r/SaintsFC•12 yr. ago

The Not-so-weekly Feature: El Classicoast

Good afternoon to you all! r/SaintsFC has grown exponentially in the past couple of seasons, in fact we've been the second fastest growing Premier League subreddit since April. It's been a lovely place to discuss matches, players, managers, transfers, despair and exoduses. I've seen more Southampton crests than ever on r/Soccer with the majority of them speaking a lot of sense. But as lovely as it is to discuss line-ups, matches and transfers, it'd be good to have some more frequent discussion topics and content here as well. So instead of sitting here moping about it, why not ruddy do it myself!

With the Premier League getting much more coverage in the United States and the rest of the world, I'm sure we've also gained a lot of newer fans too. Interest in football is globally at a significant high coming off the back of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and a lot of people new to the sport have been looking for leagues and clubs to follow and support. We're in the top flight, we're playing attractive football and getting good results with a team full of potential so it's the perfect mix for someone wanting to start supporting a successful team without jumping onto a team like Man Utd or Chelsea. I can't imagine how difficult it must be a fan of a team so far away from you, not being able to walk over the Itchen Bridge and see St. Mary's Stadium gleaming in white on a Saturday afternoon or standing at the top of the Northam End with a Pie and Bovril on a cold Tuesday night in December shouting expletives at the away fans and/or the ref.

In this series of features, I plan to view, detail and focus on particular aspects of Southampton FC and our history. Maybe it's a particular match or a season, maybe a player or a manager, maybe some backroom drama or cup upsets. If you're a newer fan then hopefully you can get a better idea about the culture and history surrounding the club; if you're an older fan then maybe you'll come across something you didn't know before or you can just sit back and silently gloat that you already knew all of that (and also correct me if I've done anything wrong!) Hopefully I can churn one of these out each week but occasionally it might be less frequent if work is particularly busy or it could be more frequent if I've got less on. If you have any suggestions for things you'd like to see covered or discussed then send me a PM or pop a comment down below; I'd really appreciate feedback and ideas. I can't promise that they'll all be as long as this, it really depends on what the topic is and how much time I have spare!

For the debut week, what better subject to discuss than our friendly rivals Portsmouth FC? It's one of the strongest rivalries in England and the South Coast Derby is always greatly anticipated. But where did it all start?

There's much debate as to how long the rivalry between the two clubs has existed. Some fans say that it's been going on for centuries whereas other claim it's a more recent affair dating back just a few decades. Whatever source you trust, it's impossible to argue over the level of animosity that currently exists between the two clubs. Portsmouth sits on the south coast of England just 17 miles east of Southampton with both cities being important docks in maritime history. Portsmouth for the Navy and Southampton for Commercial I think it'd be fair to say that Southampton is the prettier of the two cities with a lot more going for it although that gulf is gradually decreasing.

As with all rivalries, insults and nicknames are commonplace. Pompey fans affectionately refer to the Saints as 'Scummers'. The origin of this name is also much contested. Many Portsmouth fans will tell you that this is due to Southampton dock workers crossing their picket lines during dockyard strikes in the 1930's. At the time, these workers would've been represented by the 'Southampton City Union Men' also known as SCUM. Although there is no known record of the strike having taken place. Southampton on the other hand refer to Pompey as 'Skates'. This has a much clearer history with very little debate as to the origin. When Royal Navy sailors were at sea for months on end, they would often use Skate fish to relieve their sexual frustrations (I won't go into details here, you can probably use your imagination).

With the formation of the Southern League in the late 19th Century, Saints vs Pompey was a regular fixture as both teams regularly battled it out for the division title. It wasn't uncommon for stones to be thrown at Southampton fans during matches at Fratton Park and in the past few decades the violence has escalated. Incidents of nearby hosue windows being smashed by away fans is incredibly common although some would argue that in the past few derbies it has become a bit more toned down and well policed. If you're interested in seeing some footage from how the local police and authorities deal with the fans and the violence then there's short documentary made for BBC Inside Out a few years ago that you can watch here on YouTube.

##KEY FACTS

Played 70
Won 34 (48.6%)
Drawn 15 (21.4%)
Lost 21 (30%)
Overall Score: Southampton 113-91 Porstmouth
Biggest Win: 4-0 in 1976 (Also won 5 - 1 in 1906, 1920 and 1960)
Biggest Defeat: 1-5 in 1919
Half of all meetings happened between 1900 and 1920
Longest period between derbies: 33 years (Between 1927 and 1960)
Last win away from home: FA Cup Fourth Round in 1984
Played just 9 times since 2000

PLAYERS AND MANAGERS

Over the years, 53 players have been on the pitch in both Portsmouth and Southampton shirts and 2 managers have sat in the dugouts of both Fratton Park and St. Mary's.

