Preview: Kickers Face Madison for the Henny Derby

Opponent:  Forward Madison (4-3-4)
Date/Time: Saturday, June 16th, 7:00 PM
Last Result: Kickers 2 – Central Valley Fugeo 1

Perfect weather for Saturday’s game.

What is the Henny Derby?

I’m stealing this from an excellent article by Madison 365, go and read it for the full story.

What started in a Twitter message between Black fans of third-tier soccer teams will become a nationwide celebration of Black liberation and culture this weekend.

The 12th renewal of the Henny Derby – the game between Forward Madison FC and Richmond Kickers – is set for Saturday, which also happens to be the day much of the country is celebrating Juneteenth, the day in 1865 that the last enslaved people in the US learned that they’d been freed.

……

The rivalry started with a Twitter message from Richmond Kickers fan Elliot Barr to Forward Madison supporter and Featherstone Flamingos cofounder Kyle Carr in 2019. Barr is the host of the River City 93 podcast and a supporter of the club since 2014; Carr is cofounder of Featherstone Flamingos, an all-inclusive Forward Madison supporter group dedicated to celebrating Black culture.

The two had never met, except through Twitter discussions surrounding the then-brand-new USL League One. Richmond, established in 1993, had essentially moved down a division to join the new league, while Forward Madison was playing its inaugural season. Finding common cause in Black fandom, and enduring a long losing streak to start the season, Barr decided to raise the stakes on the first-ever match between the sides.

“I told Kyle, ‘Look, I got nothing else to lose this year, we’re not making the playoffs, how about we just bet a bottle of Hennessy on the game?” Barr recalled in a 2021 interview. “A friendly bet.”

Three Things to Kick About

1. Hot Ticket – The local press is suddenly waking up to the fact that the Kickers have great support and the fans are coming in droves. An RTD article earlier this week talked about the success of the Kickers and the Flying Squirrels in leading their respective leagues in attendance.
   

   Peery said a lot of people ask him what makes City Stadium unique to the rest of League One.

   His extensive list of reasons starts with the club’s staff and relationships with season ticket holders and corporate sponsors. Community events designed to build local ties help too — the club did about 190 bookings last year for myriad events like the Carytown Farmers Market and Artisan Holiday Market.

2. Emi Returns – Technically Emiliano Terzaghi wasn’t missing but his efforts to get on the scorecard had been falling just short. Going into last week’s game he had two goals. After the game he had 4 goals. One was a penalty the other was a beautiful typical goal right in the mix of the box which is signature Emi. If the goal machine that is Emi has truly awakened the other teams in the league should be worried because the team wasn’t doing fine without the added boost.
3. Henny Cup – We gave the history of the Henny Cup above. What that doesn’t capture is how much this means to the players and the supporters. This is a genuine rivalry and will be a passionate game in the stands and on the field.

Prediction

Most of the soccer pundits are pointing to either a Madison win or a draw. Which seems odd since the Kicker are outperforming Madison in most categories other than goal differential. Home field advantage is massive in this game and with Emi finding his form I don’t see the Kickers settling for a draw. The home team is getting the win and the Henny Cup.

Kickers 2
Madison 0