South Wales derby

South Wales derby

Locale	South Wales
Teams	Cardiff City and Swansea City
First contested	7 September 1912
Most recent meeting	Swansea City 3-0 Cardiff City (8 February 2014)
Next meeting	Unknown
Statistics
Number of meetings	107
Most wins	Cardiff City (44 wins)
Most player appearances	Roger Freestone (19)
Largest victory	Cardiff City 5–0 Swansea Town (6 April 1965)

The South Wales derby is a football local derby between Welsh clubs Cardiff City and Swansea City and is regarded as one of the most fierce rivalries in British football.^[1][2] Despite both clubs being in Wales, they play in the English football league system and have won English honours: Cardiff the FA Cup in 1927 and Swansea the Football League Cup in 2013.

The most recent South Wales derby to be played took place on 8 February 2014 in the Premier League, which ended with a 3–0 win to Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.

History

The first match between the two sides took place on 7 September 1912 at Swansea Town's Vetch Field, a Southern Football League Division Two match ending in a 1–1 draw. Over the next two decades, as they rose to the national Football League, the clubs met frequently not only in league competition but also in the Welsh Cup as at the time they were two of the best Welsh teams and as such often progressed further into the tournament.

During the last few decades both clubs have been plagued by football hooliganism, notably Cardiff whose Soul Crew became notorious through their actions,^[3][4] and matches between the sides have often been marred by violence between the rival sets of supporters.

In September 1988, after seeing their side win in Swansea, a group of Cardiff fans were chased into the sea by a group of Swansea fans. Since then, Swansea fans mockingly suggest to their Cardiff City rivals that they "swim away", in reference to the event.^[5]

On 23 December 1993 a match between the two sides was dubbed 'The Battle Of Ninian Park' as Swansea fans were placed in the grandstand for the game. As Cardiff went up 1–0, The Swansea fans began ripping out seats and throwing them at the Cardiff supporters, which resulted in the home fans invading the pitch. The following day national news showing pictures of the violence shocked the nation, forcing the FAW to ban away fans from this fixture for several years, the first fixture in Britain to do so.

Although in recent years the hooligan violence of both sides has sharply decreased matches between the two sides can still see serious trouble, as such any games between the two teams are normally subject to a much higher level of policing than normal matches (bubble matches). A heavy police presence was also required when Swansea fans travelled to Cardiff when they played at the Millennium Stadium in the Football League Trophy final in 2006.^[6]

In recent years the South Wales derby has taken place less frequently as Cardiff City moved up the leagues whilst Swansea fell on bad times and nearly dropped out of the football league and hence avoided each other. The first derby to take place in just under a decade took place in the League Cup on 23 September 2008 with Swansea winning 1–0. The match saw sets of supporters from both clubs clash with police after the match.^[7] The return fixture, on 5 April 2009 at Ninian Park, was marred by referee Mike Dean being hit in the head by a coin thrown from the Cardiff crowd, as well as Cardiff fans clashing with police after the match.^[8] The violence led to 5 arrests on the day and more following the use of CCTV footage.

The first derby of the 2009–10 season on 7 November 2009 at the Liberty Stadium ended in a 3–2 win for Swansea and again saw crowd disturbance as hundreds of Swansea fans waited outside the ground for the Cardiff City fans to depart. This resulted in a total fifteen arrests made during and after the match. Cardiff City fans also vandalised the North Stand in which they were placed for the game for the second year in a row. Seats and toilets were vandalised, pipe work ripped from walls and doors broken in the away fans' area. The cost of the damage is said to cost thousands of pounds. However, police praised the majority of supporters for their behaviour before, during and after the game which was attended by more than 18,000 fans. Divisional Commander for Swansea, Ch Supt Mark Mathias, who was in charge of policing the match, said: "The overwhelming majority of fans behaved extremely well."^[9][10][11]

The first two South Wales derby in the Top Division took place during the 2013-14 season, following Cardiff's promotion from Championship, Cardiff City won the 1st ever Premier League Welsh Derby 1-0 from ex Swansea defender, Steven Caulker heading home for the Bluebirds. The return fixture at The Liberty Stadium saw Swansea win 3-0 after a high pressure build up with Garry Monk taking charge for his 1st game as Swansea manager.

