IT may have escaped your attention, but in the past few days, parts of Cumbria have come down with a fever – rugby league fever, that is, brought on by the season-defining play-off final between Barrow Raiders and Whitehaven.

If you have the fever, the only cure is to take two tickets and see the game this Sunday afternoon. Tickets should not be taken internally, obviously, but it wouldn't need a warning if someone hadn't tried to do it.

Oh, and if you do get tickets, make sure they're not fake ones where one of the teams listed is the Spungoes, there's no silver foil and they're printed on some sort of cracker.

The occasion itself is big enough on its own for both clubs, with the opportunity to earn a much-sought-after place back in the Kingstone Press Championship up for grabs – particularly for the hosts after three years in the professional game's bottom division.

As much as both sets of players and coaches might be trying to approach it as just any other game though, the derby element adds another factor in it which will be particularly important for both sets of supporters.

After all, what could be better than winning a final to be promoted at the expense of your local rivals?

To an outsider, it might just seem like another chapter of a pointless inter-town rivalry which starts with seeing who can build the biggest mini-mall, and ends with town halls being burned down and water supplies being spiked.

But such rivalries abound wherever you go in the country and the sporting arena – whichever sport it happens to be in – is the perfect place to exercise them and lay claim to the area's bragging rights.

Of course, there might be an argument to say the outcome of meetings between Haven and Workington Town means more to their respective supporters due to the close proximity of the two West Cumbrian teams.

Conversely, Barrovians probably aren't to fussed about which one they would rather beat – just whichever one they happen to be facing this time around.

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In this instance, it is Whitehaven and – excluding February's pre-season friendly, if there ever is such a thing in games like this – the record for the season stands at one win apiece after the Raiders avenged their defeat two weeks prior on the return to the Recreation Ground at the start of the Super Eights.

It was after the last match that one Barrow director, who shall remain nameless, mysteriously ended up with an XL-size Whitehaven away shirt which was presumably given to the club as a good-will gesture.

However, it is unlikely even head coach Paul Crarey, assistant Steve Rea or team manager Dave Kendall, who all had spells playing for Haven as well – and in Crarey's case, as head coach too – will be taking custody of it.

“They gave me a bit of stick up there, which I was disappointed in, so hopefully our fans will give them a bit of stick when they come down here,” said Crarey, reflecting on the meetings this season after last Sunday's win over Newcastle Thunder, adding: “But it's all light-hearted humour.”

And ultimately, that last line is what it's all about. Whatever the result, both teams and sets of supporters will shake hands, wish each other the best and go for a beer or two afterwards.

Although whoever does win will be safe in the knowledge they have Championship rugby to look forward to next season – along with holding onto those bragging rights for at least another year.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">2015, 2016, 2017! MAJSTER SVETA / WORLD CHAMPION (Merci <a href="https://twitter.com/francetvsport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@francetvsport</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/stade2?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stade2</a>) <a href="https://t.co/TOD8DdmBXg">pic.twitter.com/TOD8DdmBXg</a></p>— Peter Sagan (@petosagan) <a href="https://twitter.com/petosagan/status/911986646471634949?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

IT IS seemingly inevitable that when a once-in-a-generation talent comes along in any sport, they will be compared to the greats of the past. Take, for example, cyclist Peter Sagan.

Given his rapidly-expanding palmares of Grand Tour stage wins, one-day race victories and now a third-consecutive World Championship, it is perhaps little surprise pundits are talking about him in the same breath as the likes of Eddy Merckx.

Even Merckx – regarded by many as the greatest rider of all-time – has been quoted as saying he sees glimpses of himself in the 27-year-old.

But the Slovakian will not hear of it. “I do not want to be the second Eddy Merckx,” he once said. “I want to be the first Peter Sagan.”

After becoming the first rider to win three Road Race World Championships in a row last Sunday, he has more than earned the right to be talked about without the need to mention anyone who has gone before him.

It was not just the fact Sagan achieved something unprecedented, but the manner in which he did it as well which shows his ability. After all, he was sat in 80th place at the start of the final climb on the course in Bergen before working his way through the peloton to take victory in the sprint for the line.

It is that uncanny ability he has to put himself in the perfect position to attack which has seen him triumph in such circumstances in the past and establish himself as the premier sprinter of his era.

Of course, it should have been obvious Sagan had something special about him from the moment he won the Slovak Cup riding his sister's supermarket bike after selling his own and not receiving a replacement from his sponsor in time during the early days of his career.

Incidents like that add to the charm around Sagan as well, whose colourful personality belies his nickname 'The Terminator', which comes more from his habit of destroying mountain bikes during his MTB-racing days than anything else.

He perhaps does not get wider recognition outside of cycling due to not being a Grand Tour general classification contender, although it is not entirely beyond the realms of possibility he could transition into one. Fanciful thinking, maybe.

But either way, Sagan is one of the greats and should be rightly celebrated as his own man rather than compared to anyone else.

AS time goes by, 'Mike Bassett: England Manager' is seeming increasingly like less of a spoof docu-film and more of an accurate portrayal of what goes on at the Football Associations headquarters.

The film might be 16 years old, but there are plenty of moments from it which continue to pop up as the game's governing body in this country bumbles from one embarrassing incident to the next.

The latest came over the sacking of England Women boss Mark Sampson where chief executive Martin Glenn revealed he had taken near-on two years to read a report first produced in October 2015 which highlighted safeguarding concerns around the now-departed manager.

Are we therefore to presume he didn't see it in the first place because it had been shoved under his door and got stuck under the carpet along with Ron Greenwood's note about dropping Mick Channon?

Still, a strongly-worded admonishment from the Minister for Sport and Civil Society, and an appearance before a parliamentary select committee will sort all of this out.

Until the next scandal, anyway.