The Carlton Mid Derby.

It stirs the passions of football fans in our state, be it purple and white or blue and gold.

Since 1995, when the Eagles pushed ‘baby brother’ Freo aside in the inaugural Western Derby, as it was known back then, to round 19 last season, when a champion by the name of Matthew Pavlich booted a super eight goals to help his side crush West Coast, there has been no battle more intensely fought on the WA sporting stage.

Fremantle are baby brother no more. The Eagles won the first nine Derbies, but on 18 July, 1999, the tide was emphatically turned. Freo, fronted by football rock star Tony Modra, opened its Derby account with a comprehensive victory. Images of Modra smashing his hands into the ground at the City End pocket after a miraculous goal will live long in the hearts of both supporters. For Fremantle, it signified elation, at finally defeating the Eagles. It was also the moment West Coast fans’ hearts were crushed as the realisation their Derby domination had ended sunk in.

A year later, with both clubs out of finals contention, the most infamous match between WA’s two AFL clubs occurred. Now endeared the ‘Demolition Derby’, it all began before a ball had been bounced. West Coast targeted first-year player Pavlich, pushing and shoving the young South Australian. They also pushed and shoved their way to a 42-point lead in the third term. Eagle Mitchell White was carried from the field on a stretcher,following a legal bump by Troy Cook. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Clive Waterhouse went berserk, booting seven goals to carry Freo to a one-point win. Oh, and there was a bench-clearing brawl that resulted in a nine-game suspension for Freo Docker Dale Kickett, among other charges. Eagle Michael Gardiner was given a two-match ban for striking Pavlich, while Brad Dodd and Phillip Read gave each other a whack and two matches off each.

There have been so many individual moments in Derbies, too. For Freo, who could forget four-time Ross Glendinning Medal winner Paul Hasleby’s set-shot to win the game from 40m out in 2006. Or Shaun McManus’ last game in 2008, when his captain, Pavlich, stood tall to lead Freo to victory in one of its favourite son’s final battles.

A freshly promoted rookie stood out in the first Carlton Mid Derby of 2010. Michael Barlow was playing in just his sixth AFL game when he ripped West Coast to shreds in the midfield, winning the Ross Glendinning Medal.

There was also the record 75-point win in 2010, punctuated by six goals, and six extra-special celebrations, by Hayden Ballantyne.

A year later, the same Ballantyne was involved in one of Freo’s most heartbreaking Carlton Mid Derby moments ever when his after-the-siren set-shot from 50m out on the boundary to win the game hit the right goal post.

That just highlighted the emotional extremes players and supporters go through year after year when the time comes to stake WA bragging rights on the outcome of one match – the Carlton Mid Derby.

There will be more memorable moments to come out of this today’s match. Another Barlow could rise from obscurity and be the hero his side was looking for. It very well may be the usual suspects, like Pavlich. A budding star named Nat Fyfe might add his name to Derby lore.

Whatever happens, one half of the state will celebrate, while the other will already begin planning for round 16 – the second Carlton Mid Derby of 2013.

Bring on tonight.