West London derby
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The West London Derby (sometimes known as the King's Road or SW6 Derby, owing to the London postal district that both teams fall into) is one of the lesser known local derbies in English Association Football. It is contested between Chelsea and Fulham.
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[edit] Summary
In contrast to many rivalries in English football, such as the North London derby and the Merseyside derby, Chelsea and Fulham have spent much of their existence in separate divisions - between 1968 and 2001, the two were in the same division only five times - and have rarely been rivals for the major honours or played in many high-profile matches. This has greatly limited the scope for it to develop and actually served to weaken it.
In 1904, businessman Gus Mears approached the Fulham chairman Henry Norris about moving the club from their Craven Cottage home to the nearby Stamford Bridge Athletics Ground on the Fulham Road, which he had recently acquired. Norris declined following a dispute over the rent; as a result, Mears formed his own club to occupy the ground, Chelsea. Fulham thus had an indirect role in Chelsea's foundation. It also ensured that, despite Chelsea's name, there were two clubs in the Fulham Borough.[1] The geographical proximity of the teams is the basis for the rivalry, rather than religious or political reasons, as with other derbies.
The first competitive match between the sides took place on 3 December 1910 in the Second Division, with a crowd of 35,000 at Craven Cottage watching Fulham win 1-0. The peak of the rivalry was arguably during the inter-war years and just after, when matches between the sides were always among the most popular (and most highly attended) on the fixture calendar. While both clubs were largely unsuccessful until the 1960s, they have since drifted apart and the significance of matches between them has correspondingly declined. Chelsea enjoyed successful spells during the 1960s and 1970s, and again from the mid-1990s to the present day, while Fulham spent much of that period in the lower divisions of the Football League. As a caveat to that, when Chelsea and Fulham did meet in league games in the 1970s and 1980s, the attendances were always among the highest for the season, with the lack of regular matches often making the derby more eagerly anticipated.
The reduced number of encounters saw Chelsea fans develop rivalries with other teams, notably Leeds United and other London clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, which played a key part in reducing the prominence of the West London Derby. That is less true for Fulham fans, with the fact that their nearest neighbours have been more successful ensuring that matches against Chelsea retain a David vs Goliath factor. Fulham returned to the top division in 2001, putting the clubs in the same division for the first time since 1983-84. On 19 March 2006, Fulham beat Chelsea 1-0 for the first time in 27 years in a match marred by controversy and crowd trouble, which has arguably rekindled the derby somewhat. Chelsea gained revenge for this defeat on 23rd September with a 2-0 win at Craven Cottage, in which Frank Lampard struck twice. Thankfully there was little trouble before and after the game, due to a much higher than normal police presence, where they stopped fans entering the pitch after the game.
[edit] Results
As of 2 June 2006, there have been 64 competitive matches between the two teams since 1910, with Chelsea generally dominant having won more than half and lost only nine. Chelsea's highest margin of victory is 4-0, on 26 September 1925 and again on 7 April 1984, both of which were at Stamford Bridge and in the Second Division. Fulham's biggest win is 3-0, which came in an FA Cup 5th round replay on 14 February 1951. The highest number of goals scored in a derby match is eight, when Chelsea beat Fulham 5-3 on 8 October 1983.
| Chelsea wins | Draws | Fulham wins | |
|---|---|---|---|
| League | 33 | 15 | 7 |
| FA Cup | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| League Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 37 | 18 | 9 |
[edit] Recent results
| Venue | Date | Competition | Chelsea | Fulham |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craven Cottage | September 23, 2006 | FA Premier League | 2 | 0 |
| Craven Cottage | March 19, 2006 | FA Premier League | 0 | 1 |
| Stamford Bridge | December 26, 2005 | FA Premier League | 3 | 2 |
| Stamford Bridge | April 23, 2005 | FA Premier League | 3 | 1 |
| Craven Cottage | November 30, 2004 | League Cup Quarter-final | 2 | 1 |
| Craven Cottage | November 13, 2004 | FA Premier League | 4 | 1 |
| Stamford Bridge | March 20, 2004 | FA Premier League | 2 | 1 |
| Loftus Road | December 20, 2003 | FA Premier League | 1 | 0 |
| Stamford Bridge | April 26, 2003 | FA Premier League | 1 | 1 |
| Loftus Road | September 23, 2002 | FA Premier League | 0 | 0 |
| Villa Park | April 14, 2002 | FA Cup semi-final | 1 | 0 |
[edit] Notable matches
- Fulham 0–2 Chelsea (23 September 2006) – The teams were fairly evenly matched for two-thirds of the game, with both having good chances. The turning point came when the referee awarded a penalty kick to Chelsea after Liam Rosenior was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area; Frank Lampard successfully converted it. Lampard added a second from outside the area shortly afterwards to seal a 2-0 win. Fulham were angered at several refereeing decisions, particularly a failed claim for a penalty after Petr Čech and Michael Brown challenged for the ball. Chelsea, in turn, were angered that a late challenge by Brown on Ashley Cole went unpunished.
- Fulham 1–0 Chelsea (19 March 2006) – Fulham secured their first win over Chelsea since 1979 with a goal from Luís Boa Morte in a heated and controversial match. Champions-elect Chelsea had a Didier Drogba goal disallowed for a hand ball and William Gallas sent off, with the latter incident sparking a mass brawl of the players. After the final whistle, Fulham fans invaded the pitch, which provoked a similar action by the visiting Chelsea fans, which led to some clashes and arrests.
- Chelsea 1–0 Fulham (14 April 2002) – The most important match between the clubs in recent years, an FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park. Newly-promoted Fulham went into the match as underdogs, attempting to reach their first major final since 1975. By contrast, Chelsea were aiming for their fifth final in five years. John Terry's deflected shot just before half-time proved to be the difference between the sides, sending Chelsea into the final.
[edit] See also
- Sports rivalry.
- Local derby.
- Other examples of local derbys in the UK:
- The Steel City Derby between Sheffield's Wednesday and United.
- The North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham.
- The Manchester derby between Manchester United and Manchester City.
- The Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton.
- The South Coast derby between Portsmouth F.C. and Southampton F.C..
- The Old Firm derby between Rangers F.C. and Celtic F.C..
[edit] Notes
- ^ In 1965, the Metropolitan Borough of Fulham was merged with Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith, making possible a "borough" derby with neighbouring Queens Park Rangers.
