DERBY DAYS/ IRON BOWL Alabama v Auburn:The college rivalry on the field began in 1893 - and the rivalry off the pitch began immediately

THE 'BAMA fans are having a great year. But this has nothing to do with politics. Or rather, it has little to do with it. This is sport. College football to be exact. And, in the state of Alabama, that gives it a ranking above politics.

If Michigan playing Ohio State is the biggest interstate rivalry in America (by the way, Ohio State won 42-7 last week), then Alabama versus Auburn is, by some distance, the biggest intrastate battle. College football may have the Battle for the Mitten (Michigan v Michigan State), but the Iron Bowl is more aptly named, leaving no doubt as to the importance given to the annual tussle for bragging rights.

The rivalry began in Birmingham - which is between Tuscaloosa and Auburn - early in 1893 when the colleges met for the first time on a football field. Auburn won, 32-22, but the controversy began immediately with the schools unable to agree whether the game was part of the 1892 or 1893 season.

The off-field battle was to prove a fitting way to begin the series.

Auburn dominated in the early skirmishes, until the simmering bitterness led to the suspension of the series for 41 years.

Before the 1908 meeting the colleges argued over a hotel and meal allowance for the squads. The discrepancy was $34.

Neither college would budge.

Even when the representatives of the most bitter sporting rivals in the world - such as River Plate and Boca Juniors - come together, they can work together.

Not so in Alabama.

Even when a last-minute compromise was on the cards late in 1908, it was quickly realised the colleges would not agree on a date for the game. The Auburn versus Alabama series stopped.

During the following years, various attempts - usually initiated by Auburn - were made to revive it, but each time there was an insurmountable obstacle.

The end of the annual battle proved devastating for Auburn, who, apart from winning the Southern Conference in 1932, spent the decades following the suspension in the wilderness.

In contrast, Alabama, released from the shackles of the local feud, quickly rose to national prominence - making the first of five Rose Bowl (the national final) appearances in 12 years in 1926 - beating the Washington Huskies 20-19.

By the 1940s Auburn were desperate for some spark to reignite their football programme, and public demands for the derby to restart were steadily growing.

Incredibly, in 1947, even the state House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for the colleges to meet again.

Eventually, after numerous meetings between representatives of the colleges (which included a Bury the Hatchet ceremony) the teams met at a packed - and neutral - 44,000-seater stadium in Birmingham in December 1948.

The Auburn players, however, didn't put as much effort into the game as the college's organisers did in arranging it, and Alabama humiliated their state rival in the first game of the new series - 55-0. But the following season, despite having without doubt the worst team in the Southern Conference, Auburn proved the interstate rivalry was a once-off, anything-can-happen rollercoaster and shocked Alabama 14-13.

The rivalry was back on, and the residents of the state of Alabama were gripped. So was the wider public. The match was first being televised live nationally in 1964, in good time for millions to witness Kenny "The Snake" Stabler's "run in the mud" in 1967 (when the Alabama quarterback ran in a 53-yard, match-winning touchdown in dreadful conditions).

With the Dixiecrat George Wallace the governor of Alabama, the annual war on the football field was, perhaps, the only positive news story coming from the state at the time.

Auburn gained their defining moment in the 1972 meeting when, in one of the rivalry's greatest upsets, they came from 16-3 down with just six minutes left to return two Alabama punts and claim the tie 17-16.

However, perhaps the most significant change in the history of the rivalry came in 1989 when, after years of more disagreements and negotiations, Auburn were finally allowed to move their "home" games from Birmingham.

The build-up to the clash in Auburn was unprecedented, despite the local side meeting an unbeaten Tigers (who would claim their third successive conference title that year).

On December 2nd, 1989, before a partisan, 85,000-capacity Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn (as opposed to the traditional 50-50 split in fans at Birmingham) the home side won a thrilling game, 30-20.

Alabama continued to hold their home games at Legion Field up to the late 1990s, even though their 84,000-capacity Bryant-Denny Stadium (named in part after their legendary coach Bear Bryant) was now bigger than the nearby Birmingham stadium. But in 2000 the clash was played in Tuscaloosa, the first time Alabama had hosted the rivalry on home turf in 99 years.

Since then the series has alternated on a truly home and away basis, with the record attendance set two years ago (the last time the game was played in Bryant-Denny Stadium) with 92,138 witnesses to the Iron Bowl.

When the 1980s began, Alabama led the series with 28-17, with one draw (the final game before the 41-year break). Auburn, however, have claimed seven of the past eight meetings to leave the series 38-33-1 in Alabama's favour.

Alabama, though, have a golden opportunity to reverse the trend and deny Auburn a seventh-successive Iron Bowl victory on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

Auburn have suffered an injury-plagued and dreadfully disappointing season, but - like so many rivalries - the year could yet be salvaged in one game. The bonus would be the chance to possibly knock Alabama out of the national championship race.

Apart from ending the losing streak against the Tigers, a win for Alabama - who are on an 11-game winning streak - would probably send the Crimson Tide to the national championship in Miami in January for a chance at their first national title in 16 years.

When the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn University Tigers meet this weekend, an entire state will stop to watch.

• Saturday, 2.30pm (local time), 8.20pm (Irish)

Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

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