M23 derby

M23 derby

Locale	Southern England
Teams	Brighton & Hove Albion Crystal Palace
First meeting	Brighton 0–2 Palace (25 December 1920)[1]
Statistics
Meetings total	99
Most wins	37 each

The M23 derby is the derby between English football teams Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace. The name comes from the motorway between Sussex and south London. It is one of the fiercest derbies in English football, with both sets of fans recognising one another as their team's main rival.^[2]

Crystal Palace have a number of nearer clubs, making the rivalry one of the strangest in English football. It began in the 1940 and 1950s when the clubs met 21 times in twelve years and came to full force in the 1976/77 season.^[3]

The two teams are evenly matched with 37 wins each and 24 drawn 24 matches.^[4] Palace have won five cup games and Brighton two while Brighton have won 35 league games and Palace 32.

Rivalry Background

Although the rivalry has its beginnings in the 1940 and 1950s where the clubs met 21 times in twelve years, it came to full force in the 1970s. In 1976, Terry Venables became Crystal Palace manager and Alan Mullery Brighton manager. The two had spent time together on the field as players at Tottenham, and Venables was second in command to Mullery’s captaincy at the club; Mullery has described this power dynamic as a reason for the rivalry between them. Both managers were set the same task: promotion from the Third Division.^[3]

The clubs first met in the league that season at The Goldstone on 2 October when the match ended 1-1; during the match, three smoke bombs were thrown onto the pitch. The clubs were then drawn in the first round of the FA Cup, played on 20 November at The Goldstone; the match ended 2-2. A replay took place at Selhurst three days later; the match finished 1-1 after extra time and the teams faced a second replay. In both matches Brighton were described as dominating much of the game.^[3]

The second replay, postponed twice due to bad weather, took place at Stamford Bridge on 6 December and “was prefaced by much verbal propaganda of the chest-thumping variety”. Palace took the lead at the 18 minute mark through Paul Holder. Brighton’s Peter Ward had a goal disallowed shortly after as he was adjudged to have handled the ball, although Palace’s Jim Cannon later admitted this only occurred due to him shoving the Brighton striker. In the 78th minute, Brighton were awarded a penalty which was converted by Brian Horton only to be disallowed as referee Ron Challis adjudged that players had encroached the penalty area, though it is believed only Palace players encroached. Horton retook the penalty and this time it was saved by the Palace keeper, Paul Hammond. The match ended 1-0 to Crystal Palace.^[3]

After the match Mullery approached Challis to discuss the decision. As Mullery walked away down the tunnel a Crystal Palace supporter poured coffee over him. In response Mullery pulled some loose change from his pocket, threw it to the floor and exclaimed "That's all you're worth, Crystal Palace!" with, what the Guardian described as "none too polite signs". Mullery was led away by police and charged £100 by the FA for bringing the game into disrepute.^[3]

On the 12 March 1977, the two teams met again in the league at Selhurst and Palace ran out 3-1 winners.^[3]

That season both teams were promoted as runners-up, with Brighton finishing two points in front of Palace. Brighton also rebranded that season, changing from the Dolphins to become the Seagulls, in direct opposition to the Crystal Palace Eagles.^[3]

The rivalry continued with the clubs meeting with the same objective and same managers in the 1978-79 season, this time vying for a spot in the top flight of English football. Brighton completed their season top of the league but Palace had a game in hand to play against Burnley; Palace won the match and took the title by one point.^[3]

Mullery states that the rivalry was fuelled by both competition between the teams and directly between the managers. Mullery would go on to manage Crystal Palace for two season (1982–1984) then would return to Brighton for the 1986-87 season.^[3]

Brighton’s off the field problems in the 1990s led to the clubs only meeting four times in the league between 1990 and 2011.

Recent encounters

The first game between the two teams at Brighton's new stadium was won by Crystal Palace, 3–1.^[5] The most recent derby was won 0–2 by Palace at the Amex Stadium in the 2012–13 Championship Playoff Semi-finals.

Players who have represented both clubs

The following footballers have played for both Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Match History - Summary

The two teams have played a total of 98 games in league and cup. Scoring a total of 266 goals (2.7 per game), Brighton scoring 130 (1.3 per game) and Palace 138 (1.4 per game)^[1]

Match History

League

Other

See also

• Sports rivalry
• Local derbies in the United Kingdom

Footnotes and references