AS much as all the words at their meeting on the brink of East Lancashire's long-awaited Super Sunday, the handshake between managers Graeme Souness and Stan Ternent summed up what the Burnley v Blackburn Rovers derby match should be all about -- friendly, sporting rivalry.

And the very fact of the two teams' bosses getting together, purposefully and publicly, to make the point and tell troublemakers that they are not wanted at Turf Moor on Sunday provides the ideal prelude to what promises to be and ought to be a great sporting occasion.

Yes, it is only a game -- and to anyone looking disinterestedly at this weekend's football fixture list, just another game. But East Lancashire knows what this meeting of the Clarets and Rovers means to thousands of passionate fans -- the first opportunity they have had in 17 years to see who, among the two, is 'top dog.'

There is no doubt that the long separation of the sides in both the FA Cup and league has fuelled the keenness, speculation and anticipation over this clash and its outcome. But, surely, these should only add to the thrill of the occasion -- not to its menace.

And it is that worrying cloud hanging over the day -- the threat of moronic, tribalised violence by hooligan fans -- that the clubs and their managers are right to seek to dispel and deter by their deliberate, professional and sporting example.

There must be zero tolerance on this front from the police, the clubs, the soccer authorities and the true fans of both sides, so that we can all enjoy the great footballing occasion that this derby match should be -- on Sunday and always.