1. Burnley and Rovers met for the first time on September 27, 1879. Rovers ran out 4-2 winners at Turf Moor but the Clarets gained revenge with a 5-1 hammering of their rivals at Ewood Park the following March.

2. The two East Lancashire rivals met some 13 times in the derby before the Football League was founded in 1888 - they were among the 12 founder members.

3. The crowd for the first derby was exactly 5,000. Those in attendance at Turf Moor were witnessing the start of one of football's most famous rivalries.

4. Burnley's Jerry Dawson and Blackburn's Ronnie Clayton share the record for the number of appearances in an East Lancashire derby. They played in 19 each.

Lancashire Telegraph: Disaster banner ronnie clayton.jpg for the homepage

 

5. In 1929 the Clarets and Rovers put on a thriller for a 23,000 at Ewood Park as the goals flew in with Blackburn running out 8-3 winners.

6. The the early days of the derby there was an informality about the reporting of games. One Rovers scorer was listed as unknown while two Burnley goals were credited to 'scrimmage'.

7. Jack Bruton is the only man to score for Rovers against the Clarets and for Burnley against Rovers as he turned out for both clubs in the 1920s.

8. Blackburn complained to the Football League about what they believed to be Burnley's illegal number of Scottish players in the 1880s. The claim was thrown out.

9. Jimmy Robson scored one of the most celebrated derby goals for the Clarets when his strike at Ewood Park in 1960 put Burnley well on the way to the League title - and also gained revenge for a defeat to Rovers at Turf Moor earlier in the season.

Lancashire Telegraph: CHAMPIONS: 1960 title-winning Clarets side are (back l-r) Alex Elder, Jimmy Robson, Tommy Cummings, Adam Blacklaw, Brian Miller, John Angus, Ray Pointer, (front) John Connelly, Jimmy McIlroy, Jimmy Adamson, Brian Pilkington and Trevor Meredith

 

10. Former Rovers boss Graeme Souness has been involved in derbies in Liverpool, Glasgow and Istanbul but he said about the East Lancashire derby: "That's a proper game...it really is something else."