London derbies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term London Derbies refers to the various football local derbies between the teams in London. It specifically refers to individual matches between the teams, but can also be used to describe the general ongoing rivalry between the clubs and fans.

1 Teams in London
2 Major London derbies
3 Other London derbies
4 Recent matches
5 Trivia
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Teams in London

As of 2006 there are twelve clubs in the FA Premier League and Football League that play in the Greater London area.

Division	Team(s)
FA Premier League	Arsenal, Charlton Athletic, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United
Football League Championship	Crystal Palace, Queen's Park Rangers
Football League One	Brentford, Leyton Orient, Millwall,
Football League Two	Barnet

[edit] Major London derbies

Some of the most heated rivalries are between clubs that are geographically close together, including:

North London derby – between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. A rivalry has existed since Arsenal's move to the Highbury area of North London in 1913, and especially since Arsenal's promotion to the First Division in 1919.
West London derby – between Chelsea and Fulham. Although Fulham and Chelsea have not often played head-to-head due to Fulham's lower division status in the 1970s and 1980s, since Fulham's promotion to the FA Premier League in 2001 a rivalry between the two has resumed. In addition, matches between either side and Queen's Park Rangers are also heated affairs.
East London derby – between Millwall and West Ham United; as the two clubs have rarely been in the same division, again there have been relatively few encounters in recent years.
South London derby – between Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace. In addition, both clubs (but Palace especially) had a rivalry with Wimbledon before the latter's move to Milton Keynes in 2001.

[edit] Other London derbies

More generally, any match between two London sides - particularly those that have regularly competed in the same division of football together for any length of time - can be described as a "London derby".

[edit] Recent matches

In 2006, the two local London Derbies were heated affairs. Most notably the last North London Derby at Highbury on April 22nd 2006. During the second half two Arsenal players ran into each other. Emmanuel Eboue, out of position, stayed down, Tottenham played on and Robbie Keane scored which lead to a heated argument between Martin Jol and Arsene Wenger on the touchline while Jens Lehmann confronted and pushed Edgar Davids on the pitch. The match ended 1-1.

The West London Derby at Craven Cottage on Sun, March 19th 2006 was also a high-tempered match that saw Chelsea get 4 yellow cards while William Gallas received a straight red card for violent conduct in the final minutes as a total of 25 fouls were committed between the two teams with Fulham getting just the 1 yellow card. Further controversy fuelled the fire when Didier Drogba handled the ball in an attempt to claim an equaliser. The match ended with Fulham winning 2-1 causing Chelsea their third defeat of the season. At the end of the match Fulham fans invaded the pitch and celebrated.

Although not reaching the heights of it's rivalry in the 1970s and 80s, 2006 saw the return of a tense relationship between West Ham United and Arsenal. The match at Highbury on February 1, 2006 saw West Ham win 3-2 with each of the three goals scored by three Englishman - Nigel Reo-Coker, Bobby Zamora and Matthew Etherington. On its own their nationality wouldn't have been significant, however a month later saw West Ham manager Alan Pardew criticise Arsenal's lack of English players.

Although there appeared to be no ill intent toward Arsenal or foreign players and managers but his comments of "I kind of wondered where that British involvement actually was when I looked at their team. It's important that top clubs don't lose sight of the fact that it's the English Premier League and English players should be involved" were not well received by Arsene Wenger who suggested that Pardew was being racist stating in response "You don't expect managers to say sorry you don't have the right passport."

The 2006/07 season has seen the rivalries continue to expand. The November 5th 2006 match between West Ham and Arsenal, which West Ham won 1-0, saw the row from the previous season continue in spectacular fashion. Following Marlon Harewood's goal in the 89th minute, Arsene Wenger became incensed as Alan Pardew celebrated the goal an argument between the two managers began verbally and led to a shove between the two. As Pardew walked away Wenger forcefully grabbed the fourth officials arm and began to argue with him. Since then Wenger has not spoken to the media up to this point.

On the same day a pulsating match between Tottenham and Chelsea at White Hart Lane ended in Tottenham breaking a 16-year tradition of losing to Chelsea with a 2-1 home win over the West Londoners. The match was a short-tempered affair with bad tackles from Frank Lampard on Pascal Chimbonda and an apparent elbow from Hossam Ghaly. The game finished with a disallowed Chelsea goal, 15 fouls from each team, Tottenham receiving 3 yellow cards and Chelsea receiving six yellow cards including a straight red for John Terry - which later became apparent that it was for two different reasons - which led to a mass scuffle of players before Terry left the pitch. Starting with the final whistle and continuing for days afterwards Chelsea criticised and blamed the referee for the loss with José Mourinho, Ashley Cole and John Terry all commenting.

Mourinho's comments in particular what not well received by fellow managers. Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill and Tottenham manager Martin Jol came out in support of referee Graham Poll and Sir Alex Ferguson was unhappy that the Referees Chief of the Premier League was willing to have a meeting with Chelsea manager José Mourinho insisting "Now Hackett is meeting José Mourinho - Jesus, goodness me, what's going on in this world? Does he ever go to meet Arsene Wenger, Rafa Benitez or this old guy here? Is there a preference going out to Chelsea because they had a bad decision against them? It seems to be absolutely ludicrous that."

[edit] Trivia

Arsenal's David O'Leary has played in more North London derbies than any other player.
Tottenham have not beaten Arsenal Since November 1999.
Chelsea held a 16-year unbeaten streak against Tottenham in league matches from October 2, 1990 until November 5, 2006.
Tottenham are unbeaten in their last seven games against West Ham at White Hart Lane
Teddy Sheringham and Ian Wright have both played for three London Teams. Sheringham for Millwall, Tottenham, and presently West Ham while Ian Wright previously played for Crystal Palace, Arsenal and West Ham.
Neil 'Razor' Ruddock has played for a total of four different London sides - Millwall, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, and Crystal Palace.