History
The first edition of the Southern Derby was contested in 2000 between the Charleston Battery, the Atlanta Silverbacks, and the Raleigh Capital Express with Raleigh winning the inaugural competition.
The Raleigh Capital Express folded before the 2001 season and the Charlotte Eagles were invited to replace Raleigh in the cup competition. Charlotte won the trophy in their first year in the contest. The Eagles would continue to compete in the contest in 2002 and 2003 with Atlanta and Charleston winning the competition those years, respectively.
At the end of the 2003 season, Charlotte moved to the USL Second Division leaving the Southern Derby to be played between only Charleston and Atlanta. The Silverbacks won the title outright in 2004 and 2006 and split the title with Charleston in 2005.
In 2007, the Carolina Railhawks (of Cary, NC) joined the USL First Division and was invited to take up Raleigh's original spot in the competition. Carolina went undefeated in their 2007 Southern Derby campaign capturing the cup in their inaugural season. The RailHawks successfully defended their title in 2008 and through two seasons have beaten Charleston a remarkable 6 times in 6 games (4 Southern Derby fixtures).
With the Atlanta Silverbacks taking a hiatus in 2009, the 2009 edition of the Southern Derby Cup was a home-and-away competition between the Charleston Battery and the Carolina RailHawks contested on May 9th and July 11th. Both Charleston and Carolina Co-championed the 2009 Southern Derby Cup
In 2010 with the Carolina Railhawks joining the NASL and Charleston dropping to USL2, the Carolina fans decided to allow the Charleston Battery to continue with the tradition of the Southern Derby Cup with the Charlotte Eagles as opposed to it sitting idle. Charleston won the Southern Derby Cup in 2010.
The 2011 Southern Derby featured both Charlotte and Charleston once again and added the Wilmington Hammerheads to the competition. The winner was decided on the last match of the Southern Derby Dates, which happened to be the Charleston vs. Charlotte match on Fox Soccer Channel. Charleston won the 2011 Southern Derby match.
Read more about this topic: Southern Derby
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