By Jon Geddes

WHEN Manly general manager Greg Marr started playing Colts for the Marlins in the late 1970s under club legend Barry “Tizza” Taylor, he quickly discovered the animosity that existed towards northern beaches neighbours Warringah.

‘‘His famous comment was ‘I don’t care who %^&&* beats us, we never get beaten by Warringah, OK?” Marr recalled.

Originally there was hostility amongst some stalwarts that Warringah broke away from Manly and set up another club against them on the northern beaches.

“They said ‘they took (Wallaby and Manly icon) Tony Miller and tried to steal our players’ ,”  Marr said.

That initial ill-feeling has now transformed into one the greatest rivalries in Australian sport – and it will be fully on display again this Saturday at Rat Park when Warringah and the Marlins clash in the Battle of the Beaches for the Bayfield Cup.

No other game captures the atmosphere of the derby in front of a bumper crowd which demonstrates a tribalism that is unique.