How did you feel about our fixture this week?

was it

(a) a game against a side we expect to be in the bottom four, so one of our best chances of picking up points albeit with no guarantees as we have found in the past

(b) the latest in the series of a historic fixture between two local rivals, which has its own importance above and beyond just being for two league points or to progress in a cup

Up until the formation of SL and Widnes being excluded, I would have thought most of us would say (b).

When they got promoted and returned in 2002 after 6 years away, it would have also been (b). Remember the build up, controversy and interest around the derbies in the Cullen years.

Then they got relegated in 2005, and came back in 2012 after another 6 years out. Since then the derby has just been in gradual decline and now, it feels like most people would answer (a) to that question above.

Is there any real difference now between how we feel about a fixture with Widnes compared to say Hull KR?

It’s a bit different for me. I cannot speak as a Warringtonian as I’m not one. I’m a Mancunian and have lived in Manchester all my life bar three years. I think I’ve met one or two people from Widnes, ever. They are just another team to me. I don’t hold that feeling of “rival” “derby” “enemy” like Warringtonians would do of them and Chemics towards Warrington. Widnes is not local to me.

Wigan are the “rival” in my Wire world. Mainly due to being the biggest and tastiest games Wire have been involved in over the years.

Don’t forget though that before the 1950s the big local rivalry was Wire v Wigan. It was only from the mid 1950s onwards that Saints registered on Wigan’s radar as they weren’t a club worth taking notice of until then.

Local derbies purely based on geography have never really appeared on my radar.

Leigh, for example - I don't feel the same rivalry (disdain actually) as I do for Wigan but that is based on Wigan's profile and success, rather than thw proximity of the towns.

Everyone wants to be the top dog in their own backyard and any rivalry I feel for Saints, Wigan, the desire to bloody their nose, put them in their place etc. is bases on wanting to see Wires eatablished as the north-west's no. 1.

If Wigan were to be relegated would I feel the same rivalry towards them? No, but here's hoping I can put the theory to the test one day.

I bet Warrington still haven't registered on Wigan's radar so the Wire-Wigan rivalry means a lot more to us than to them.

Wigan care about Saints first, then their other big club rival Leeds, before it comes to us. They probably see us like Hull, a rivalry worth taking interest in when we are challenging them for trophies and in big finals but when we have our periods of mediocrity they won't take much interest.

It could be argued the importanxe to fans started to decline when the fixtures changed from boxing day new years day.

That’s fair and most likely true

B for me but nowhere near as much as when I was a kid. The fixtures now I want to win more are the Saints /Wigan games. I never want to lose to Widnes ever that’s the kid inside me still but I won’t get peed off as much if we lost like I use to.

For me, there's several reasons this game has lost it's bite.

Demographic. Stadia have a lot more women/kids in them now, compared to pre SL. There's a lack of atmosphere/edge in the ground.

Since SL's inception in 96, Widnes have largely been poop. They're almost an irrelevance, now. Look at that side, and it's "never heard of, never heard of, crap, kid, never heard of". Compare this to what I've witnessed in nearly 40 years of this fixture. Tamati, Lyndon, Gregory, Burke, Myler, Offiah, Sorenson, Shearer, Hulme(s), Mckenzie Wright etc.

It was on the telly. There's a few hundreds/thousands knocked off the attendance.

Other games now have more relevance. When I was a teenager, Saints coming to Wilderspool was no bigger than a Wakefield visit. In the last 20 years, it now only rivals Wigan games to some Wire fans, after several heartbreaking defeats, Eddie Hemmings' hoodoo obsession, and our recent turnaround since Knowsley Road was demolished

The sport is a poorer quality, compared to yesteryear.

Just my thoughts. Neither wrong nor right.

I'm with Phyc on this. Pies is it for me.
"Wigan week" as Paul Cullen phrased it.
Followed by the Travelling folk.
Widnes don't get me steamed up any more than Leigh or Salford.

For me personally, I just see Widnes as just another game, it's not a game I particularly look forward to,to be honest nor do I lose any sleep if they beat us.. It maybe because Widnes spent a number of years outside the top flight? I'm not sure, but I look forward to the Wigan and Saints games more to be honest I just see them as bigger games for us..

This is true but was also true in the period of 2002 to 2005 and in those days the spirit of the derby was rekindled, they were probably our biggest most tasty fixtures of those seasons (probably because the two clubs were roughly similar in ability until they fell away in the last year).

