IN REPLY to D A Cunliffe (Sports Letters, January 9), I have been a loyal "Blue" for more than 55 years and have stood with my dad on the Longside at Turf Moor in a fully integrated crowd with no aggravation at all.

I also worked in Burnley for nearly 20 years and if Mr Cunliffe considers the disappearance of banter to be a recent phenomenon, then I don't know where he has been. In fact in his 30 years' support I doubt if he can have been to a derby game where there hasn't been trouble.

My earlier remarks were in response to the comments of Stephen Cummings regarding Blackburn not being a "football town" and the abysmal (my word) attendances at various European games.

I merely stated a couple of facts which can be verified, and commented on the colour of Stephen's tinted glasses -- green being the colour of envy. No bile, no vilification, no "slagging off."

If people are so thin-skinned as to take offence at this, then it is no wonder "gentle banter" disappeared. As my grandchildren tell me: "chill out."

JACK TAYLOR, Preston Old Road, Blackburn.