USL Nashville SC

Nashville and Memphis Boast Rivalry Ties Dating Back to 1800's

Published on April 10, 2019 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Nashville SC News Release


NASHVILLE - The cities of Nashville and Memphis are separated by just about 200 miles along Interstate 40, and the two biggest cities in the state of Tennessee have had their fair share of rivalries in sports over the years.

This weekend, a new chapter of the sports history between the two towns will be written with the first match between Nashville Soccer Club and Memphis 901 FC. Tickets are still available for the 7 p.m. Saturday matchup at First Tennessee Park.

Before we enter that new chapter, let's take a look back at the sporting history between Nashville and Memphis.

Baseball Battles

Dating back to the beginnings of professional baseball, Nashville and Memphis have fielded teams against each other. The first matchup between the two cities took place in 1885 between the Memphis Reds and Nashville Americans in the Southern League. In the build-up to the turn of the century, multiple Nashville and Memphis baseball teams squared off in the Southern League, including an 1893 showdown between the Memphis Fever Germs and the Nashville Tigers.

For much of the 20th Century, the rivalry was fought between the Nashville Vols and the Memphis Chickasaws. From 1912 to 1960, those two were perennial championship contenders, as they battled for the Southern League pennant on numerous occasions. After the Southern Association folded in 1961, the rivalry went on hiatus, but resumed in 1978 between the newly-formed Nashville Sounds and revived Memphis Chicks. After the Sounds moved to AAA in 1984, the rivalry took another break, but resumed in 1998 when the Memphis Redbirds joined the AAA ranks.

Since 1998, the Sounds and Redbirds have met on a regular basis, and the Sounds lead the all-time series 177-156.

Commodores and Tigers

In the late 1970s and 1980s, a football rivalry was formed between the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Memphis State Tigers (now known as the University of Memphis). The two teams met 12 times in total between 1950 and 1989, and Vanderbilt leads the all-time series 7-5.

In 1982, the Commodores opened the season with a 24-14 win over the Tigers at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Quarterback Whit Taylor threw three touchdown passes to his tight end Allama Matthews in the win. Vanderbilt would go on to an 8-4 record that season and make a bowl game for the first time since 1974.

Memphis owned the final meeting between the two teams in 1989 with a 13-10 win. However, neither team would have much success in that season, as the Tigers would finish 2-9 and the Commodores finished 1-10.

Titans' Pit Stop in Memphis

This isn't a rivalry between two teams, but rather an instance in which the sporting history of one of Nashville's teams was linked with Memphis.

The NFL's Houston Oilers announced their plans to move to Tennessee after the 1995 season, but the new Adelphia Coliseum would not be ready until 1999. With the Houston market tuned out to the departing Oilers, the team moved to a temporary home in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl in 1997 until the new stadium was completed and branded themselves the Tennessee Oilers.

At the time, Memphis was pushing for an NFL franchise themselves, and the sports fans of the city were not too keen to support a team that would be permanently based down the road in Nashville in two years. Attendance dwindled during the 1997 season, and as a result, the team opted to move to Nashville a year early and play at Vanderbilt Stadium in 1998 until Adelphia Coliseum was ready.

Memphis 901 FC vs. Nashville SC

The first of two meetings this season between Memphis 901 FC and Nashville SC will take place this Saturday at 7 PM at First Tennessee Park. If you enjoyed the Twitter banter between the two clubs, you'll love the soccer even more.

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from April 10, 2019


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