English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

, the Essex derby is the

local derby Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

between the two professional teams in the English county of

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

–

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

and

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. The first Essex derby match that took place was a 4–2 victory for Southend in a

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

tie on 14 October 1950. The derby has been contested in four different competitions, with Southend winning 34 of the games, Colchester winning 31 and 17 have been drawn.

History

were one of 24 teams that co-founded

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

's new Third Division in 1920 for the upcoming 1920–21 season.

were promoted into The Football League, joining the

for the 1950–51 season. The first match between Colchester United and Southend United was 14 October 1950, a Third Division South game won by Southend 4–2. From 1989 to 2004, the two clubs did not meet in any competitive fixtures. The two clubs both reached the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

Southern Area Final, where they met for the first time in 15 years on 10 February 2004, at

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was only used for football matches and was the home ground of Colchester United before being replaced by the Colchester Community Stadium. The stadium held spectators and was ...

for the first leg, with Southend winning 3–2. They met six days later at

Roots Hall A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

, for the Southern Area Final second leg, where the teams drew 1–1 and Southend winning 4–3 on aggregate to reach the overall final of the Football League Trophy at the Millennium Stadium,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. During an Essex derby match on 25 November 2006, there were three dismissals, two for Southend and one for Colchester. Southend's captain, Kevin Maher was sent-off in the 51st minute for an off-the-ball incident involving Colchester's captain, Karl Duguid. Maher claimed that Duguid had cheated by conning the referee due to his over-reacting, and claimed; "He clipped my leg, so I turned to say 'What are you doing?' and he fell over clutching his face like he'd been poleaxed by Mike Tyson." Duguid stated in his defence; "He chested me and put his face in my face. That's a

headbutt A headbutt is a targeted strike with the head, typically (when intentional) involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of an opponent, such as ...

, a sending-off offence."

Mark Gower Mark Gower (born 5 October 1978) is a former English footballer, who played for several clubs including Barnet, Southend United and Swansea City. Career Born in Edmonton, London and moving to Romford, Gower began his career at Gidea Park Ra ...

picked up a

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

for dissent after arguing with the referee, Steve Bennett, about the sending off. Five minutes later, Gower was booked again, this time for a late challenge on Duguid.

Chris Barker Christopher Andrew Barker (2 March 1980 – 1 January 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a defender. He represented Alfreton Town, Barnsley, Cardiff City, Stoke City, Colchester United, Queens Park Rangers, Plymouth Arg ...

was sent-off in the 78th minute, after he was booked twice. Southend appealed against the red card, which was rejected by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

's disciplinary commission. The Essex derby returned for the 2015–16 League One season after Southend were promoted through the League Two play-offs, seeing a return of the fixture for the first time since the 2009–10 season. Southend won the first match between the sides in five years on 26 December 2015 by 2–0 at the

Colchester Community Stadium Colchester Community Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as the JobServe Community Stadium, is a football stadium in Colchester, England. It is the home of Colchester United Football Club. It has a capacity of 10,105 and opened in August 20 ...

. The match at Roots Hall during the same season was a fiery affair which saw Colchester vice-captain Alex Gilbey sent off for a foul on Southend's Ryan Leonard in the first-half. After former U's player Anthony Wordsworth had put the Shrimpers ahead in the 82nd-minute,

Adam Barrett Adam Nicholas Barrett (born 29 November 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central defender. During his career, which lasted from 1998 to 2017, he made 647 appearances in the Football League, including 308 for So ...

soon doubled the home side's advantage before crowd trouble started. After Barrett had run the length of the pitch to celebrate close to the away fans, a lone Southend supporter jumped onto the pitch and began throwing punches at the Colchester fans. Stewards eventually restrained the man, while other fans had also followed suit in jumping on the pitch, but further violence was avoided after Southend players, police and stewards ushered the fans back into the stands. Police said that the matter would be investigated after video evidence emerged. The game ended 3–0 to Southend. The man involved in the incident admitted affray and pitch invasion at Southend Magistrates Court on 24 February. He was give an eight-week suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay £265 in fines, while receiving a five-year banning order that prohibits him from attending any football match in the country until 2021. The largest Essex derby victory was recorded on 10 November 2020, when Colchester beat Southend 6–1 at the Community Stadium. Jevani Brown registered a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for the U's in the

dead rubber Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the ...

EFL Trophy group stage match.

Statistics and results

Colchester United in the league at home

Southend United in the league at home

Cup Matches

Summary of results

Statistics correct as of 26 December 2020.

Shared player history

Notable players who have been transferred directly between the clubs are listed below.

Colchester to Southend

Southend to Colchester

Notes

:1. : Southend won 3–5 on penalties. :2. : 11v11.com excludes the 13 August 1982

Football League Group Cup The Football League Group Cup was a short-lived football competition which first took place during the 1981–82 season. For English clubs it was a replacement for the Anglo-Scottish Cup, which had been discontinued due to the withdrawal of Scot ...

match. :3. : Pat Baldwin also appeared on loan from Colchester for Southend, making 18 appearances and scoring 1 goal. :4. : John White also appeared on loan from Colchester for Southend, making 6 appearances. :5. : Alex Smith also appeared on loan from Southend for Colchester, making 11 appearances. :6. : Adam Locke also appeared on loan from Southend for Colchester, making 5 appearances.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essex derby

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

Football in Essex England football derbies