Lions and Irons: the Dockers derby – a photograph essay
On 19 September 2026, Millwall hosted West Ham on the Den. It was the one hundredth aggressive assembly between the golf equipment, and the primary in 14 years.
The two groups are separated and related by the Thames. They had been shaped across the heavy industries of east London’s docklands within the late nineteenth century and had been geographically a lot nearer then – Millwall on the Isle of Dogs and Thames Ironworks, from which West Ham emerged, round Canning Town. Before Millwall relocated south of the Thames to New Cross in 1910, each had been north of the river and solely somewhat over two miles aside.
Now the Lions, Millwall had been generally known as the Dockers throughout their childhood. West Ham’s nickname, the Irons, refers to their origins amongst staff on the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company. Dock work was precarious and bodily demanding. Men might flip up every morning with no assure of being chosen for work, and competitors for a day’s labour might be fierce. That planet fostered concepts of toughness, loyalty and laborious work which nonetheless type a part of how each golf equipment perceive and current themselves.
With histories stretching again to date, it may be troublesome to separate reality from folklore. One enduring story locations the origins of the rivalry within the General Strike of 1926, when West Ham dock staff supposedly supported the strike whereas these at Millwall didn’t. Historians David Sullivan and Brian Belton dispute that model. Belton says the strike was strong within the Millwall docks, whereas solely a handful of staff broke ranks round Canning Town. Yet the story has survived for a century and turn out to be a part of the mythology surrounding the fixture.
The golf equipment’ histories first crossed within the Nineties, when Millwall Athletic performed Thames Ironworks. Belton cautions towards treating Thames merely as an earlier West Ham as the corporate crew was dissolved earlier than the brand new membership was shaped in 1900. Sullivan and Belton each query the concept of an historic Dockers Derby. Much of the hostility related to the fixture right now developed later, significantly through the Seventies. There was severe dysfunction at Harry Cripps’s testimonial in 1972, regardless of Cripps being well-loved at each golf equipment, and in 1976 a Millwall supporter died after falling from a practice, with some believing West Ham supporters had been concerned. When the golf equipment met competitively once more in 1978 after a protracted absence, violence accompanied the fixture.
It is probably greater than coincidence that the rivalry intensified throughout the identical interval by which the economic planet from which each golf equipment had emerged was disappearing. London’s docks had been closing, conventional industries had been shedding tens of 1000’s of jobs and plenty of surrounding communities had been experiencing unemployment and financial decline. It could be too simplistic to attract a direct line between industrial decline and soccer hooliganism, however the two occurred concurrently. Football provided a spot by which territory, masculinity, belonging and native pleasure might nonetheless be asserted at a time when among the establishments that had beforehand supplied these identities had been disappearing.
Through the Eighties, 90s and early 2000s, the fame of the rivalry was bolstered by occasional however memorable flashpoints. The most infamous got here at Upton Park in 2009, when a League Cup tie was overshadowed by combating outdoors the stadium, a stabbing and pitch invasions. Their two Championship conferences in 2011-12 handed with out something approaching the dysfunction of 2009, and after that they didn’t meet competitively once more till this season.
Both golf equipment carry reputations for violence, bolstered by movies comparable to ID and Green Street, and the Dockers Derby amplifies that mythology additional. Despite predictable heated posts and banter on social media, there was a normal feeling earlier than Saturday that the day would go with out severe hassle, which it principally did.
There is suspicion in the direction of journalists, together with photographers, amongst each fanbases, and folks on either side warned me to watch out. I had a number of selection phrases thrown at me through the day, however they got here from a minority. What was way more seen was the energy of group across the golf equipment and the friendliness and heat of nearly all of supporters I spoke to and photographed.
The sport was broadcast reside on ITV. Kick-off was moved to 12.30pm, limiting the time accessible for consuming beforehand, and an intensive police operation involving about 400 officers was put in place. West Ham acquired simply 1,774 tickets in a crowd of about 20,000 and most of their supporters averted carrying membership colors. They had been instructed to journey through London Bridge to South Bermondsey, from the place they had been escorted to the away finish.
West Ham arrived on the Den prime of the desk and having just lately beaten Wrexham 6-0, however Millwall, regardless of coping with plenty of accidents, dominated a lot of the primary half and went into the interval two targets forward. West Ham discovered their manner again into the sport and equalised with 10 minutes remaining. Each purpose produced an explosive response from the stands, however the equaliser was the one level when the group appeared at risk of spilling over, with extra police help referred to as in. In the 89th minute, as Kyrell Lisbie broke via on purpose, Mohamadou Kanté pulled him down, incomes a straight pink card and probably denying Millwall a winner. It finished 2-2, a consequence each golf equipment might discover causes to be dissatisfied and glad with.
Afterwards there have been a number of temporary scuffles between Millwall supporters and police outdoors the bottom, however they rapidly petered out. Within minutes, younger followers had been ready by the stadium for autographs whereas others stood round discussing the match.
To an outsider, the similarities between Millwall and West Ham can seem better than their variations. Many supporters I’ve met have mates or family members on the opposite aspect, and each golf equipment draw closely on values of working-class London comparable to toughness, loyalty and authenticity. Yet once they meet there stays actual animosity amongst sections of each fanbases. Perhaps that’s a part of what offers the rivalry its depth – each golf equipment are competing, in numerous methods, to characterize an identical place, tradition and id, and to say themselves because the extra genuine expression of it.
Millwall and West Ham have now performed each other throughout three centuries. The docks that gave the fixture its identify have largely disappeared, the golf equipment have moved additional aside and aggressive conferences have turn out to be more and more uncommon. But the competitors over what every membership represents, and the necessity to distinguish one aspect from the opposite, has survived.
