Early years (1882 to 1919) The two clubs have long league histories, with Stoke City's officially stated founding date being in 1863 and Port Vale claiming to have been formed in 1876. The first derby game was played at Westport Meadows on 2 December 1882, in the second round of the
Staffordshire Senior Cup. Vale won the North Staffordshire Charity Challenge Cup in 1883 to establish themselves as the primary local challenger to the dominance of Stoke. The first meeting in a national competition came on 15 October 1887, with a
George Lawton goal on the hour mark giving Stoke a 1–0 home win in the first round of the
FA Cup. It took Vale 17 attempts to register their first victory over Stoke, which they finally did in a
friendly on 29 March 1890, winning 2–1 in front of 7,000 spectators. By then, Vale had already achieved victory over Stoke in the courts after suing them in county court over the registrations of
Bill Rowley and
George Bateman, which had caused bad feelings between the two clubs. A friendly in 1893 was advertised as "the championship of the Potteries". Stoke had to pay £20 to charity after being sued by Vale when Rowley had a rib broken in a friendly between the two clubs and Vale again successfully sued Stoke when Rowley and Bateman walked out on their contracts to play for Stoke instead of Vale. Stoke were founder members of the
English Football League in 1888. Though Vale became founder members of the
Football League Second Division in 1892, Stoke remained in the
First Division until 1907. With the two teams playing in different divisions of a structured league competition, interest in seeing the two clubs play each other in friendlies and local cup competitions decreased, whilst Stoke occasionally only deemed it necessary to send reserve players to play the Vale as crowds for the derby fell to as low as 300. The two teams were meanwhile drawn to face each other in both the
Birmingham Senior Cup and
Staffordshire Senior Cup for four successive years from 1900 to 1903. Both clubs were forced to resign their Football League memberships due to financial troubles in 1907 and 1908, meaning that scheduled Second Division derby matches on 7 September 1907 and 4 January 1908 never took place. Stoke-on-Trent
federalised in 1910, meaning the two clubs became Stoke-on-Trent
borough rivals for the first time. However, at this point, Vale were competing with Stoke Reserves in the North Staffordshire & District League and the Stoke first-team were in the
Birmingham & District League and Division Two of the
Southern League. Tension remained, though, with eccentric
Wales international goalkeeper
Leigh Richmond Roose requiring police intervention to prevent him from being thrown into the
River Trent by Stoke supporters after he guested for Vale wearing his old Stoke shirt in a District League decider between Port Vale and Stoke Reserves. The two clubs harboured ambitions of returning to the Football League, however, and made a pact that meant Vale would not bid for membership, leaving Stoke more likely to succeed in their bid; Stoke would then support Vale in any future bids they made. Stoke were voted back into the Football League in 1915, though
World War I delayed their re-entry until 1919, at which stage Vale also won re-election at the expense of the expelled
Leeds City.
Sharing a city (1920 to 1957) scored nine derby goals, eight for Vale and one for Stoke, in a ten-year professional career in the city. The first Football League Potteries derby match took place at the
Old Recreation Ground on 6 March 1920, when 22,697 spectators witnessed a 3–0 Stoke victory. Stoke achieved promotion the following season, and though they were relegated after one season in the First Division, managed to record a league double over Vale in
1923–24. and Stoke changed their name to Stoke City two months later. The two teams met after Vale's senior team reformed, with Stoke recording some heavy victories over them in what remained of the wartime leagues. The Old Recreation Ground was sold to the local council, and
Vale Park opened in 1950, though the chance for a competitive derby game at the new ground came too soon. The two teams were drawn in the FA Cup and came to a 2–2 stalemate at the Victoria Ground – witnessed by a derby record attendance of 49,500 – on 6 January 1951, though major drainage problems at Vale Park meant the replay was also staged at the Victoria Ground and the Potters won 1–0. League derby games resumed with a 0–0 draw in front of a crowd of 46,777 at the Victoria Ground on 4 September 1954. On 10 October 1956, the Victoria Ground saw its first game under
floodlights as Stoke recorded a 3–1 win over their local rivals. City, meanwhile, won a major tournament for the first time in
1972 by winning the
League Cup. Vale allowed Stoke to play a home game against
Middlesbrough at Vale Park on 17 January 1976 when a freak gale caused severe damage to the Victoria Ground; a crowd of 21,009 saw a top-flight league fixture at the stadium for the first time. Another promotion followed in
1989 to reunite Stoke and Vale in the second tier of English football.
