Southampton vs Portsmouth: One of the Most Ferocious Rivalries in the UK Is Back | OneFootball

One of the feistiest and most anticipated derbies in the UK returns this weekend, with Southampton playing host to Portsmouth in the Championship for the first time since 2012 – 4908 days ago.

Although they’re two clubs of similar stature, the Hampshire-based teams have played each other a surprisingly few number of times in the league, with this clash being the 33rd since their first competitive match in 1900.

This will be just the tenth meeting between the two sides since the turn of the millennium, despite them meeting 5 times between 2003 and 2005 when both were in the Premier League. It’s also only their seventh league meeting in 37 years.

The Saints are unbeaten in all three league meetings at St Mary’s (W2, D1) and haven’t lost this fixture at home in the league since a 2-0 loss in 1988, despite having lost 4-1 in the FA Cup in 2010.

The last time these two met was at Fratton Park in 2019, where the Premier League visitors won 4-0 against the League One hosts, with local lad Danny Ings scoring two in the first half before second-half strikes from Cedric Soares and Nathan Redmond secured a record away win in a South Coast Derby.

It was also the biggest football police operation in Hampshire, with this weekend’s clash expected to be the first to eclipse it.

Despite the meeting being just six years ago, Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy is the only player in either squad to have featured in this fixture and is unlikely to play this weekend as he plays understudy to former Portsmouth loanee Gavin Bazunu.

This match won’t just be the first South Coast derby for every player on the pitch but the first game in new colours for some as well, following the end of window signings of Tom Fellows, Leonardo Scienza, Caspar Jander and Elias Jelert for the Saints, as well as the deadline day arrivals of Josef Bursik, Franco Umeh and Makenzie Kirk for the visitors.

History of the Rivalry

“The rivalry predates football,” according to Colin Farmery, the author of ’17 Miles from Paradise’, a book about the South Coast derby – and he’s right.

Two coastal cities; the rivalry brewed from the docks. Southampton’s port was a commercial one, whereas Portsmouth’s was military. The affluence of Southampton in comparison to Portsmouth caused disputes and stoked a ‘civic and economic rivalry’ between the two cities.

This rivalry was relatively separate from the football pitch for a while, though. The Saints formed out of a church in 1885, 13 years before their rivals, and the two sides competed regularly in the Southern League in harmony for years.

The feistiness only really ignited in the 60s, with both sides in the second division, following years of qualms between the two, rooted in claims that members of the Southampton Community of Union Men ‘crossed the picket line’ and picked up work whilst the dock workers in Portsmouth were on strike. This bred the name ‘scum’ or ‘scummers’, which Pompey fans so lovingly refer to Southampton fans as to this day.

From then on, the rivalry intensified. The ironic part, however, is that there is no evidence that it ever happened. Farmery even referred to it as “utter tosh”.

The ‘scummers’ then responded with the nickname ‘skates’, based on rumours that workers from Portsmouth used to fornicate with fish when they spent lengthy amounts of time at sea.

Multiple incidents have added fuel to the fire in the years that have followed. In 1976, Southampton legend Micky Channon scored a late winner to all but relegate their rivals, just a month before the Saints went on to win their first and only major trophy – an FA Cup. It was the last one presented by Queen Elizabeth II, too.

The next time they faced each other was 8 years later, where the Saints went on to win late again in a game overshadowed by fighting in the terraces and objects thrown at the pitch, including coins at a number of Southampton players and even bananas aimed at Nigerian left back, Reuben Agboola. Manager Lawrie McMenemy didn’t seem too bothered though, joking that his side came back with “a good result, £4.50 and 2 lbs of bananas”.

In more recent history, former Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has proved a divisive figure in the context of the rivalry. He quit his job at Portsmouth, where he was extremely popular, citing how he needed some time out of football following a series of disagreements with the chairman of the club. A matter of weeks later, the world was shocked as he was announced as the new manager of Southampton, who were struggling at the bottom of the Premier League.

His tenure at the Saints was an abject failure. He won just 3 games in his opening 4 months in charge, leading up to a South Coast derby where his side lost 4-1 on their way to relegation. He remained in charge until December the next season, until he resigned as the club refused to grant him permission to talk to a club in the division above: Portsmouth….

He then took the job, propelling Portsmouth to an FA Cup in 2008 and regaining the infatuation of a fan base that had been calling him Judas just a few months before.

The years that followed were turbulent for both clubs. The Saints dropped all the way to the brink of administration in League One before finding their feet and gaining promotion to the Championship for the 2011/12 season, where they met a Portsmouth side on the opposite trajectory.

These fixtures mark the last two times the sides met in the league, with both ending in draws. The second of which is marked in Pompey history, where a 94th-minute equaliser by David Norris ensured a point for the visiting side.

Despite the contrasting outlooks from both sets of fans after that game, the point proved helpful as the Saints secured back-to-back promotions and a return to the Premier League, whilst it wasn’t enough to help Portsmouth beat the drop, as they did the opposite and found themselves in League Two just 2 years later.

