainly to settle the matter himself. With this slow evolution towards P. K. Subban’s ax kick on Mark Stone’s wrist in 2015, still in the playoffs. Good times for everyone, except obviously for Mark Stone and Lars Eller.
Of course, I could respond with some classics, like Cowboys-Steelers, Canadien-Nordiques or even Cowboys-Niners, so many rivalries which have already filled my daily life. But of all the rivalries, none has been as fierce as the one between the Montreal Impact and the Cleveland Crunch in the world of indoor soccer. As an expert in indoor soccer – the purest form of soccer, as purists know – I witnessed these classic battles on the hallowed mat of the Molson Center at the turn of the 2000s. How many of these matches ended in tears, and in double digits on the board, in the middle of clever three-point goals or balls bouncing on the boards, in front of hundreds of fans stunned by the immensity of this rivalry which has nothing left on the ground? Among other things, no one has forgotten the series of the 1999-2000 season, where the Crunch, galvanized by emotion, was able to eliminate the Impact with two victories of 21-7 and 21-11. Such pure and raw emotion, we will never see that again.
What do you think is or was the best rivalry in sports and why?
