155 years ago on 11th November 1871, Great Marlow Football Club crossed the River Thames from the north bank to make the shortest of trips to Maidenhead for one of four ties played that day in the inaugural ‘Association Cup’. Mr G Young scored twice for Maidenhead FC to send them through at the expense of the away side, who did not score. Unless anyone can prove otherwise, this makes ‘Maidenhead vs Marlow’ the oldest local derby in competitive association rules senior football anywhere in the world.

The logic behind this claim? The FA Cup was created some 17 years before organised league football in this country, the EFL kicking off for the 1888/89 season. Proposed by Charles W. Alcock, the secretary of the Football Association – formed eight years earlier in an attempt to formalise a standard set of rules for football – the inaugural FA Cup pre-dates any formal league competition. Fifteen of the Association’s member clubs entered the tournament, although three withdrew without playing a match. Of the first four ties played on 11th November 1871, only Maidenhead, Marlow and Civil Service exist as the ‘same’ clubs today.

This is normally where ‘Our Friends in the North’ interject. In the continued (and debatable – in that first ever FA Cup only two of the fifteen entrants were from outside the south of England) insistence that the North of England is somehow the ‘cradle of the game’, some will point to the Youdan Cup of 1867 as pre-dating the FA Cup. The Youdan tournament was however a strictly local affair, played for just one season under ‘Sheffield Rules’ rather than ‘Association Rules’. Sheffield Rules were abandoned for good in 1877. Sheffield FC refused to participate in the Youdan Cup, their local rivals Hallam winning the tournament. Both club exist to this day. Neither participated in the FA Cup of 1871. Therefore, it follows that Maidenhead versus Marlow is the oldest local derby played under association rules anywhere in the world. Prove me wrong.

Since that 1871 meeting, the clubs have met a further 91 times in competitive first time soccer in a number of different competitions. Let us name them all; FA Cup, Berks 7 Bucks Senior Cup, Berks & Bucks Benevolent Cup, FA Amateur Cup, Great Western Suburban League, Spartan League, Hospital Cup, Great Western Combination, Red Cross Cup, Great Western Combination, Subsidary Cup, Premier Midweek Floodlit League, Mithras Cup, FA Trophy and Isthmian League.

Maidenhead have won 50 of these encounters, including their most recent visit to the Alfred Davis Memorial Ground on 8 th November 2016 en route to their most recent BBFA Senior Cup success. Marlow have 29 victories. The 12 draws includes a match drawn but subsequently won on penalties by the Blues in the County Senior
Cup, the most recent meeting between the sides on 28 th January 2000.

Maidenhead have scored 229 goals in competitive first team matches against Marlow, The Blues have scored 179 times in those 92 games. Maidenhead’s biggest win was a 8-1 Great Western Suburban League victory at York Road in January 1921. Marlow’s biggest margin, a 7-0 home thrashing of United in October 1940 in the Great Western Combination.

There will be no 93 rd derby this season. Marlow have already bowed out of the FA Trophy, both clubs are out of the BBFA Senior Cup and FA Cup. In recent seasons, the ever-lively SL Classico matches between Maidenhead and Slough Town have reared their head again after a lengthy hiatus. At the time of writing, Maidenhead are at the wrong end of the table at Step 2 and Marlow are in the play-off places in Step 4. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. If Maidenhead vs Marlow rivalries do end up being rekindled in 2027/28 then perhaps the oldest competitive association rules fixtures derby needs a formal name. In honour of the train branch-line between the two
towns, might I suggest…..’The Donkey Derby’?