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AFFILIATE MEMBER OF THE FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS' ASSOCIATION www.thefsa.org.uk

IMPORTANT - in conjunction with Colchester United, the CUSA operates a Safeguarding Policy for under 18's when they are travelling with us on our organised coaches. We kindly ask our under 18 members, together with their parent/guardian to also complete and return the Registration Form which can be found on our Membership page, and to read and understand the Safeguarding Policy, also on the Membership page
Please be aware that for your protection and ours, the CUSA will not be able to accept under 16's on the coach without a parent/guardian accompanying them

A reminder that you will need to be a CUSA member to travel with us. Please don't worry though, as we can take membership forms on the day we travel. To book or to make enquires about coach travel please either email CUSA at away_travel@cusa.co.uk or message anytime Jon Burns 07752 531600 or Malcolm Cole 07901 612063, or call between 7 pm and 9 pm and leave a message

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AWAY TRAVEL UPDATE - 21 MARCH

Now taking bookings for all of the remaining U's away games this season

STEVENAGE - 2nd coach booked

Please do not leave it too late to book for Salford and Doncaster because we'll need to give good notice to Roman Coaches for additional coaches

EFL MATCH EXPERIENCE FAN FORUM - 28 MARCH - INVITATION

We would very much to promote the follow

The EFL is holding a Match Experience Fan Forum, taking place on Tuesday 28 March (6.30pm-8pm), and supporters are welcome to attend virtually via a pre-event sign up process.

The event will be hosted by Sky Sports’ David Prutton and broadcast virtually to an online audience, with a number of football industry studio panel guests to discuss a range of matters linked to the match experience, crowd behaviour, and some of the challenges impacting the League and its Clubs. Run in association with the Football Supporters' Association (FSA) the event will allow fans and football stakeholders to join online, listen and contribute to discussion on match operations, Clubs and fan collaboration, and ways to create a safe and positive matchday experience, all in conjunction with the EFL and Clubs’ commitment to the Love Football Protect the Game campaign.

By clicking on the link a registration web page will open up with a number of fields required to be entered and submitted. A Forum link will then be sent via email to enable access to the event online on the evening of 28 March.

To register please CLICK HERE

Charity Prize Draw - in support of U's legend Nicky Smith 

Thanks to our members, we have raised £1,000 for the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity

Your support is greatly appreciated

And we are please to announce that the winners of our prize draw for the signed U's shirts were Adam Walker, Makenzie Behn-Merrill and Simon Riley

Nostalgia Corner

Some history of Colchester United matches against Southend United 

The first match between the two teams, played on 14 October 1950, attracted a crowd of 21,000. This was the highest attendance at the Southend Stadium since the war, which suggests that the contest was keenly anticipated by all concerned, but other than that it is difficult to state definitively whether there was a rivalry from the beginning or if it escalated to a derby later on.

It is likely that the main reason for the rivalry is geographical, although the fact that Southend had the upper hand and finished higher than Colchester in the Third Division South league table in each of the first six seasons from 1950-51 may have been a contributing factor. More recently, the 2005-06 season probably added to the rivalry with both teams achieving automatic promotion to the Championship.

The Essex rivalry certainly isn’t forgotten but I don’t think that fans wearing their kit in each other’s town/city would be unduly troubled. It is quite rare to see fans wearing Southend colours in Colchester where you are much more likely to encounter supporters of Ipswich Town.

There have been incidents of violence between the two clubs over the years, more so from the 60’s to the 80’s than recently, but on Colchester’s last league visit to Roots Hall in February 2016 a Southend fan ran on to the pitch and confronted Colchester fans in the away end.

There have been many players over the years who have played for both clubs, including the current Colchester captain Luke Prosser, but you don’t usually hear words such as ‘traitor’ being used. I don’t recall any such reaction regarding Anthony Wordsworth’s transfer.

My best memory is a 4-0 win for Colchester in a Friday night match at Layer Road, 29 November 1968. Colchester had started the season poorly but new manager Dick Graham recruited a host of experienced campaigners who that night handed out a real thrashing to the visiting Shrimpers in front of a crowd of more than 10,600!

My worst memory is a 3-2 win for Southend at Layer Road in the semi-final first leg of the LDV Vans competition in 2003-04, particularly as at that time Colchester were playing in the league above Southend! The second leg finished 1-1 which took Southend to the final with an aggregate score of 4-3.

I have to admit that the stadium atmosphere does tend to feel more toxic than for most other matches, perhaps more so at Roots Hall where the facilities are poor.

Hal Mason’s book ‘The Official History of The U’s’ describes Southend as the ‘Old Enemy’ so perhaps that is a fitting summary of the rivalry between the two clubs!

Members Memories

This season we would like to try and involve CUSA members more and think a small contribution to the programme notes would be a good start.

What we suggest is a short paragraph of some 100 words or so recalling members memories down the years. This could take the form of a memorable player, game, goal, awayday experience, etc.

If you would like to pen some memories, that would be great. You can submit your notes via the enquiries email (enquiries@cusa.co.uk) or drop into the CUSA desk on match days.

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