Everton F.C. - Supporters and Rivalries

Supporters and Rivalries

For more details on this topic, see Everton F.C. supporters.

Everton have a large fanbase, with the eighth highest average attendance in the Premier League in the 2008–09 season. The majority of Everton's matchday support comes from the North West of England, primarily Merseyside, Cheshire, West Lancashire and parts of Western Greater Manchester along with many fans who travel from North Wales and Ireland. Within the city of Liverpool support for Everton and city rivals Liverpool is not determined by geographical basis with supporters mixed across the city. However Everton's support heartland is traditionally based in the North West of the city and in the southern parts of Sefton. Everton also have many supporters' clubs worldwide, in places such as North America, Singapore, Norway, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia. The official supporters club is Evertonia, and there are also several fanzines including When Skies are Grey and Speke from the Harbour, which are sold around Goodison Park on match days.

Everton regularly take large numbers away from home both domestically and in European fixtures. The club implements a loyalty points scheme offering the first opportunity to purchase away tickets to season ticket holders who have attended the most away matches. Everton often sell out the full allocation in away grounds and tickets sell particularly well for North West England away matches. In October 2009, Everton took 7,000 travelling fans to Benfica, their largest ever away crowd in Europe since the 1985 European Cup Winners' Cup Final.

Everton's biggest rivalry is with neighbours Liverpool, against whom they contest the Merseyside derby. The Merseyside derby is usually a sellout fixture, and has been known as the "friendly derby" because both sets of fans can often been seen side by side red and blue inside the stadium both at Anfield and Goodison Park. The match is largely regarded as England's biggest domestic derby match.

Recently on the field, matches tend to be extremely stormy affairs; the derby has had more red cards than any other fixture in Premiership history. The rivalry stems from an internal dispute between Everton officials and the owners of Anfield, which was then Everton's home ground, resulting in Everton moving to Goodison Park, and the subsequent formation of Liverpool F.C., in 1892.