Before you get into the meat of this article, two things.

This is not a history of the Henny Derby. If you want that, you should visit this article, I’m very proud of it.
If you’re looking for tons of on the field details, this isn’t that article either, as I was on the sidelines, shooting video and photos most of this match (except for when I went to eat in the press box, delicious).

We had decided several months ago that this was the year we made it to one of the matches between Richmond and Madison this season. Several of us had tossed around the idea of being at Madison for the match earlier this season, but funding was complicated and we decided to bump to the Richmond match. Still haven’t been to Madison, one of these days.

When Creel, John, and myself arrived in Richmond (via different modes of transport: train for them two, plane for myself), I was struck by the mugginess in the air. I live in a very arid region of the country (“it’s a dry heat”) and humidity kills me now. Regardless, we arrived at our airbnb and caught up for a bit before reaching out to Elliot Barr to make plans for the evening. Elliot was nice enough to hang with us the night before the match.

We have a rule: if we see a bell, we pose with it.

We met him at Gus’ Bar and Grill, a local soccer bar, and began a night of shooting the shit around soccer, the Derby, and Richmond history in general. Elliot bought us a round of Hennessy and we all partook. For the record, John sipped his, much to his shame. After an hour or so of chatting, Elliot drove us to a late night cookie spot, while we discussed Richmond’s Black history. He pointed out neighborhoods and homes of cultural significance as we headed towards Red Eye Cookie. After picking up six, he drove us back to our spot and we made plans to meet up the next day before the match.

We did some sight-seeing the next morning, before eating at Curbside Cafe, a little restaurant with some delicious pirogies and a pretty killer pulled pork sandwich. Shout out to another place that was too full for us to eat at, Early Bird Biscuit Company (we got an amazing biscuit to go). After lunch, like any other middle-aged men without families in tow, we went to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. John and Dan decided to head back after for a pregame nap, but I had seen advertisements for a large samurai armor collection at the next door Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and couldn’t pass it up. Glad I didn’t.

We made our way down towards City Stadium around 5:30p. Gates were opening around then and people were already starting to arrive. River City Army was around the corner on the other side of the parking lot pre-gaming. Part of our credentialing process had been to agree to not drink before or during the match, so we watched everyone having a good time and left it at that. Got a chance to meet so many friends in person for the first time. Elliot was passing us around, introducing us like long-lost family members and it was great. Shout out to Alex from League One Updater, just as nice in person as online.

The crowd really filled out headed into game time. I don’t know if the match was announced as a sell out, but it was very full that evening. When the match kicked off, the seats were full of rowdy fans making noise for their Kickers. Behind the stands at City Stadium, there’s a large two-story building that serves as a press box and general catch-all (merch, storage, etc). Everything else is food trucks and a large open area filled with people milling around, drinking, eating, and having fun. One of the better match atmospheres I’ve seen in person, if I’m honest. So many dogs and kids, it’s a real family atmosphere and so much fun.

The match went as you probably know at this point, early goal for Kickers, equalizer from Madison in the 88th, go ahead in the 97th for the home side. Pandemonium after. Couldn’t have scripted it better.

After the match, we stood in the same tailgating area, enjoying a well-earned beer with the Red Army. They were singing, banging drums, and waiting for the Forward Madison bus to roll through. One last chance to get a taunt in. Before we left, we hugged a very sweaty, drunk, and happy Elliot Barr and said good night. This Henny Derby was everything we could have dreamed for.

- Dan Vaughn