LIVERPOOL, England — European soccer rivalries have long been blamed for a variety of extreme circumstances, from deaths and vandalism to the lobbing of flares and the occasional appearance of a pig’s severed head. Rarely, however, do they split a family at Sunday dinner. Except here.

On Merseyside, as this region of northwest England is known, the rivalry between Liverpool and Everton has always been different. If the standard-issue European rivalry is something akin to street-gang warfare, the Liverpool-Everton relationship is more like two brothers who constantly bicker over who has the better car.

“Look, we don’t like each other — it’s not as soft as some might think,” said Stephen Hidderley, a taxi driver who proudly dangles a Liverpool crest from his rearview mirror. “But it’s not like those other cities. There are too many families that cross over — my cousin is an Evertonian.”

He added: “I love him, of course, and so I don’t hit him. But let me tell you, I don’t invite him over for supper every week.”