Do we have a rivalry?

"Somerset get battered, everywhere they go."

Gloucestershire having just beaten, well battered, their West Country rivals in the final of the Vitality Blast were jubilant at such an easy victory. It was the third time they had beaten them in T20 cricket during that season and Ollie Price was not out at the crease during all three victories.

That night in September 2024, that chant rang out through a Birmingham hotel with complete euphoria. Gloucestershire having just beaten, well battered, their West Country rivals in the final of the Vitality Blast were jubilant at such an easy victory. It was the third time they had beaten them in T20 cricket during that season and Ollie Price was not out at the crease during all three victories.

A win at Bristol in the drizzle; a game punctuated by numerous pitch invasions, including a gentleman dressed as a woman who tried to hit the stewards with a stump he had just stolen from the pitch at the end of the game was the first of that wonderful trinity.

Ben Charlesworth and Ollie Price were the scourge of the Taunton, the following month, with Big Ben hitting a wind assisted six to clinch the victory, after a late flurry of runs from the Glorious Glosters beat the late flurry of runs from Somerset.

So much so, that a tweet from Somerset commentator Peter Trego during the interval, which read, “What a brilliant last five overs” was replied to by Gloucestershire commentator Ian Randall, which read, “Which five overs were they, Peter?”

There was no certainty that there would be a West Country derby as Somerset had to get past tournament favourites Surrey, with Gloucestershire having to take on a well fancied Sussex side.

Both won easily to setup a Cider derby, a fitting final. Our left armed duo went through their top order as the Taunton batting couldn’t cope with the southpaws – Matt Taylor and David Payne. On a wearing pitch, a small total can often be hard to chase but cometh the hour, cometh Ollie Price.

His six to win it, still remains my favourite shot. I have seen him hit much bigger and cleaner hits but this one will live long in the memory. It just crept over the City End rope but in my mind, it ended up somewhere near the Bull Ring. Glos were jubilant at beating their rivals hands down, near Handsworth.

The aftermath has so many memories, so many stories, so many beers. James Bracey taking the trophy to David Lawrence brought a tear to the eye, the lump in the throat as the team belted out the “Glorious Glosters” song.

Those 620 from the Gloucestershire Regiment, who were killed at the Imjin River during the Korean War, would have been proud as the boys brought back the trophy to the most glorious land of all. My personal favourite memories are watching with Kevin and Ang Taylor, lovely people, good friends and parents of Jack and Matt.

One son lifted the trophy and the other was man of the match. I had a beer with Jack that night along with his wife Becky and said “Who would have thought you would have had two TFC’s(thanks for coming, a cricket reference when a player neither bats nor bowls) on Finals Day?” He replied, “I know, but I will happily take it”.

Personally, I don’t hate them but then I am an adopted Gloster, as Jack Russell calls me, although there has been the odd nasty comment about my commentary on their social media channels.

One of the nicer comments was that I sound like a 1970’s disc jockey. It would be different if I was born in the West. The atmosphere at Bristolon Cider Derby day can be febrile at times, with Somerset still having support in the south of the city and a City/Rovers mentality engulfing large groups of twenty something men who have been imbibing apple juice in the sunshine since midday.

They don’t hate us either, although I have heard that it can be lively down there inT20 cricket. Miles Hammond is one of the laid-back individuals I know and responded to being heckled down there, so it must be bad. However speaking to people I know, they actually quite like us.

Peter Trego says he likes Gloucestershire as a club and his son, Dexter is playing in the Second Eleven. Somerset commentator Harry Everett is another who has an admiration for the BS7 boys, with Ed Middleton being a good friend of his. Even the Queen of Somerset, media star, Annie Chave says she loves Gloucestershire as a club. It goes both ways, with David Graveney recently admiringly saying, “we could learn a lot from Somerset and how they are run as a club”.

Worcestershire? Not really, despite them being closer to Cheltenham than Bristol is to our beloved out ground. Besides, those Pears don’t half hate the Bears. Glamorgan?

Again, not really, despite the club’s marketing team trying to hype it up as a Severnside Derby and the DJ winding them up by playing Yma O Hyd, which translates into “We’re still here”, every time they lost a wicket in a T20 game three years ago.

believe there were a few incidents at a T20 game a few years previously with Bristol and Cardiff football fans clashing. Even the Day/Night 50 over clash last year saw a few ejections mainly for drunkenness with one gentleman from the capital of the Principality kicked out for urinating in his trousers, but no real malice. Hampshire? Give it a rest.

So, despite a few Somerset fans hating us and a few Glosters hating them, it is great to have a rival but there is no real hatred. The Cider Derby will always be hyped up but at the end of the day, this is cricket, not football.