Mick Channon is a name that should be extremely familiar to the majority of those reading this, he played 510 times for Southampton FC and scored an incredible 185 goals. A few years after his final departure from the club in 1982, he wound up playing for Portsmouth in the 1985-86 season scoring six goals. He retired from professional football that season.

Peter Crouch (Currently playing for Stoke City) was in Portsmouth's squad for the 2001-02 season scoring 18 from 37 games. After a couple of years on Aston Villa's wageslip, he joined Southampton for the 2004-05 season scoring 12 from 27 games. Famously, he scored a last minute penalty to put Southampton 2-1 up on Pompey which knocked them out of the FA Cup competition.

Harry Redknapp (Currently managing QPR) has had a rather interesting history on the South Coast. Between 2002 and 2004, Redknapp managed Portsmouth to a Division One title gaining promotion to the Premier League before falling out with the club's owner. A few weeks after his departure, Redknapp was announced as Southampton FC's new manager which caused the rivalry to heat up to a never before seen level. Portsmouth fans donned T-Shirts with slogans such as 'Scummer', 'Judas' and 'Rot in Hell Redknapp'. He was tasked with keeping Southampton in the Premier League which he was unsuccessful at ending Southampton's 27 year run in the top division of English football. Having spent just one full season with the Saints, he abandoned ship just three months into the Championship campaign and found himself a job at (you guessed it) Portsmouth! Pompey were struggling in the Premier League that season but he managed to avoid a second successive relegation and ended up winning the FA Cup with them during his time there. As a result of his one year visit in which he had us demoted before returning to glory with Portsmouth, he's not much of a fan favourite around Southampton. If you want to shout some abuse at him, he'll be in the dugout in a few weeks time at St. Mary's when we host QPR.

SONGS AND CHANTS

If you've been to even a single game at St. Mary's, you'll recognise it instantly. It's been sung from the stands several times a game at every single game I've ever attended.

When I was just a little boy,

I asked my mother what should I be,

Should I be Pompey,

Should I be Saints,

Here’s what she said to me,

Wash your mouth out son,

And go get your father's gun,

And shoot the Pompey scum,

And support the saints,

We hate Pompey!

MOST RECENT FIXTURE

The last time Southampton vs Portsmouth appeared on the fixture list was 7th April 2012 when Southampton were on their double promotion run and Portsmouth were getting relegated for fun. They'd met in Fratton Park the December before and drew 1-1.

You can see our lineup for this fixture here. Just Schneiderlin and Fonte remain regular starters for us today with Cork on the bench. It started positively for Southampton, Sharp scored from close range to put us 1-0 up inside half an hour. We weren't in front for long however as Maguire equalized for Pompey with a great strike from the corner of the box. It looked like it would finish 1-1 for the second time that season but on the 89th minute Billy Sharp struck gold and put us 2-1 up. There was a heart attack moment for Saints fans as the late winner was initially ruled offside but the decision was overturned following a discussion with the linesman. But in typical Saints fashion, we couldn't hang on those few extra minutes and deep into injury time we conceded once more to finish 2-2.

NEXT FIXTURE?

In January 2015, it'll be a full 10 years since we last beat Portsmouth thanks to that Peter Crouch penalty. We've played on four occasions since then losing twice and drawing twice. If we were to meet again it would be an extremely different atmosphere as well as a different pace of a game. We're now three divisions apart and I'd like to think there's no chance at all of losing as we currently stand. Seeing as it will be a good few years before we meet in the same league again, our only chance of a derby match is to draw them in either the League or FA Cup. Portsmouth are already out of the League Cup this year but we do have a chance of playing them in the Third Round of the FA Cup in January if they were to make it that far although it is a very small chance indeed.

As an aside, Southampton were drawn at home to Portsmouth in the FA Youth Cup at the end of last year. Thousands attended the game which was a record attendance for the competition and they weren't disappointed! Final score: Southampton 7-0 Portsmouth. Sam Gallagher got himself a hat-trick in the second half with additional goals from Irvine, Hesketh and Mason. You can happily view the highlights on YouTube here!