A large sign held up by Adelaide supporters at the recent Reds/Victory match proclaimed “Adelaide = ACL Final, Melbourne = Fail”. Ouch.

One-upmanship is alive and well in the A-League.

If a survey was conducted amongst Reds supporters, asking which team it was that they savoured beating the most, the answer would emphatically be Melbourne Victory. I’d dare say that if we could round up enough Victory fans possessing the basic writing skills to do the same survey, they’d probably respond in kind, saying it was Adelaide or perhaps Sydney that they most liked to humble.

Rivalries like these bring fans through the gates, simple as that. They add spice. As much as we might condemn the actions of John Kosmina and Kevin Muscat for their touchline waltz a few years back, in terms of exposure for the game, it was fuel to a wonderful fire.

The part I enjoyed most about that incident was seeing the grin on (then assistant coach) Aurelio Vidmar’s face, standing nearby. It was priceless.

For some reason the two clubs always seem to yield an explosive mix when they get together. If they were school boys at the back of the classroom they’d be separated.

Since the inception of the A-League the on-field drama between them has been a constant. A classic example was the Reds/Victory grand final in 2007. They couldn’t just play out a ‘normal’ grand final match, not these two. Reds’ fans were made to sit through a 6-0 thrashing, the football equivalent of a doctor with chubby fingers giving a prostate examination. I still find it hard to walk properly now.

This year we’ve seen Ney Fabiano stoke the rivalry fire by exchanging spit with Robbie Cornthwaite. Then there was the Reds’ Cristiano who scored a 9.3 from the Albanian judge for an inward, one and a half twists in the pike position, in the penalty box.

Again the critics might condemn both of these actions as outrageous and blights on the game but within the marketing departments of the two clubs, the perspective might be a little different.

At the match on Friday night I ended up sitting in close proximity to a few hundred Melbourne Victory fans who had travelled over. I wondered if I’d done something terrible in a previous life to deserve such a fate.

In truth though, ignoring the (intermittent) obscenities their level of support was fantastic.

The passion amongst both groups of supporters on the night was very evident. I hate the Reds losing at any time, especially to Melbourne, but it was a very enjoyable match to witness, largely because it was built on the platform of the simmering rivalry underneath.

Hopefully it was a sign of more to come.