Record

Results summary

From 107 competitive games: Cardiff City 44 Wins Swansea City 35 Wins 27 Draws
Last Result
Swansea City 3 Cardiff City 0 (Routledge, 47), (Dyer, 79), (Bony, 85) Saturday 8 February 2014 Premier League, Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales Attendance: 20,402

Tournament-wide summary, as of 8 February 2014

Competition	Total Matches	Cardiff Win	Draw	Swansea Win
League	56	19	16	21
FA Cup	1	0	0	1
League Cup	5	2	0	3
Associate Members Cup	4	1	1	2
Welsh Cup/FAW Premier Cup	36	21	8	7
Southern League	4	1	2	1
Total	107	44	27	35

Game list

Only results from English football league system competitions are counted in the following tally. Friendlies and Welsh cup tournament matches are not included.

The most recent game resulted in a 3–0 win for Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.

      Cardiff City win       Swansea City win       Draw

Date	Competition	Stadium	Score	Cardiff City Scorers	Swansea City Scorers	Att.	Ref
Cardiff City were relegated to Championship 2013–14
8 February 2014	Premier League	Liberty Stadium	3–0		Wayne Routledge, Nathan Dyer, Wilfried Bony	20,402	[12]
3 November 2013	Premier League	Cardiff City Stadium	1–0	Steven Caulker		27,463	[13]
Cardiff City were promoted to Premier League 2012–13
Swansea City were promoted to Premier League 2010–11
6 February 2011	Championship	Liberty Stadium	1–0	Craig Bellamy		18,280	[14]
7 November 2010	Championship	Cardiff City Stadium	1–0		Marvin Emnes	26,049	[15]
3 April 2010	Championship	Cardiff City Stadium	2–1	Michael Chopra (2)	Andrea Orlandi	25,130	[16]
7 November 2009	Championship	Liberty Stadium	3–2	Jay Bothroyd, Mark Hudson	Nathan Dyer, Darren Pratley (2)	18,209	[17]
5 April 2009	Championship	Ninian Park	2–2	Michael Chopra, Ross McCormack	Nathan Dyer, Joe Allen	20,156	[18]
30 November 2008	Championship	Liberty Stadium	2–2	Joe Ledley, Ross McCormack	Darren Pratley, Gorka Pintado	18,053	[19]
23 September 2008	League Cup	Liberty Stadium	1–0		Jordi Gómez	17,411	[20]
Swansea City were promoted to Championship 2007–08
Swansea City were promoted to League One 2004–05
Cardiff City were promoted to First Division 2002–03
Cardiff City were promoted to Second Division 2000–01 Swansea City were relegated to Third Division 2000–01
Cardiff City relegated to Third Division 1999-00 Swansea City were promoted to Second Division 1999-00
18 April 1999	Third Division	Ninian Park	0–0			10809
22 November 1998	Third Division	Vetch Field	2–1	John Williams	Martin Thomas, Matthew Bound	7757
Cardiff City promoted to Second Division 1998–99
8 March 1998	Third Division	Vetch Field	1–1	Jason Fowler	Jon Coates	5621
2 November 1997	Third Division	Ninian Park	1–0		Keith Walker	6459
2 March 1997	Third Division	Vetch Field	1–0	Simon Haworth		4430
3 December 1996	Third Division	Ninian Park	3–1	Steve White	Kwame Ampadu, Steve Jones, Dai Thomas	3721
Swansea City relegated to Third Division 1995–96
Cardiff City relegated to Third Division 1994–95
2 April 1994	Second Division	Vetch Field	1–0		David Penney	3711
22 December 1993	Second Division	Ninian Park	1–0	Garry Thompson		9815
Cardiff City promoted to Second Division 1992–93
16 November 1991	FA Cup	Vetch Field	2–1	Nathan Blake	Jimmy Gilligan, Mark Harris	13516
Cardiff City relegated to Fourth Division 1989–90
16 April 1990	Division 3	Ninian Park	2–0		John Hughes, Bryan Wade	8356
26 December 1989	Division 3	Vetch Field	1–0	Leigh Barnard		12244
27 March 1989	Division 3	Vetch Field	1–1	Jimmy Gilligan	Paul Raynor	9201
26 December 1988	Division 3	Ninian Park	2–2	Jimmy Gilligan (2)	David Puckett, Alan Davies	10675
20 September 1988	League Cup	Vetch Field	2–0	Paul Wheeler, Terry Boyle		6987
30 August 1988	League Cup	Ninian Park	1–0		Steve Thornber	6241
Cardiff City & Swansea City were promoted to Division 3 1987–88
1 January 1988	Division 4	Vetch Field	2–2	Mike Ford, Jimmy Gilligan	Joe Allon, Paul Raynor	9560
29 August 1987	Division 4	Ninian Park	1–0	Jimmy Gilligan		5790
20 April 1987	Division 4	Vetch Field	2–0		Paul Atkinson, Terry Boyle (own goal)	6653
