The South Coast derby · Pompey v Southampton · since 1899
Portsmouth versus Southampton is one of the fiercest rivalries in English football — two port cities barely 19 miles apart, separated by a century of dockside grudges, economic competition and one very well-travelled manager. Here's the story, the record and the flashpoints.
This isn't a rivalry about football results — it's about two working port cities, 19 miles apart, that have competed for the same trade for a century.
Portsmouth is a Royal Navy town; Southampton a great commercial port. As their docks competed for business through the 20th century — a rivalry sharpened when Portsmouth opened its own commercial ferry port in 1976, taking trade off Southampton — the needle between the cities spilled onto the terraces. The bitterness deepened through the 1970s and 80s with the era's hooliganism, and today the fixture regularly demands one of the largest police operations in Hampshire.
Each set of fans has a name for the other, and both are worn as insults. The stories behind them are disputed, but they've stuck for generations.
Portsmouth's name for Southampton fans. The popular (if unverified) fan story reads it as an acronym — “Southampton Corporation Union Men” — tied to a 1930s dock dispute in which Southampton workers were said to have crossed a Portsmouth picket line.
Southampton's name for Portsmouth fans, settled on via a fanzine poll in 1988. It's a dig at Portsmouth's naval heritage, playing on old sailors' slang from long voyages at sea.
