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The 2003 Southern Derby
by James Bullen

The Southern Derby is played between three of the USL’s A-league teams. The teams face off in a three-way league ladder and games during the season's regular schedule double as the Derby’s fixtures.

The eventual leader in the table of three is declared the Southern Derby champions for the current season. The reward for this achievement is a hefty sized trophy and the honor of being the pride of the southern section of the A-league fans.

The teams that take part in the Southern Derby are as follows: the Atlanta Silverbacks (Current Holders, www.atlantasilverbacks.com), the Charleston Battery (www.charlestonbattery.com) and the Charlotte Eagles (2001 holders, www.charlotteeagles.com).

The derby is a highly talked about topic between the fans of these three clubs which is understandable as the cup is made from basic fan passion and rib sticking.

You can go to any of these clubs forums' at USLdiscussions.com and ask them what the Southern Derby means to them. I assure you it will be a passionate response and if the fans you are talking to are not the holders you can be sure of comments like "We will win it next year" or "We were robbed" and the like.

The honor of this trophy has only been graced upon two of the teams now in the Southern Derby: the Atlanta Silverbacks in 2002 and the Charlotte Eagles in 2001.

However one other team who have now disbanded has won the Southern Derby in its short but glorious history, that team being the Raleigh Capital Express in 2002.

As a fan of the holding champions of the Southern Derby I have been given the chance by the people of a-league.com to voice what the Southern Derby means to the Atlanta Silverbacks fans.

It is hard to talk about what the Southern Derby means to all of the Atlanta Silverbacks fans, but as much as can be gathered from the vibe we get from around the club, the trophy is a major honor and a piece of silverware that other clubs would like to hold themselves.

Being a fan of a fan-based derby you have to think of how a Arsenal fan would feel if Spurs held the same kind of trophy or if the Real Madrid fans won it away from Barcelona.

Every fan is proud of his club no matter how bad times get or how good they get. Players come and go along with staff but the fans remain and I think this is what is behind us wanting to retain the Southern Derby year in and year out.

I have heard many times on many different forums around many clubs a statement like this: "we can finish bottom of the league as long as we beat ________". Whomever that club's greatest rival may be.

This is the statement that suits us best as the Atlanta Silverbacks are not a glamour club yet and will have to bide our time before we can have a clear vision of a league championship or U.S Open cup success.

The fact also that the idea of the Derby came from our biggest rivals the Charleston Battery is fuel enough and the fact that the Battery, who are the clear favorites to win the Derby, are yet to win it.

For me it was my first season watching the A-League after moving to the U.S from England so I had never heard of a tournament such as this before and I was proud to find out that the club had won this in my first season supporting them.

I don’t think any set of fans anywhere in the world would not like to have "one up" on the other. It makes you proud to support the club and gives you a passion to keep wanting to be the pride of that section of fans.

The derby games can also be watched on TV via Fox Sports World and over 25,000 people have sampled some of the derby games live.

Atlanta Silverbacks 2002 Southern Derby Champions and proud of it! In 2003 who knows?