Cross Breeds

English football match between local teams is called a "Derby". Why?

I know of "Derby" as a very famous horse race. And also the Derbyshire football team in priemership. Any connections here?

Public Comments

1. In many countries the term local derby, or simply just derby (pronounced 'dur-bee' in American English and 'dar-bee' in British English after the English city) means a sporting fixture between two (generally local) rivals, particularly in Association Football. In North America, "crosstown rivalry" is a more common term. The phrase may have originated from an all-in football game (Royal Shrovetide Football) contested annually between the two halves of the English town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. This match has been and still is played on Shrove Tuesday. Another theory is that it originated from The Derby, a horse race in England, founded by the 12th Earl of Derby in 1780. Yet another theory is that the 'derby match' saying arose from when Liverpool played Everton. Their two grounds were separated by Stanley Park, owned by the Earl of Derby. This latter suggestion can be discounted, however. The Widnes Weekly News of 9 March 1889 describes a game between the (rugby) football team of that town and the touring Maoris as 'the local Derby'. This usage was three years before Liverpool FC came into existence. Another widely reported, and somewhat more plausible theory (although not accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary) is that the phrase came about from the city of Derby itself. The traditional Shrovetide football match was also common place in the city. It was renowned as a chaotic and exuberant game which involved the whole town and often resulted in fatalities. The goals were at Nuns Mill in the north and the Gallows Balk in the south of the town, and much of the action took place in the Derwent river or Markeaton brook. Nominally the players came from All Saints' and St Peter's parishes, but in practice the game was a free for all with as many as 1,000 players. A Frenchman who observed the match in 1829 wrote in horror, 'if Englishmen call this play, it would be impossible to say what they call fighting'.