English Football is never short of derbies! Tackles fly in, fingers are raised, heads are pressed together and cries ring out, but most of all, the intensity never ever wavers a bit and remains the same throughout the match. Countless number of Derbies are played in England but today, we’re going to take you on a journey explaining the top 3 biggest derbies of English Football!
1) Swansea City vs Cardiff City
This South Wales derby is often regarded as one of the most fiercest derbies. The first match between the clubs was played 3 years and a century back in 1912, where the match ended 1-1 in the Southern Football League Division 2. Since then, the clubs came into the picture fighting to get into the national league and several times they met in the Welsh Cup or in the league itself.
Although in recent years the hooligan violence has come down largely, any fixture involving these two can still witness the trouble. The sides don’t meet often now because Cardiff is languishing in the championship with another season to come while their derby rivals Swansea, on the other hand have stayed up successfully in the Premier League and they wish to have another good campaign in the top flight.
I’ve said it as a fact that this is indeed one of the fiercest derbies ever and let me give you an instance of why it is so. In the first derby of 2009/2010 season, The Liberty Stadium witnessed a 3-2 victory over their bitter foes and then after the game, over a 100 of Swansea fans waited for the Cardiff supporters to depart and this was a huge sign of trouble with public chaos involved and it led to 15 arrests on that particular day! Cardiff fans on the other hand vandalized the North Stand of the Liberty Stadium with Seats and toilets being damaged, pipe work ripped apart and the doors bashed down completely!
The very last derby played between these two was during the first game of ex-Swansea manager Gary Monk where the men in white triumphed comfortable over the foes with a 3-0 scoreline.
England wouldn’t like to see this Derby lose it’s name and hence I seriously hope these two clubs meet soon.