Andrea Innocenti On Saturday the 19th, at 13:30pm Italian time (12:30pm in London), the streets of New Cross and Bermondsey will be the epicentre of a spectacle that goes far beyond a simple Championship match . After a fourteen-year absence, Millwall and West Ham will meet at The Den for the 100th time , reviving a rivalry rooted in East End industrial conflicts and the “ dockers derby ”.
The context is that of a London that is now “locked down”, but the tension remains palpable, just as it was in the 19th century when the two teams were born.
Derby's Industrial Roots
Millwall was founded in 1885 by workers from the JT Morton cannery on the Isle of Dogs, a peninsula formed by the River Thames near Greenwich.
Ten years later, on the opposite side of the river, workers at the Thames Ironworks founded the club that would become West Ham United , nicknamed the " Hammers ," in 1900. Both teams developed as representatives of their respective port communities, transforming the fight for jobs into a sporting competition that soon crossed the river.
The conflict of 1926
The turning point came during the 1926 general strike . West Ham shipyard workers joined the strike, while many dock workers with ties to Millwall continued to work to maintain their wages. Millwall supporters were then pejoratively labeled " scabs ." This initial accusation of betrayal ignited a flame of hatred that, although latent for several decades, remained the breeding ground for future tensions.
The violence of the 70s and 80s
In the 1970s, the rivalry erupted into hooliganism . In 1972, hundreds of Hammers fans invaded the rivals' stand at The Den, armed with bottles, knives, and billiard balls. Four years later, in 1976, a Millwall supporter lost his life after falling under a train during a clash with West Ham fans. Revenge was not long in coming: in 1986, a young Hammers fan was stabbed to death, fueling a spiral of retaliation, pub ambushes, and neighborhoods almost completely shut down at night.
Recent returns and moments of contemporary tension
In 2009, Derby returned to the global spotlight during a League Cup tie at Upton Park: a Millwall fan was stabbed in the chest outside the stadium, and the match was stopped several times due to three pitch invasions by West Ham fans, an event dubbed the “ Upton Park riots .” This episode demonstrated that, despite containment efforts, the rivalry remained dangerous. In 2017, Millwall’s fame extended beyond football when a 50-year-old, nicknamed the “ Lion of London Bridge ,” fought off the London Bridge attackers with his bare hands, shouting “I’m Millwall.” Today, with West Ham relegated from the Premier League and Millwall remaining in the Championship , the two clubs meet once again, with Millwall winning 38 to the Hammers’ 34, plus 27 draws.
Saturday's Dockers Derby isn't just a match: it's the culmination of more than a century of conflict, struggles for territory, and working-class identity. The streets around The Den, the pubs of New Cross, and the remaining Dockers of Greenwich watch, knowing that the ball is merely the spark of a rivalry that, more than any other, tells the story of a divided yet inextricably linked London.