26 December 1986	Division 4	Ninian Park	0–0			11450
Cardiff City & Swansea relegated to Division 4 1985–86
31 March 1986	Division 3	Vetch Field	2–0		David Hough, Phil Williams	6643
26 December 1985	Division 3	Ninian Park	1–0	Nigel Vaughan		8375
3 September 1985	League Cup	Vetch Field	3–1	Mark Farrington	Colin Randell (2), Colin Pascoe	4621
20 August 1985	League Cup	Ninian Park	2–1	Brian Flynn (2)	Chris Marustik	4218
Cardiff City relegated to Division 3 1984–85
Swansea City relegated to Division 3 1983–84
21 April 1984	Division 2	Vetch Field	3–2	Colin Smith, Gordon Owen	Dean Saunders (2), Ian Walsh	10275
26 December 1983	Division 2	Ninian Park	3–2	Roger Gibbins, Nigel Vaughan, Trevor Lee	Gary Stanley(pen), John Toshack	14580
Cardiff City promoted to Division 2 1982–83 Swansea City relegated to Division 2 1982–93
Cardiff City relegated to Division 3 1981–82
Swansea City promoted to Division 1 1980–81
19 April 1981	Division 2	Vetch Field	1–1	Peter Kitchen	Leighton James	19038
27 December 1980	Division 2	Ninian Park	3–3	Gary Stevens, Peter Kitchen, John Buchanan	Neil Robinson, Alan Curtis, Leighton James	21198
7 April 1980	Division 2	Ninian Park	1–0	Billy Ronson		14634
1 January 1980	Division 2	Vetch Field	2–1	John Lewis	John Toshack, David Giles	21306
Swansea City promoted to Division 2 1978–79
Swansea City promoted to Division 3 1977–78
Cardiff City promoted to Division 2 1975–76
Cardiff City relegated to Division 3 1974–75
Swansea City relegated to Division 4 1972–73
Swansea City promoted to Division 3 1969–70
Swansea City relegated to Division 4 1966–67
Swansea City relegated to Division 3 1964–65
6 April 1965	Division 2	Ninian Park	5–0	Ivor Allchurch (3), John Charles (2)		15896
26 December 1964	Division 2	Vetch Field	3–2	Keith Ellis (2)		17875
28 March 1964	Division 2	Vetch Field	3–0			18721
19 October 1963	Division 2	Ninian Park	1–1	Dick Scott (pen)		21417
15 September 1962	Division 2	Ninian Park	5–2	P Davies (og), John Charles (2), Alan McIntosh, Peter Hooper		23454
4 September 1962	Division 2	Vetch Field	2–1	John Charles		24687
Cardiff City relegated to Division 2 1961–62
Cardiff City promoted to Division 1 1959–60
26 March 1960	Division 2	Vetch Field	3–3	Joe Bonson, Graham Moore, Brian Walsh		24004
7 November 1959	Division 2	Ninian Park	2–1	Derrick Sullivan, Joe Bonson		34881
15 April 1959	Division 2	Vetch Field	3–1	George Kelly (2), Mel Nurse (og)		14893
7 March 1959	Division 2	Ninian Park	1–0			24450
21 December 1957	Division 2	Vetch Field	1–0	Colin Hudson		19483
24 August 1957	Division 2	Ninian Park	0–0			42482
Cardiff City relegated to Division 2 1956–57
Cardiff City promoted to Division 1 1951–52
26 December 1951	Division 2	Ninian Park	3–0	Billy Baker, Wilf Grant, Mike Tiddy		46003|
25 December 1951	Division 2	Vetch Field	1–1	Mike Tiddy		19260
24 March 1951	Division 2	Ninian Park	1–0	Marwood Marchant		41074
4 November 1950	Division 2	Vetch Field	1–0			26393
24 December 1949	Division 2	Vetch Field	5–1	Ron Stitfall		27264
27 August 1949	Division 2	Ninian Park	1–0	Thomas Best		60855
Swansea City promoted to Division 2 1948–49
Cardiff City promoted to Division 2 Swansea City relegated to Third Division South 1946–47
26 October 1940	Friendly	Ninian Park	8–0	John Moore (3), Billy James (3), Reg Parker (2)		4000
No competitive football was played between 1939 and 1946 due to World War II
20 August 1938	Friendly	Ninian Park	3–3			10,000
Cardiff City relegated to Third Division South 1930–31
27 December 1930	Division 2	Ninian Park	1–0	Les Jones		24232
30 August 1930	Division 2	Vetch Field	3–2	Ralph Williams (2)		20363
8 February 1930	Division 2	Vetch Field	1–0			22121
5 October 1929	Division 2	Ninian Park	0–0			29093
Cardiff City relegated to Division 2 1928–29
Swansea City promoted to Division 2 1924–25
Cardiff City promoted to Division 1 1920–21
In 1915, competitive football was abandoned in Britain owing to World War I
Cardiff City promoted to Southern Football League Division 1 1912–13
15 March 1913	SFL Division 2	Ninian Park	0–0			10000
7 September 1912	SFL Division 2	Vetch Field	1–1	Jack Burton	Billy Ball	8000

