Bezza":3j0676lk said:
Ive never understood this Gillingham v Swindon thing. Doesnt it go back to the 1987 play off final reply at Selhurst Park? Swindon won 2-1 as I recall and Gills never got over it? There's no other reason why a Kent side should hate a side from wiltshire.
Mind you Argyle fans dont like Luton and that all started with Joe Big mouth Kinnear....
No the rivalry goes back even further than that back to 78-79 season......
The rivalry between Gillingham and Swindon is one of the most unlikely in League football - but since the teams renewed acquaintance in 2006 after nearly nineteen years absence, it soon became apparent that the rivalry was just as intense, perhaps more so, than with some of the Town's local derbies - a fact surprising for any Town fan under forty years of age!.
The rivalry started in March 1979, when, with both teams in the running for promotion, Swindon visited Priestfield one position and three points behind the Gills, but with two games in hand. Gillingham themselves were equal on points with third-placed Swansea, and just three points behind leaders Watford. In a fiery match, the Gills went 2-0 ahead in the first 25 minutes, but ten minutes later the Town had pulled it back to 2-2. That was how the scoring stayed, but other events were to make the game far more memorable. After Gillingham had goalscorer Westwood sent off for foul and abusive language, Priestfield went into uproar, incensed by what they considered to be poor refereeing and gamesmanship by Town player Ray McHale - and in the second half, a Gills fan got onto the pitch and punched the referee - knocking him out.
It got worse for Gillingham when they visited Swindon for the return leg in May. Now a point ahead of the Town and in a promotion spot, Gillingham had another player sent off for a tackle on McHale, and after the Town went 3-0 up, their players began to single out McHale for some retribution, the game turning nasty again. The game eventually finished 3-1, and as the players returned to the dressing room, there was a fracas in the tunnel - Swindon coach Wilf Tranter having to go to hospital with facial injuries after being punched. Two Gills players ended up in court over the incident, both were acquitted - and the season ended with both teams missing out on promotion - the Gills by a single point, which they considered to be stolen from them during the two games with Swindon, and a rivalry was born.