But also - the Man Utd v Man City derby kept its spark through the 1990s and 2000s, when City had two decades of being poop like Widnes have now, and United spent two decades winning everything which Warrington very definitely haven't done. Actually I'm not sure the United / City derby is any better now than it was then, despite the clubs now being rivals at the top.

The Liverpool v Everton derby has also kept its spark despite having an uneven record although admittedly I don't think it's how it was in the 1980s or early 1990s.

From my experience the rugby we see today is a reflection of life. I remember the workplace of the 1970s. Full of characters, plenty of laughs and not too serious or indeed professional. Compare that to now: very structured very professional and not very exciting ...much the same as what we see on the pitch. So clearly the answer is go back to a semi professional game and wear flares.

Been watching Wire for 40 years. Always has and always will be Wigan in my eyes as the Derby game. For me they have been our main rivals and the one game more than any in a season I want to win. This is closely followed by Saints and then anyone else around us posistion wise on the table that’s around us and Widnes are usually not in the vicinity!

I wonder whether we will be closer in the league table to Wigan or Widnes this season...

This Friday will answer that question,given they don’t arrive back till tomorrow, we should in all honesty hammer them, we lose and forget winning anything this season.

As I come from Newton it was always Wigan as the enemy. I wasn't even sure where Widnes was (I'm still not totally sure, and I've been there a few times), first time they registered with me was that fateful day at Wembley in '75.

I’m sorry but I can’t take interest in a tin pot town that doesn’t know what it is. A Warrington postcode, a Liverpool dialling code and in Cheshire? It’s the place that no one gives two hoots about. Misfit town.

Back to the question Wigan and Saints games mean more to me.

Wigan first then Sts and then Leeds, the rest are well, the rest! Those three games I expect a level of performance that is well above any other game, if we win then great if we don't, it hurts.

Having watched Wire for over 55 years, I can honestly say, neither myself or all the lads I used to go with, view the Widnes game as anything special. Wigan has always been the main fixture. I don't view Widnes with any more importance than Salford or Huddersfield, never have.

I also find it interesting and disappointing that the Widnes 'derby' seems of lesser interest to the Widnes public, too. Whilst there are a few fanatics on their own board ( they love calling Wire ' the scum' ) the derby match is clearly not such a big deal. Generally if one side in a derby fixture goes through a long period of little success compared to their rival, then the 'smaller' club's fans cling to the derby as the one way they can claim bragging rights and inflict a little damage on their stronger opponent. Clearly not happening at Widnes v Wire games.

Its more about the decline of widnes than anything else. They were never really a well supported club when they had Davies offiah etc and we're breaking Wigans league dominance. ..even back then our biggest game was wigan....

Come on where else would you wish to be on new years day .....!!

Yes sally is right Wigans biggest game is Saints.. but Wigan and saints have a larger boundary where the two fan bases can overlap and it creates that better banter between fans.... wire and widnes don't have that boundary apart from a row of houses at cuerdley cross....and the two sets of fans genuinely don't like each other.

Let's not forget every time a big over seas signing joins Wigan the same line is always rolled out...."ive been told if we have to win one game all year is got to be saints ".....

Yes that would be nice to see.... lost 28 won 2

It matters not one jot to me that a Wigan fan might come on this board and churn out that point of irrelevance towards us.

Its still the best game on the calendar for me. ....always has been..

Apart from that year they were in the second division...obviously

I've never 'forgiven' Widnes for ruining my day out in '75 and the sight of an army peroxide haired harridans dressed head to toe in black and white crimplene complete with over-sized crocheted rosettes will stay with me forever. I don't care what the respective league positions are I will never tire of us beating Widnes.

However, as far as BIG games are concerned Wigan for me is a bigger game if that isn't contradictory? Despite the 'hoodoo' I've never had a complete downer on St Helens

I have never got over Offiah scoring 5 tries against Dessie. Dessie made up for it when he battered that Widnes fan who ran on the pitch one Easter.

If you went to school where I did, and plenty of your peer group supported Widnes despite living in Warrington, probably cos Widnes were pretty bloody good at the time, you'd never tire of seeing Wire smash the Demics. My favourite game ever is that John Player semi where we annihilated them, Xmas 1986. Happy days.

Every coach that we passed or passed on the way back was full of them. I think they were the prototype for the Minions in Despicable Me complete with deranged cackle.