Memorable matches

• Swansea Town 1–1 Cardiff City (7 September 1912) – The first ever meeting between the two sides. Billy Ball opened the scoring for Swansea after hitting in a rebound as the ball came off the post only for Cardiff captain Jack Burton to head in an equaliser.

• Swansea Town 3–3 Cardiff City (20 August 1938) – The match took place under the name of a Jubilee Benevolent Fund match and although the match was regarded as nothing more than a pre-season friendly the 10,000 crowd were not left wanting for action as Cardiff went 1–0 and 2–1 up only to be forced to grab a late equaliser to salvage a draw.

• Cardiff City 8–0 Swansea Town (26 October 1940) – A wartime league match ended in disaster for Swansea as they were on the receiving end of the "Bluebirds Blitzkrieg", as it was named, with a hattrick each for John Moore and Billy James and two goals for Reg Parker saw Swansea suffer a heavy defeat.

• Cardiff City 5–0 Swansea Town (6 April 1965) – A match mostly remembered as one of the most sporting matches to take place between the teams. The 15,000 strong Ninian Park crowd were treated to a fine performance from Cardiff, Swansea and Wales legends Ivor Allchurch and John Charles who found the net five times between them (Allchurch (3) and Charles (2)) to doom Swansea to relegation.

• Swansea City 4–1 Cardiff City (7 March 1995) – Heavy snowfall prior to kick-off saw the teams compete in a snow covered pitch with the use of an orange ball. Late in the first-half Swansea fired in three goals in the space of nine minutes to lead 3–0 at halftime. They added a fourth in the second-half before Cardiff grabbed a late consolation goal. End of this season Cardiff relegated to basement level.

• Swansea City 2–1 Cardiff City (22 November 1998) – Unknown at the time this was the last ever derby at the Vetch Field. Former Swans striker John Williams put the Bluebirds ahead in the 4th minute. But a second half come back saw Julian Alsop equalise in the 65th minute and Matthew Bound to win it for Swansea City in the last minute of normal time.

• Swansea City 1–0 Cardiff City (23 September 2008) – This was the first Derby match in six years. Although they were set to play each other in the league they were both drawn to play each other in the League Cup. This was also the first derby hosted at the Liberty Stadium. A lot of attention surrounded the game but the Swans came out on top as a Jordi Gomez deflected free kick was enough to win the game for them. Cardiff captain Stephen McPhail was later sent off for two bookable offences to further more misery for the Bluebirds.

• Cardiff City 2 – 2 Swansea City (5 April 2009) – This was the last derby match at Ninian Park. Referee Mike Dean had a coin thrown at him by a Cardiff City supporter during the game which caused an injury. In a very thrilling game Nathan Dyer gave the Swans the lead in the 11th minute. But after a lot of pressure from the Bluebirds, Michael Chopra equalised in the 54th minute. They continued the pressure but couldn't get that second goal. Then the Swans hit back as youngster Joe Allen put them back ahead 2–1 in the 88th minute which looked to have won the game for them. But a contreversial penalty converted by Ross McCormack in the 90th minute shared all the spoils.

• Cardiff City 2 – 1 Swansea City (3 April 2010) – This was the first South Wales Derby at the new Cardiff City Stadium that saw Cardiff and Swansea sitting in Play-off positions, 4th and 5th in the Football League Championship. It was billed as arguably the biggest South Wales derby of all time^[21] in respect to the position of the teams and how close it came to the end of the season. The match ended 2–1 to Cardiff with a 91st Minute winner from Cardiff's Michael Chopra

• Cardiff City 0 – 1 Swansea City (7 November 2010) – A lot of press attention was made in build up to the game as both teams were challenging in the play offs for promotion to the Premier League. Both teams had chances but in the 75th minute on loan Middlesbrough player Marvin Emnes put the Swans 1–0 up which was enough to win the game. This was Swansea's first win in the new Cardiff City stadium at the second time of asking.

