KEY POINTS:
Leeds United of the 1970s had a notoriously violent bunch of players and an equally infamous band of supporters known as the Leeds Service Crew.
Their pitched battles with Manchester United fans, aka the Red Army, were some of the most violent in British football history and both
sets of fans would often clash before matches in organised fights.
Auckland City's 248 Service Crew (named after the 248 bus that runs from Britomart to Auckland's ground at Kiwitea St) is a little different - they have never fought rival fans.
"I'm a lover, not a fighter," Auckland City fan Richard McIlroy says. "But there are supporters in both camps who are as passionate as you'll find overseas. Just not as many.
"There's nothing of the stuff overseas where people yell racial abuse or stuff about their wives or children and wanting to kill them."
Despite this, clashes between Auckland City and Waitakere United are the closest thing this country has to Scotland's famous Old Firm derby.
There's not a lot of political or religious tension but there has definitely been antagonism.
There was the apparent poaching by Auckland City of prolific striker Keryn Jordan in 2005 and the furore over James Pritchett playing for Auckland when he was supposed to be on international duty. The subsequent appeals and counter appeals, finally won by Waitakere, took six months to settle and even delayed the start of last season's NZFC playoffs.
There have also been a few fairly heated matches. In one in 2006-07, 16 yellow and three red cards were dished out by referee Neil Fox. In the past six NZFC games, 41 yellow and four red cards have been brandished.
One of those reds was against Waitakere striker Commins Menapi for his horrendous tackle on Riki van Steeden in last year's NZFC grand final.
Although van Steeden was out for eight months, he is not exactly lily white. Plenty of opposition players have gone home nursing the odd cut and bruise after clashing with the abrasive defender but the 31-year-old admits the adrenaline pumps even more when they play Waitakere.
"We see it as an Old Firm-type rivalry," explains van Steeden, who says he would never cross town and join Waitakere. "It's not on such a massive scale and you won't see any crowd violence but, for the players, it's just as important. There's definitely a bit of hatred between the clubs.
"We want to be the best team in Auckland and, as it turns out, if you beat them, you tend to be the best in the country as well."
Auckland City were for a long time regarded as the best and won the first three NZFC titles. But after a run of 14 games unbeaten on the pitch in the NZFC and O-League, Auckland have since lost the last two derbies.
It means that Jonathan Perry, Neil Sykes and Jason Hayne, who all switched to Waitakere for this season, have never lost in this derby.
Today's winner will likely host next month's final as well as earning one of the two spots available for next season's O-League.
Waitakere coach Chris Milicich knows the match's importance but will try to take the emotion out of it.
"Emotion can really hurt you in these games," he says. "You need to be cool and clinical rather than fiery and stupid. We are in the box seat because we have a game in hand and a much better goal difference."
They might but the 248 Service Crew and the likes of van Steeden will be doing everything to turn that around. Well, not quite everything.
MAJOR FOOTBALLING RIVALRIES
CELTIC vs RANGERS
The conflict between Glasgow's two most successful clubs involves religion, politics and social attitudes and is regarded by some as the most intense derby in all sport. Rangers is a Protestant club with unionist and loyalist supporters, while Celtic is a Catholic club with republican supporters. The Old Firm rivalry is responsible for the most accumulative arrests of any derby _ an average of 150 to 200 fans are arrested on each match day. In 1980, 9000 fans fought on the pitch after Celtic's 1-0 win in the Scottish Cup final.
RED STAR vs PARTIZAN
The two Belgrade sides have dominated Yugoslavian and Serbian football since both were founded in 1945. Despite being the army club, Partizan fans are known as grobari (gravediggers), while Red Star fans are called delije (warriors). Arranged fights and attacks on rival fans have been common.
NACIONAL vs PENAROL
The battle between Uruguay's pre-eminent teams has played out since the late 19th century. On one notorious day in 1990, 22 red cards were handed out (11 for each side, including two bench players for Nacional) and forced the match to be abandoned after 85 minutes with the score locked at 0-0. After another clash in 2000, nine players and a coach spent a month in jail when they preferred fighting to football.