#lolatSouffs

It is the hashtag that sums up the Roosters’ disdain for anyone associating with cardinal and myrtle in just 12 characters.

Luke Ricketson probably started it.

‘Random Souths Guy’ has his own tone of ridicule in the social media space but as a Rabbitohs supporter I can say that I heartily embrace him.

Round 20

We love our club so much that we will wear our jersey to a Broncos-Cowboys derby, the Formula 1 in Melbourne or the shooting of the Oprah Winfrey Show at the Sydney Opera House forecourt (yep, that was me).

I took my Souths jersey across Europe and Africa but #lolatSouffs? That makes my bunny blood boil like only a Roosters insult can.

It consigns us to a lower position of social standing; it is the latte-loving Bondi boys and bimbos condemning us because of our honest, hardworking ethos and ability to fight on without a family trust fund from which to begin from.

I sense the same sentiment in the Broncos-Titans modern rivalry.

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My father played for Kenso and my uncle all the way to the reserves with the red and green which is why the Roosters rivalry is so deeply ingrained.

They think they’re better than us.

Scratch that. In their minds Roosters fans have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that they are a better class of human being.

Which is why the 2014 Preliminary Final will forever hold an exalted place in my heart.

Don’t get me wrong, there had been reasons for plenty of celebrations prior to that, and countless causes for my Roosters hatred to prosper.

Chris Sandow on that wonderful day in 2009 when the Rabbitohs beat the Roosters 52-12. Source: News Limited

One of my great regrets was being on location covering the New Zealand Golf Open in Queenstown when in Round 1, 2009 Chris Sandow inspired the mighty Bunnies to a 52-12 thumping in Roosters ‘heartland’ just down the road from Redfern, the first time in 57 years we had put 50 on them.

My mate was texting me trans-Tasman updates, which only made it worse.

The game made famous by Warren Smith’s perfect call for Fox League, Round 19, 2012 saw a finale that was a confluence of everything that is good about Dave Taylor, Nathan Merritt and Issac Luke all packaged into a length-of-the-field try against our most despised rival.

Take me now indeed.

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Picking at the carcass of our club left by the greatest casualty of the Super League war, the Roosters reached out to a young Craig Wing in 2000 with the promise of fame and fashion show catwalks.

When we got him back in 2008 Riley Brown’s dog shot saw Wing’s shoulder collapse after just seven minutes and our starting No.7 missed the next three months. We won three games in that time; when he returned we won three on the trot.

Chris Walker (2003) and Joe Burgess (2016) hold special places in the premiership’s oldest rivalry as players to have played for both clubs in the same season and now we’ve had Luke Keary and Angus Crichton stolen away from us in typical Roosters style.

Like the spoiled private school prefects that they are, whatever the Roosters want they get.

There is a sense of entitlement that is infuriating to anyone not wearing red, white and blue.

They must surely be the only club in history to have replaced the incumbent New South Wales Origin halfback with his conqueror from the Queensland team.

To be honest, we’ve got no right to even think we can beat them on Thursday night but such is the South Sydney spirit that our team of honest battlers such as Jason Clark, John Sutton, Damien Cook and Cody Walker will fight tooth and nail against supposed ‘equals’ all earning twice the salary that they are.

Craig Wing’s shoulder was dislocated after seven minutes in 2008 by Roosters utility Riley Brown and South Sydney’s season quickly fell apart. Source: News Corp Australia

Which brings me back to 2014.

We’d lost in the preliminary final in the previous two seasons and now our path to the grand final was blocked by the one team we just couldn’t lose to. Not this time.

Incredibly, it was the first time we had played the Roosters in a finals game in 76 years and when they led 12-0 after next to no time that dreaded hashtag was trending.

But deep down I knew. I knew if we could slow the onslaught enough to keep their lead to 12 points that we were a chance. More than a chance actually.

There’s not been a team capable of turning one try into three or four like the Roosters in recent years but 12 points? Twelve points we could handle.

Beating the Roosters in the preliminary final was a symbolic path to the 2014 premiership for the Rabbitohs. Photo: Mark Evans Source: News Corp Australia

We scored twice before the break and again four minutes after halftime, not only ending the Roosters season but also the career of their captain, Anthony Minichiello, in the process.

The grand final was a week-long celebration; beating the Roosters in the prelim is to this day the most symbolic and satisfying win I’ve ever had as a South Sydney fan.

There would be no lolling at the Pride of the League that week, or for the 12 months that followed.

They’ve got Uncle Nick Politis; we’ve got The Gladiator.

Which is why no matter the odds stacked against us this is always the game we will lift for and the victories the sweetest of them all.

Ben Ikin and Ben Glover are joined by Emma Lawrence to discuss the hot talking points in the NRL this week.

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