Heated rivals (1989 to 2002) felt that his team were thought of as "little Vale, coming for their big day out", and Rudge commented after the match that "[the result] proves that we have closed the gap on Stoke and are now competing on equal terms". The event was marred by violence, however, as 85 individuals were arrested for fighting. Vale joined them in the third tier in 1992, with Stoke now in the ascendancy under the management of
Lou Macari. The
1992–93 season saw five derby games as the two promotion-chasing clubs were drawn against each other in the FA Cup and
Football League Trophy, in addition to their two Second Division fixtures. The two teams faced each other again in the FA Cup first round at the same venue on 16 November, broadcast on
Sky Sports, though this time a 0–0 draw was played out. The replay was held amidst torrential rain at Vale Park eight days later, in a game which saw
Steve Foley hospitalise
Neil Aspin with a knee-high challenge before the Valiants went into half-time with a 2–1 lead thanks to goals from
Martin Foyle and
Andy Porter. The ongoing rain turned the Vale Park pitch to mud, leading to a memorable moment early in the second half when a
Dave Regis shot into an empty net was halted by a patch of mud around the penalty spot, allowing
Peter Swan to clear the danger; the mud was also a factor in Vale's third goal as a long ball from
Nicky Cross came to a premature halt, allowing Foyle to collect and beat
Ronnie Sinclair to secure a 3–1 victory. The 1992–93 series of derby games continued, with Stoke looking to defend their
1992 Football League Trophy title in the Area semi-finals clash under the floodlights at the Victoria Ground on 3 March. The visitors claimed their first competitive victory at the Victoria Ground since 1927, with
Robin van der Laan the game's only goalscorer after Stein hit the post with a first-half penalty and also had a goal ruled out for
offside; Vale would go on to beat
Stockport County in
the final. The return league fixture was held at Vale Park on 31 March, with 20,373 fans turning out to see if the Vale could close the seven-point gap on league leaders Stoke City, who would virtually seal promotion with an away victory. Stein opened the scoring with a
volley on five minutes and
Nigel Gleghorn headed in a
corner kick on 64 minutes to seal a league double for the Potters over their city rivals. Stoke went on to win the Second Division title. However, by losing at
Bolton Wanderers in the penultimate game of the campaign they allowed Bolton to beat Vale to the second automatic promotion spot. Vale were beaten finalists in
the play-offs but were reunited with City in the First Division after a second-place finish in
1993–94. The two teams had to wait until 14 March 1995 for their first meeting of the
1994–95 season, with goals from
Tony Naylor and
Lee Sandford securing a 1–1 draw that did little to ease both side's fears of relegation. The return fixture on 22 April was less tense as both teams had a healthy gap on the relegation zone, and it was Vale who claimed the local bragging rights with Foyle scoring the only goal of the game to claim Vale's first away win over Stoke in a league fixture since 1927. The two sides met in the third match of the
1995–96 season and
Ian Bogie beat
Carl Muggleton at his near post to give Vale a third consecutive away derby victory. The Valiants achieved their first league double over Stoke in 71 years by winning the return fixture under the floodlights on 12 March, with Bogie again the only name on the scoresheet, this time scoring within just 12 seconds of the
kick-off;
BBC Radio Stoke commentator George Andrews excitedly reported that "Bogie's done the business! Five seconds into the game, the Bogie Boogie has set it alight here, and the Stokies are stunned". Beaten in the
1996 play-offs, Stoke remained undefeated in the
1996–97 derby games, first drawing 1–1 on a sunny Sunday Burslem afternoon on 13 October after a late
Lee Mills header cancelled out
Kevin Keen's opener. The final derby game at the Victoria Ground took place on 20 April 1997, when a brace from
Mike Sheron ensured a 2–0 win in what was also Macari's penultimate game as manager. The
Britannia Stadium (later renamed as the Bet365 Stadium in 2016) held its first derby game on 12 October 1997, and Keen proved to be key, providing an
assist for
