Crystal Palace's rival clubs are Brighton & Hove Albion, and locally Millwall. Geographically Millwall are the closest club to Palace, with just 6 miles separating Selhurst Park and the New Den Stadium.
The Brighton rivalry is more complex. The two were drawn together in one of the early rounds of the FA Cup in late 1976. The first game at the Goldstone Ground signalled the arrival onto the Palace scene of one Rachid Harkouk. "Rash the Smash", as he was dubbed because of his penchant for long range shooting, came to the club from non-league Feltham and went on to end that season and the next as top scorer - his first ever goal for the club took this game to a replay after a 2-2 draw. A 1-1 draw at Selhurst took the tie to a second replay at Stamford Bridge, scene of Palace's win over Chelsea the season before, where the Eagles emerged triumphant 1-0 with a Phil Holder goal and after a hotly disputed Brian Horton penalty miss. Brighton supporters and manager Alan Mullery in particular were outraged, criticising all and sundry for the Palace encroachment at Horton's penalty that led to its being retaken (even though Horton had scored first time) and probably in frustration that Terry Venables had outwitted him on the night. After that, Brighton were determined to gain revenge on the Eagles, and there are some fiercely contested games.
In 1989 Brighton were relegated and Palace promoted, and, consequently, they did not play each other in a league game for 13 years.
During this period, both clubs suffered hardships, with Brighton nearly ceasing to exist in the mid-1990s, and Palace going into administration, later in the decade.
The rivalry continued after the long break, with recent highlights for Palace fans being the 5-0 win over Albion at Selhurst Park, on Tuesday 26 October 2002, including a hat trick from Andy Johnson, and a dramatic 2-3 victory at Brighton's Withdean Stadium, with a last-minute goal from Anglo-Jamaican Jobi McAnuff, on Sunday 20 November 2005. This of course more than made up for the embarrassing 0-1 defeat at the hands of Brighton, at Selhurst Park 33 days earlier.
Palace fans often refer to Brighton as 'The Seaweed'. This is due to Brighton's location, and the association that seaweed is grotesque.
However, two clubs who, in recent years are believed to be rivals of Palace, namely Charlton Athletic and AFC Wimbledon, are not shown the same hostility by the Eagles fans as Brighton and Millwall.
Originally Posted by Dodge
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