It all started back in the United League, both sides First XI's were competeing in different divisions of the Southern League, so it was their respective second strings which first did battle on 11th October 1905. I'm delighted to report that Palace gained a 3-2 away victory in front 1,200 spectators. The reverse fixture saw Brighton gain revenge winning 2-0, but Palace still finished second to Brighton's seventh in a league of 10 clubs.

In Southern League in 1906/7 season - the first "official" first XI game between the two sides saw Palace go down 2-1 at Brighton. Charles Wallace, who at the end of that season signed for Aston Villa, had the distinction of scoring our first League goal against the "Rockmakers". During our respective tenures in the Southern Leagues, the clubs met 20 times, seven games were drawn and of the other 13, Palace notched one more victory than Brighton.

The first "Boxing Day" fixture occurred in 1910 and resulted in a 2-0 away defeat, but the first home fixture on that day came in our last season as a Southern League side - the result gave Brighton most to complain about we won 4-0 and to really dampen Brightons' Christmas spirit as we had already beaten them away 3-2 the day before . This pattern was repeated in our first season as a League side, we finished as Champions of Division Three (South) whilst Brighton came a lowly 18th.

After our four year sojourn in Division Two was halted by relegation on goal average from Oldham Athletic, we played each other every season up to the war. Strangely in those fourteen seasons, the clubs' finished higher than the other an equal number of seven times. Palace, however, notched fifteen wins as opposed to Brightons' eight -five games were drawn. Three other games were played in the period, Brighton were responsible for Palace's dismissal from the FA Cup in their first ever Cup meeting, in the 1932-33 season and in 1938 1939 games were played for the Football League Jubilee Fund, Palace won the first of those games at Selhurst, 5-0, whilst the away game the following year was drawn 3-3.

As war broke, we had been due to take Brighton on, in a new Competition which Palace and Brighton had qualified for by finishing second and third respectively in the Division the previous season. It took the form of a knockout semi-final in which the winners would have played either Doncaster or Bradford City, our counterparts from Division Three (North), on a neutral pitch with gold Medals for the eventual victors.

The first game at Selhurst following the declaration of War was a friendly against Brighton which ended 2-2 (that's World War 2, by the way, not the commencement of hostilities with the Seaweed). Our first meetings in Wartime competition occurred in early 1940 and really gave Brighton something to moan about. Our first game in League South 'D' Division was away to Brighton, where we scored an impressive 4-1 victory, the best was saved for the return leg though when we scored five goals in each half without reply, to record an incredible 10-0 scoreline. Brighton even changed Goalkeepers at Half Time to no avail. Palace took the regional league title, whilst Brighton finished bottom.

The following season, Palace again did the double, this time scoring 10 goals over the season with a 5-2 home and 5-1 away victories. The figure ten was to haunt Brighton once more the following season, when after managing a 2-2 draw at the Goldstone they went down 10-1 back at Selhurst.

Another 8-1 away thrashing was handed out early the following season, but Palace blotted their copybook somewhat in the home game going down 4-1. 1943 saw another set of Christmas fixtures and again Palace did the double, 3-1 away and 6-2 at home, although the games were overshadowed by the death of the Club Secretary, Frederick Burrell en-route to that first fixture at the Goldstone on Christmas morning. That season saw further encounters in the first round of Football League Cup - South -played on a League basis with two other Clubs -Brentford and Charlton, Brighton won the first game 3-2 at Selhurst, but Palace overturned them in the away leg 4-2, although the earlier result was enough to stop Palace qualifying for the Semi-Finals; Charlton went on to win the Competition that year.

Another season, another double- 5-2 at home and 3-0 away, but then in the September immediately after the end of the war a shock 3-7 reverse away from home, corrected swiftly a week later with a 5-1 home victory, later in what turned out to be fragmented season we met twice more in the opening games of the League Cup Qualifying Competition, securing a 2-2 draw away and a 6-1 victory at home.

So the War competitions drew to a close and with it the extraordinary scorelines, the Third Division (South) reforming where it left off seven years ago. With the cessation of the War came an almost total cessation of the goals in games between the Clubs. The home side, on each occasion, managing only one without reply in the resumed League and Brighton finishing just one point and place above Palace.

Palace and Brighton met continuously for twelve seasons in Division Three (South), although never in the Cup. Palace only finished above Brighton twice in that period, in 1947-48 when Brighton finished bottom and had to apply for re-election and also in 1949-50 season when the Clubs were only separated for seventh place by goal average, settled by Palace beating Brighton 6-0 at home. Brighton also dominated the games against Palace, only four wins and seven draws meant that Brighton won over half of those matches. Palace also suffered a 5-0 away defeat, our worst ever League performance against them in the 1955-56 season. Also tucked away in the midst of those years was another Christmas double fixture when Brighton managed only their second League double over Palace in the 1951-52, the first came in the previous season.

The Clubs became divided when Brighton won the Division in 1957-58 and Palace finished 14th, thus becoming founder members of the new Fourth Division. Brighton recorded a double over us that season and Palace only failed to retain third division status by one point. So began a period of three seasons when the Clubs were separated by two divisions.

The Clubs did not meet again until the 1962-63 season following Brighton's relegation from Division Two, Palace improved upon a 2-2 home draw to win 2-1 at the Goldstone, but not even those points would have saved Brighton from another relegation. That game, which proved to Palace's last league win at the Goldstone, has an unusual story surrounding it. The coldest winter in living memory had locked the Goldstone under a sheet of ice and snow. In an effort to stage the Palace game there on 12 Jan 1963, the club hired a tar-melting machine off the council (pictured). It thawed the pitch, but turned into a quagmire!

Although Brighton climbed out of Division Four as Champions two seasons later, Palace had by this time established themselves as a force in Division Two. For the rest of the sixties Brighton continued to be, at best, a mid-table third division outfit, whilst Palace scaled the heights to Division One. A potential pairing in the third round of the F.A. Cup was narrowly missed in the first year of Palaces' First divison tenancy. The draw gave us a home tie with either Brighton or Walsall, but Brighton lost 2-1 in a third replay, played at Coventry. Brighton gained promotion alongside Aston Villa in 1971-72, but were relegated the following season as Palace also lost their top flight status.

The start of the 1973/74 season saw the first first team encounter between the sides when Palace travelled to the Goldstone for a pre-season friendly and promptly lost 2-1. Warning signs for what would be a disastrous start to life in Division 2 under Malcolm Allison.

In truth, the rivalry really only got going between Palace and Brighton in the mid-seventies with the general nationwide upsurge in football hooliganism, couple with two managers who hated each other's guts and both club images getting a make-over

Onto Part 2