Two regional cities separated by 90 minutes with links back to the Victorian Gold Rush in the 1850s, similar populations and of course, a passion for sport of all sorts.

The rivalry is the regional equivalent of Carlton v Collingwood, and that was never more evident than a couple of years ago when the Today show mistakenly referred to Bendigo as Ballarat and duly copped plenty of backlash.

How offensive.

It doesn’t getting much better than knocking off Ballarat – even in a blood donation challenge as the two cities have previously gone head-to-head in – yet it stings all the more when they beat us.

The rivalry will be reignited again on Saturday when Bendigo locks horns with Ballarat in their 5 v 6 clash as part of the annual AFL Victoria Country Championships.

As much as we build the rivalry up, from a footy perspective, it’s hard not to look at our arch enemy with some envy for they - as much as it hurts to say - hold the upper hand. 

For a start, the Ballarat Football League is ranked higher than us.

Only by one, but the fact Ballarat is on top of us shouldn’t sit comfortably at all with those involved in the Bendigo league.

Coach Rick Ladson and his men get the chance to do something about that on Saturday afternoon at Ballarat’s Eastern Oval – the same venue where two years ago Ballarat beat us by 23 points in a game where Bendigo paid a hefty price for wasted opportunities when we kicked 8.17.

It was a result that set Bendigo back two years, for we are only now back to where we were in 2013 in terms of our ranking.

It’s now confined to the annals of history, but when it came to Bendigo’s VFL clashes against North Ballarat, the head-to-head record proves the rivalry never had the chance to fulfil everything it could have been.

Bendigo through the guises of the Diggers, Bombers and Gold played North Ballarat 26 times.

The Roosters, either stand-alone or aligned with North Melbourne, won 23 of them – including an elimination final in 2007 when they came from 54 points down at half-time to win by 37 – as well as nine of 10 meetings when Bendigo fielded a VFL reserves team for five years.  

As well as a caning on the field in the VFL, so too was it off the field when comparing the facilities of the regional foes.

While Bendigo’s VFL team was shunted around the city like nomads for 17 seasons with no permanent home, the Roosters’ base at Eureka Stadium that features the North Ballarat Sports Club with its bistro, bars, function rooms and gaming is a definite cause of envy, particularly now that in the not too distant future the venue will be redeveloped to host AFL games for the Western Bulldogs.

Not NAB Challenge games – two to three games a year in the home and away season in what’s a massive fillip for Ballarat.

Eureka Stadium is also home to TAC Cup side North Ballarat Rebels, who while the head-to-head isn't as lop-sided as the VFL, hold a 23-16 advantage over the Bendigo Pioneers with one draw, and outnumber the Pioneers 75-56 when it comes to AFL draftees.

But it’s not all negative.

Bendigo won last year’s annual Goldfields Junior Challenge 3-2 against Ballarat, so we have bragging rights there, and a couple of our most memorable inter-league victories over the past 15 years have come at the expense of Ballarat.

Like in 2009 when an unheralded Bendigo inter-league team that needed to call on league CEO Steven Oliver to take the field was seemingly thrown to the wolves against Ballarat at Bacchus Marsh.

Bendigo was given about as much chance of beating Ballarat as the Washington Generals had of knocking off the Harlem Globetrotters.

But with a game plan built on speed, speed and more speed, coach Jeff Brennan orchestrated a memorable 21-point win that signalled a rebirth of inter-league for the famed Blue and Gold.

Nine years earlier Bendigo, when coached by Neville Massina, won its way back into division one of the old VCFL Country Championships format with a gritty six-point win over Ballarat - in Ballarat - in the 2000 division two grand final (pictured).

Hopefully, Saturday at the Eastern Oval will be another of those Bendigo v Ballarat inter-league days that will be reminisced on in years to come. 

Go well, lads.