Thursday, March 22, 2012

22 March 1866 - The First Trentside Derby

On 22 March 1866, Nottingham Forest and Notts County played each other for the first time in a match that also happened to be Forest's first official game.

Forest were originally organized to play shinty, a stick-based game similar to hockey. But in 1865, J. S. Scrimshaw proposed that the club switch to football. The players met at the Clinton Arms on Shakespeare Street and voted in favor of the switch.

The following year, for their first official match, they scheduled a friendly with fellow Trentside club Notts County. Although Notts County were the more experienced club, having been founded in 1962, that experience did not translate into an advantage and the match ended as a scoreless draw.

Since then, the two teams have played a total of 94 times in the league, FA Cup, and League Cup, resulting in 40 wins for Forest, 30 for Notts County, and 24 draws.

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