If you ask an outsider say, a casual watcher tuning into the Premier League from overseas to point out a proper, glass smashing, vein popping derby in English football, they’ll talk about Liverpool versus Everton. Arsenal and Spurs. Utd versus City. Proper, traditional, “we live two streets apart and my boss supports the other lot” type geography. So why Palace and Brighton?
Look where Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion are on a map. There’s nearly forty miles, a stretch of countryside, and the entire county of Surrey sitting comfortably between them.
It makes zero logical sense. The TV executives called it the “M23 Derby” or the “A23 Derby,” named after a stretch of dual carriageway. Imagine naming a blood feud after a motorway! You don’t see Real Madrid and Barcelona calling their fixture the “AP 2 Clásico.”
And yet, when these two walk out onto the pitch, it is absolute, unadulterated poison. Proper football hatred. It’s brilliant. But how on earth did a team from the leafy coast end up despising a club tucked into South London?
Put the kettle on and get comfy, because this is one of the most wonderfully petty, completely accidental rivalries in the history of the beautiful game.
Step 1: The 1970s
Before 1976, Palace and Brighton didn’t really care about each other. Sure, they played in the lower leagues, but they were just two ordinary fixtures on the calendar.
Two Immovable Objects
Then the universe intervened. In the summer of ’76, both clubs appointed brand new, young, ambitious managers.
- Crystal Palace hired Terry Venables (El Tel himself).
- Brighton hired Alan Mullery.
Here’s the catch: Venables and Mullery had been teammates at Tottenham Hotspur in the 60s, and they already loathed each other’s guts. It was an absolute clash of egos Mullery had been made Spurs captain over Venables, and the resentment had been simmering for a decade.
Throw both of them into the sweaty, physical crucible of Division Three, and you’ve got a dynamite setup.
Five Matches in One Season
In the 1976/77 season, due to absolute statistical absurdities in the FA Cup, Palace and Brighton played each other five times in a single campaign. Two league games, an FA Cup tie, a replay, and a second replay. Familiarity didn’t just breed contempt; it brewed a nuclear reactor of malice.
The second FA Cup replay at Stamford Bridge was the exact moment the match became legend. Palace won 1-0, but only after Brighton had a goal disallowed for handballs. Then had a penalty saved which was ordered to be retaken, and then saved again.
At full time, the Brighton manager, Alan Mullery, lost his head completely. He marched off the pitch, pulled a fistful of loose change out of his pocket, threw it onto the floor in front of the Palace fans, and yelled: “That’s all Crystal Palace are worth!”
Mullary was pulled away by police. The fuse was lit. And there was no going back.
Step 2: The Battle of Nicknames and Bad Blood
Football fans are inherently tribal, petty creatures and I say that with deep affection. Once the managers started swinging, the terraces took over.
Around this time, Crystal Palace decided to rebrand. They dropped their old nickname, “The Glaziers,” adopted “The Eagles,” and started chanting: “Eagles! Eagles!” on the terraces.
Brighton fans, refusing to be outdone during a match at the Goldstone Ground, needed a direct response. What hunts an eagle? Well, nothing in Sussex, really. So they just started chanting back: “Seagulls! Seagulls!”
Brighton’s official nickname at the time was literally “The Dolphins”. They literally rebranded their entire club identity on the spot purely out of spite toward South London! You have to respect that level of pettiness.
Step 3: Decade After Decade of Absolute Chaos
If it had ended in the 70s, it might have faded into a weird piece of trivia. But football has a funny way of twisting the knife. Over the next 40 years, every time these two crossed paths, something utterly absurd happened.
- Five Penalties in 27 Minutes (1989): In a single match at Selhurst Park, referee Kelvin Morton awarded five penalties in less than half an hour. Palace missed two, scored one. Brighton scored one, missed one. It was pure unhinged fever dream refereeing.
- The Play Off semi final (2013): The ultimate high stakes showdown. Promotion to the Premier League on the line. The first leg was 0-0. Before the second leg at Brighton’s brand new Amex Stadium, someone… ahem… left a biohazard “gift” on the floor in the away dressing room. Palace used the sheer outrage as motivation, went out, and smashed Brighton 2-0 thanks to a Wilfried Zaha masterclass.
- Red Cards and Last Minute Drama: Fast forward to recent Premier League years, and nothing has changed. Late winners, multiple red cards, flying tackles, and away ends absolute bouncing.
All Time Head to Head Record
To prove how remarkably tight this absurd fixture has always been, look at the historical numbers across all competitive competitions:
| Competition / Stat | Crystal Palace Wins | Draws | Brighton Wins |
| All Time Matches | 52 | 42 | 51 |
| Premier League Era | 6 | 7 | 4 |
| Total Goals Scored | ~220 | — | ~210 |
Crystal Palace have a small advantage going into the 2026/27 season.
Why It’s the Purest Derby in Football
In an era where modern football can sometimes feel a bit sanitised corporate executive boxes, half and half scarves, global branding exercises Palace versus Brighton is gloriously organic.
It wasn’t created by city boundaries or religious divides. It was manufactured out of sheer, unadulterated footballing friction: two arrogant managers, a disallowed goal, thrown pocket change, and two sets of fans who simply looked at each other and said, “Yeah, I don’t like your face.”
It’s completely bizarre, thoroughly ridiculous, and utterly brilliant for neutral fans to watch. Long live the A23 Derby.
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*References.
Reader Mr. J. Humphries. Beckenham, Kent.
Informed me that Palace were the first team to beat Brighton at their new Amex Stadium. He was also present for an Andy Johnson hattrick in the 5-0 thrashing at Selhurst Park.
At the final whistle, the stadium announcer said that Brighton fans would be kept inside for safety reasons. Palace fans sang “5-0 and you can’t go home” 😂