A Rivalry Renewed?

Although one of the feistiest and most policed derbies in the UK, the fixture is often overlooked, perhaps due to the infrequency of how often they play each other.

In fact, that adds fuel to the fire of this great derby. The feeling of hatred is renewed every time this fixture comes round the corner and reminds the often short memory of football fans quite how great this game is.

It doesn’t have the sanitised feeling that some derbies do nowadays or the ‘here we go again’ feeling of a fixture like the Old Firm, which is seemingly played 15 times a season.

“This is one of the biggest fixtures we get the chance to cover in the EFL. If you have even a passing awareness of it, you know it is always a feisty affair. “The two clubs absolutely hate each other, and that makes for a derby that is fiercely fought and often very hard and attritional,” ex-Saint David Prutton said on the Sky EFL podcast.

The former midfielder knows a lot about the derby, having been on both the winning and losing side during his time at Southampton.

“From my own playing days, I remember when we beat Portsmouth at St Mary’s, which was a great feeling. I also remember being completely outplayed and beaten heavily at Fratton Park, which was not enjoyable. Those are my strongest memories of playing in this derby. It is definitely one of the fiercest games I have ever played in. I think people underestimate how much the clubs dislike each other, because we have not seen it often in modern times. The atmosphere is amazing and incredibly intense.”

“I say this not just as someone who once played for Southampton. Everyone talks about the biggest rivalries in England, and we all know what the famous ones are, but Southampton against Portsmouth is unique. Its location and historical significance make it stand out. When you factor in the political and socioeconomic reasons why the two cities clash, it becomes even more fascinating. It is a rivalry laced with venom, one of the most fiery you could hope for, and I think this match has all the ingredients to be a real spectacle.”

The Game

Southampton are sure favourites to win the clash for a 36th time in their 72nd attempt tomorrow, despite currently sitting below the visitors in the league table.

Both managers are two of the youngest in the EFL, with Saints’ boss, Will Still, the youngest manager in the history of the English Football League, and although neither has reached the ripe old age of 40 yet, they both carry an aura of calm and professionalism beyond their years.

Still’s side have won just one of their first four games this season and sit 13th with 5 points, 2 points behind Mousinho’s Pompey in 8th. The Saints have won their first two in the League Cup, though, whilst Portsmouth crashed out in the opening round.

Portsmouth will be hoping to catch the promotion favourites before they get into stride this season, with a squad that hasn’t been allowed to gel following the late departures of Tyler Dibling and Mateus Fernandes to Everton and West Ham, respectively, and new signings that have only had two/three days of training together, disjointed by an international break.

Pompey manager John Mousinho told Sky that “everybody is massively looking forward to the game” and spoke of the importance of the fixture to the whole city.

“My assumption from the outside looking in before I came here would have been that it’s just a geographical rivalry – by the time you actually get involved with the football club, you realise it means a whole lot more to the supporters and there’s a lot more history to it, which is very interesting and something we need to be aware of because of the fact it does make it unique.”

“One thing we don’t want to do is get too carried away with the magnitude of the game and build it up to be something it’s not, certainly in terms of the league and how many points it’s worth, because it’s just worth three points to both sides.But at the same time, it would be naïve of us not to acknowledge the significance of the game and how huge it is to everybody connected with the city. We can definitely play on that.”

Will Still also spoke of his excitement:

“I’m buzzing; I can’t wait,” the Southampton manager said in his pre-match press conference. “We do this job to play this sort of game and to be involved in it. We’ve done bits here and there to make sure the players understand what it means and represents to the supporters and to the city.”

Unlike his counterpart, Still has experienced managing in local derbies at a high level before, albeit in France.

“The results [against Lille] last year were s***, which annoyed me,” he recounted.

“I’ve done them in Belgium as well. I love them. It’s football at its ultimate, the best, and when you win it, it’s like… even with Reims we beat Troyes 4-0. It was unbelievable. So no, I can’t wait; I think I’m like everyone. Bring it on.”

Despite their lack of wins this season, Southampton have created the most xG of any side in the Championship this season (9.3) but only scored 6 goals. They’ll be hoping their fortunes change on Sunday, but they’ll have to breach the defences of Austrian keeper Nathan Schmid, who has already prevented 2.1 xG in the first four.

They’ll be hopeful that striker Cameron Archer can build on his hot streak that’s seen him score in consecutive games for the first time in Southampton colours and regain the form he had in his last Championship stint with Middlesbrough.

Meanwhile, academy graduate Conor Chaplin will be the man Portsmouth are looking to to create problems going forwards. The attacker returned to the south coast in a deadline day move from Championship rivals Ipswich in time to play his first South Coast derby.

The match guarantees goals, with the last goalless draw between the two sides coming over a hundred years ago, and the harsh weather conditions expected on Sunday. I expect we won’t be getting another one this time round.

Neither side has any fresh injury concerns heading into the fixture, and an enthralling battle awaits at midday on Sunday.