Richard Forsyth's opener and then scoring the winning goal of a 2–1 victory himself. Stoke's league form collapsed at the end of the following month, however, and they entered the return fixture on 1 March 1998 just one place above Vale in the relegation zone. With both teams desperate not to lose, the game ended in a 0–0 draw. The derby games went on a two-year hiatus before Vale joined Stoke after being relegated to the third tier in 2000. In September 2000, with Port Vale in an increasingly perilous financial state, Stoke's Icelandic owners were reportedly looking to merge the two clubs. The two teams met on 17 September, though only 8,948 fans were in attendance at Vale Park to witness a 1–1 draw as
Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and
Kyle Lightbourne found the net within the game's opening quarter of an hour. By the time of the next meeting on 17 February 2001, both clubs had been eliminated from the FA Cup by
non-League opposition, though Stoke had managed to maintain good league form – despite losing 8–0 at home to Liverpool in the League Cup. A crowd of 22,133 came to the Britannia Stadium to see the two derby rivals play out another 1–1 draw, with
Dave Brammer finding an equaliser to cancel out
James O'Connor's opener. The two sides met again at the Britannia Stadium in the Football League Trophy on 5 March (the game had originally been due to be held at Vale Park, but the venue was switched as Vale's pitch faced drainage issues), and though Vale manager
Brian Horton played a strong eleven, Stoke boss
Guðjón Þórðarson's priority was promotion and so he rested key players. Goals from
Micky Cummins and
Nicky Mohan left the scores level at full-time and the tie was settled with Bridge-Wilkinson's
golden goal from the penalty spot after Mohan was penalised for handball. As was the case after beating Stoke at the same stage of the competition in 1993, Vale went on to lift the trophy with victory in the
2001 final. With Stoke having lost to
Walsall in the
2001 Second Division play-off semi-finals, the two derby rivals met again for two league fixtures in the
2001–02 campaign. Both clubs faced acute financial pressures, though again Stoke were in the hunt for the play-offs as Vale settled into mid-table. The first derby game took place at Vale Park on 21 October, and
Stephen McPhee looked to have given the home side the victory with a headed goal, before
Chris Iwelumo equalised with ten minutes left to play; Iwelumo later recalled that "I never ripped up trees for Stoke but the fans have always been very appreciative and held me in high regard... because of goals like that". The return fixture at the Britannia Stadium on 10 February 2002 was witnessed by 23,019 supporters, with Vale hoping to derail their rival's promotion push. Cummins scored the game's only goal after a scrappy piece of play in the 36th minute and went on to say "It was a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant game, brilliant atmosphere, everything's electric. You feel the energy from the crowd, really urging you to win. Brilliant." Iwelumo was not selected for the game and theorised that Stoke's Scandinavian contingent failed to appreciate the importance of the game in the same way that Vale's British players had done. Stoke went on though to secure promotion, going up to the First Division by beating
Brentford in the
2002 play-off final.
Keeping apart (2002 onwards) The two clubs experienced vastly different fortunes in the decades since 2002. Port Vale twice came close to going out of existence, entering
administration in December 2002 and March 2012. Stoke, meanwhile, experienced ten seasons of
Premier League football under the ownership of local billionaire
Peter Coates, also reaching the
2011 FA Cup final. Before then, however, the previous owner
Gunnar Gíslason had attempted to exploit Vale's administration peril in 2003 by bidding to buy the club out of administration and enforce a groundshare arrangement. The administrators instead chose
Bill Bratt's Valiant2001 supporters' group as the club's new owners. Upon Stoke's relegation from the Premier League in 2018, a group of Vale fans arranged for a plane to fly over the bet365 Stadium, towing a banner saying "WE STOOD THERE LAUGHING – PVFC". However, at the time, Stoke were playing away at
Swansea City, and their relegation had already been confirmed a week earlier. On 4 December 2018, Stoke's
under-21s lost 4–0 to Vale's first-team in the EFL Trophy at Vale Park, and after the match an estimated "minority of 150-200 people" within Stoke's 4,000 ticket allocation vandalised the away end at Vale Park; despite being against a youth-team the match was still Vale's season-high attendance record of 7,940. Following Vale's relegation from League One in
2023–24, a plane flew over Vale Park before their final game of the season with a banner reading "SHE STOOD THERE LAUGHING – N40". ==Results==