Purple scorn for rivals runs deep

Les Everett has been studying, documenting, adoring and lamenting the Dockers for almost two decades.

The writer and former Fremantle board member is putting the finishing touches on the official 20-year history of the club, to be published next year.

So few are better placed to explain the psyche of Dockers fans, known for two peculiarities in the AFL: their historically low expectations of on-field success and their obsessive hatred of the West Coast Eagles.

Everett says to understand the Freo tragic, you need to go back to 1994 - the year Fremantle was established and, by a cruel and unholy coincidence which only the Dockers' luck could bring, the Eagles not only performed well, they won the flag.

"When we came in they were reigning premiers, a really established strong team and we were a bunch of kids from the WAFL, so they were far superior to us," he said.

"If we'd come in when the Eagles were like they are now, things might be different.

"When Port Adelaide came in as a second team in South Australia, Port won the first showdown and established an equal footing with the Adelaide Crows, on field, at least.

"We lost the first nine derbies. After we won the first derby (in 1999), I remember on the Wednesday afterwards at home, just walking down the hallway and jumping into the air, like there was some weight off my shoulders," he said.

Everett said many in the original Fremantle fan base already disliked the West Coast corporate-style club because it was seen to have plundered and ruined the State competition.

"The Eagles acted as if they were conceived from an immaculate conception, as if footy never existed before they started," he said.

"It was like they were all that mattered and what happened before didn't count so the WAFL was decimated."

Everett is generally mild-mannered and amiable but, like many Dockers supporters, he admits being "very immature" about his hatred of the cross-town rivals.

"I just couldn't stand them and I can't stand listening to Eagles supporters talking about their team," he said.

"I don't know if it's a class thing, when you look at Eagles supporters they cross all stratas and so do Dockers supporters, but there's something top end of town about it.

"It's going to be really interesting over the next few years if we do become powerful."