Ill-feeling genuinely exists within the camps of the Altona Gators and the Werribee Devils in the Victorian Basketball League.

It dates back decades with both clubs still trying to work out which one is better. Adding fuel to the fire are the regular player transfers between the clubs.

Last year, the whole Werribee She-Devils premiership team crossed to the Lady Gators.

Twelve months earlier, long-time coach Mick Downie moved to coach the Devils after being the longest-serving coach in Gators history.

The stoush for territory in the west is just as intense.

Nestled in between Altona and Werribee is growing Point Cook with many young families.

Both clubs want to be seen as the best in order to tap into the rich talent pool.

So it is on again. The Gators-Devils will renew their hatred for each other on Saturday night at the Werribee Sports and Fitness Centre.

The war of words erupted as soon as the final buzzer sounded on round 12.

The Devils, eager to maximise their attendance at the "grudge match", announced that spectators would be admitted to the venue free of charge.

That gave Gators coach Darren Davey ammunition for a pot shot at his rivals.

"It's that sort of town," he said. "Noone likes going out and paying for sport so that's why they have to let them in for nothing. We plan on having a bigger crowd there than they will."

That is sure to go down well with the locals. One-nil to Davey. He went on to describe the conditions at the Werribee stadium as "scrungy".

"It's a dark court," he said. "We give it to them over that as well."

Davey forgot about his own plight during the week.

He can't complain about insufficient lightning at Werribee in the same week he had to cancel two training sessions at the Altona Sports Centre due to light failure.

That's one-all on the scorecard in the war of words.

Devils captain Nathan Marsh wanted his two bobs' worth.