I don’t know where the rivalry come from but it has been going on since I started going in the early 80s.
I don’t think they can claim they never cared about the rivalry, the was/is a song they sing “We hate Walsall more than Stoke” On my first visit there on the special train with my Dad, on arrival the was a bunch of Vale fans with a flag with “Kill Walsall” on it…
Shit on the Vale was one of the first Walsall songs I learned!
In my mind and memory our rivalry with Vale was much bigger than the one with Shrewsbury, but the Shrewsbury one has sparked to life several times due to certain incidents and playing them more often.
I first went to Port Vale in the 58/59 season (January) and we lost but then drew at home.
Vale park has tended to be a lucky ground for us.
I don’t dislike any other football club or its fans.
Walsall is the place where I was born and so I support my hometown club.
My first away was the 2-2 in the 79/80 promotion campaign. Fighting everywhere afterwards.
But in the intervening years they played Stoke more and that rivalry grew. Then Crewe grew as a club and according to the Vale site they see Crewe as more of a rival than us. We might rank third in that rivalry.
The thing they have with Stoke is that Stoke properly hate them back. It’s not like us with our nearest and dearest who on the whole barely give a toss about us. Unrequited hatred nearly as hurtful as unrequited love. So we have to look further afield. Salop and Vale prime candidates but whilst they don’t like us we’re neither’s main rivals.
Over my lifetime we’ve had the two rivalries Vale and Slopies , with a third being Chesterfield at Saltergate sending shivers down the spine.
I never understood the hatred of Dingles, they were someone to laugh at during the eighties as they slid down the leagues , the Villa I never really cared one way or the other but had an annoying sense of pride that they were from our region when they won the European Cup.
Vale have always been a rival and it won’t change for my generation along with Shrewsbury and Chesterfield .
For the generation following us I think Crewe may replace Chesterfield.
On another tangent back in the day we always seemed to have a good / healthy relationship with Hartlepool and Oldham, no idea why or perhaps I just imagined it.
That’s right mate that was my first vale game as well a loss then as I said earlier .only 1 other loss in the next 20years some stat that and could be longer haven’t checked .
15 years ago i worked with a bloke who was then aged about 55. When we talked football he said he was also a Walsall fan but didnt go to games anymore (he hated Bonser) but the team he despised more than any other was PortVale. He said “they hate us, I got attacked outside Vale Park in the 70’s me and mate v about 20 of them. They broke my jaw and said they hated Walsall more than Stoke” Its clearly not a one way thing or a new thing.
I agree about Vale fans (of a certain age) who “hate Walsall more than Stoke” with that being down to our record against them, home and away for more than 20 years. The run was only broken by Tommy Coakley playing with only half a squad due to flu rather than get a game up there postponed (boy did they celebrate).
I remember that, 1986, 4-1 at VP? Normal service was resumed beating them at FP 5-0 (FAC) and 5-2 in the return league game (recovering from 2-0 down).
If this is the match you’re referring to, that early season loss was Walsall’s first defeat to Port Fail I can recall. My first match was 1973 and we played them for most of those intervening years.
I was at North Staffs Poly 86-89 and met many a Vale fan who had antipathy to the Saddlers. I even went to see Port Fail lose 2-0 at Watford in an FAC replay the year after our 4-4 draw (they lost 2-0). I was in the away end and I distinctly remember their fans chanting " We hate Walsall" numerous times during the game.
Remember one season where we didn’t win many other games but beat them with a goal from Graham Fenton, generally we always seem to raise our game against these
They were desperate that season to be fair. They went down with us, and finished below us.
I ended up in a pub full of Vale fans after that game. My Dad was working with someone who was a Vale fan, and he took us in there. Was all friendly for a while, but a quick exit was needed before finishing our last beer!
I was at that game, I would of been about 18 at the time. Was travelling back on one of the coaches and Vale fans chucked something at the window right by where I was sitting. How the glass never broke I’ll never know, it made a right bang. Disliked them since that day.
I think this is the thing, it depends how old you are, when you started following Walsall etc.
I’d imagine that many younger supporters wouldn’t even think of Chesterfield as a rival but they were for many years.
Personally, I still dislike Villa more than any other team, where as many younger fans don’t or even in some cases like them. This is more down to my age and more so where I grew up (Pelsall) which was full of Villa fans.