• Swansea City 0 – 1 Cardiff City (6 February 2011) – A lot of attention surrounded the game once again as both teams were challenging in the play offs for promotion to the Premier League. This was also a chance for Swansea to do the first ever league double in the South Wales derby. In a very tight game local Cardiff born striker Craig Bellamy scored an 85 minute winner.

• Cardiff City 1 – 0 Swansea City (3 November 2013) – The first top flight and Premier League meeting between the pair (and therefore the first ever Premier League game to be played entirely outside England involving no English teams). In a tight affair with few chances former Swansea loan player Steven Caulker headed home the winner in the 62nd minute and Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm was sent off during injury time.

• Swansea City 3 – 0 Cardiff City (8 February 2014) – The first Premier League meeting between the two clubs to be held at the Liberty Stadium. In what would end up being the largest Swansea City win over Cardiff City since 1995 and the largest in the league since 1954 (also ended 3-0). A tight first half saw chances limited for both sides with Swansea having the most of the possession. Early chances for Swansea came to nothing and the teams went into half-time even. Routledge scored the games opener after a sublime through ball from Pablo Hernández. Craig Bellamy hit the crossbar with an excellent pile-driving shot soon after, but headers from Nathan Dyer and Wilfried Bony in the 79th and 85th minutes put the game out of Cardiff's reach.

Player records

Most derby appearances*

Ranking	Player	Derby Appearances	Club
1	Roger Freestone	19	Swansea City
2=	Ivor Allchurch	17	Swansea Town & Cardiff City
2=	Alan Harrington	17	Cardiff City
2=	Herbie Williams	17	Swansea Town
5	Ron Stitfall	16	Cardiff City

0* – Excluding wartime fixtures.

Most derby goals*

Ranking	Player	Goals	Club
1	Brayley Reynolds	8	Swansea Town
2	Ronnie Williams	7	Swansea Town
3=	Jimmy Gilligan	6	Cardiff City & Swansea Town
3=	Herbie Williams	6	Swansea Town
5=	George Johnston	4	Cardiff City
5=	John Toshack	4	Cardiff City & Swansea City

0* – Excluding wartime fixtures.

Crossing the South Wales divide

A number of players who have played for both clubs during their career

Ivor Allchurch Jason Bowen Terry Boyle Paul Brayson Derek Brazil Steven Caulker Mel Charles John Cornforth Alan Curtis Peter Donnelly George Edwards Warren Feeney Roger Gibbins David Giles Jimmy Gilligan Mark Harris

Barrie Hole Robbie James Leslie Jones Dimitrios Konstantopoulos Andy Legg Don Murray Dave Penney Brayley Reynolds Wayne Routledge Dean Saunders Nigel Stevenson Dai Thomas John Toshack Ian Walsh Paul Wimbleton

Newport rivalry

Newport County are also part of South Wales derbies, regarding both Cardiff City and Swansea City as rivals, but particularly Cardiff for reasons of proximity and historic rivalry between the two cities. 24,268 spectators saw County and Cardiff play at Somerton Park Newport in 1937, which remained a ground record despite other high attendances for derby games between the clubs in the 1970s and 1980s. The clubs' relative league positions meant that Newport have rarely played Cardiff or Swansea since 1989, though they have faced each other in cup competitions; the most recent encounter being Newport's FAW Premier Cup victory against Cardiff at Ninian Park in February 2008.

A 2008 survey carried out by Planetfootball.com saw Swansea fans not even vote Newport into their top three rivalries, instead finishing behind Cardiff, Bristol City and Bristol Rovers, while Cardiff fans voted that they considered Bristol City, known as the Severnside derby, to be more of a rivalry than Newport.^[22]

References

Further reading

• Dean Hayes, The South Wales Derbies: A History of Cardiff City versus Swansea City

Cardiff City Football Club History Seasons Academy Managers Captains Europe Statistics Players Centurions <100 appearances Internationals All players Grounds Ninian Park Cardiff City Stadium Rivalries South Wales derby Severnside Derby Songs & Celebrations The Ayatollah Bluebirds Flying High Men of Harlech Miscellaneous Women's team Soul Crew Head to Head record Player of the Year

Swansea City Association Football Club Managers History Seasons Records Honours Current season Players 100+ appearances Internationals All players Home stadium Vetch Field (1912–2005) Liberty Stadium (2005–) Training ground Llandarcy Sports Complex Other teams Reserves Ladies Media Jack to a King – The Swansea Story Rivalries League record by opponent South Wales derby Related articles Cyril the Swan Huw Jenkins (Welsh businessman) All articles Book:Swansea City A.F.C. Category:Swansea City A.F.C. Portal:Association football Commons:Swansea

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