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Is Boro a derby?

Is Arsenal v Luton as derby?

The distance between the clubs is almost the same as it is between Sunderland and Boro and like SAFC & Boro both clubs are not even in the same county.

How about Brentford v Reading they are closer to each other than Sunderland & Boro and they are both in the Home Counties?
Is Norwich- Ipswich a derby? even further away from each other and in different counties too.
 

Is Norwich- Ipswich a derby? even further away from each other and in different counties too.

Comments like this absolutely baffle me tbf.. for example Preston vs Liverpool wouldn’t be a derby due to the fact there’s loads of clubs in the North West.

There’s loads of clubs in and around London so using Luton & Arsenal as an example is daft, what about West Ham vs Spurs or Chelsea vs Spurs London derbies, but Spurs biggest rivalry is Arsenal? East Mids a region with 3 different counties and 3 “bigger” clubs, they share a rivalry but Leicester definitely the lesser thought of.

Ipswich vs Norwich is a derby because they share East Anglia together, two clubs representing two counties going against each other.

As I said previously, football is tribal, always will be.

Boro & Sunderland is only an extra 13 mile further than what Newcastle is, one of the biggest derbies in the country.
 
Culturally, Middlesbrough is a North East town, and anyone who has ever been there would know this. The biggest city near Middlesbrough is Sunderland, so, of course, it's a derby.

Even has its own wiki page, you dont get that for Preston - Liverpool or even Middlesbrough vs anyone in Yorkshire.

 
Where does the North East end and North Yorkshire begin? Genuine question by the way as a lot of sources say including Wikipedia (not always the most reliable) that Middlesbrough is a town in North Yorkshire.

I genuinely thought that Middlesbrough along with Whitby and Scarborough were in North Yorkshire??

I reckon Guisborough is where proper North Yorkshire starts, anything north of GUIs/Roseberry Topping is North East, not sure that’s factual because they’re Redcar & Cleveland but around that area they’re all wholly backs.

Middlesbrough is further North than Darlington.

Middlesbrough isn’t anything to do with Yorkshire other than whatever ceremonial purposes means, if you drive A19 south towards Thirsk you’ll pass a North Yorkshire sign.

We share news/radio/bus routes etc with yourselves, sounds daft but North East football awards always between 3 big clubs, Yorkshire have their own, everything about our town points North, where maybe well before my time it was culturally Yorkshire. If you asked 100 people in Boro (under 40) where they’re from they’d say Teesside or North East with the odd one or two saying Cleveland which stopped in 96.

When we go on Holiday constantly get mistaken for a Geordie or Mackem despite clear differences.
 
Middlesbrough is 100% in the North East mate, regions aren’t determined by rivers, counties are.
How are regions determined?

Given that no regional borders cut across a county line, I would suggest that counties and regions have very similar borders don’t they?

I never said Middlesbrough wasn’t in the NE, just that regional borders can be drawn along multiple lines
 
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When I was born Boro was in North Yorkshire officially. I personally do think it's a Derby game. 30 miles away. I actually don't mind Boro. The Geordies I don't like. However to me it's a Derby. So is Hartlepool and Darlo if we played them
What's the thoughts?
is Grimsby a Shrewsbury?
 
All about opinions i suppose.
I agree that Middlesbrough is a North Yorkshire town (my birth certificate says Middlesbrough North Riding of Yorkshire), but i guess the opinion bit comes from where the North east starts and ends .

Like you though, cant say i'm arsed.
I also dont mind seeing Northern clubs do well - including yourselves and your friends from up the road.

Reminds me of the time a few years back when we played Newport County in the cup (and got beat!!!).
Certain media outlets were calling it the 'Transporter bridge derby', which i found quite amusing.
canny comparison tho i never knew Newport had a transporter bridge
 
Yes but not the main one.
Half of Teesside is in Co Durham. Sunderland is traditionally Co Durham. The Transporter Bridge and Newport Bridge are half in Durham. Counties have come and gone in Boro: North Riding, Teesside, Cleveland, Ceremonial Bla Bla, and will probably keep coming and going. Riverside literally sits on the border.
The whole of Teesside is industrially, commercially, culturally North East suffering al the same problems as Sunderland and the region. Teesside has nothing to do with woolly back North Yorkshire. Google map England if you're not sure what NE is. It's on your local news, you drive through it for all your away games, you know it. They consider Newcastle their regional capital and go there for concerts, shopping, major events etc. Not many would know Sunderland or go there apart from the trips for footy games but it's their nearest city. Get over it.
 
I say no because a bil is from there and is a twat so I say it's not to wind him up.
I tell him he's from North Yorkshire not the North East for the same reason
 
No, it's not a derby in my opinion..
It's just another game... It's not anywhere close to anything like derby day at all..
 
Become a bit of a joke among Boro fans how adamant Sunderland fans are that it isn't a derby......

Fuelled twice yearly by this place no doubt

Boro derby bingo:

North Yorkshire
30 miles
We're their biggest game of the season
Didn't realise we were playing them
No history to the fixture as it's only been played since the 80s

Etc
We are their biggest game of the season
24000 v Hull at home
34000 v safc
10000 more to see safc
 
If I could pick 3 teams to get promoted to the premier league it would be us, Middlesbrough and Hull tbh.

This isn’t a derby. Most Sunderland fans I know don’t mind boro and actually wouldn’t mind them doing well as another northern club.

If they went into financial difficulties like darlo had before I’m sure we would help in loaning players to them same as we did for darlo. Certainly not a derby.

If Newcastle were on the verge of going under, I’d hope we would put the boot in rather than help whatsoever in all honesty. Now that’s a derby
 
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