In soccer terms, the rivalry has existed for almost 140 years, starting with the first inter-colonial match between Victoria and New South Wales taking place on 16 August 1883 at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, which ended as a 2–2 draw in front of a crowd of 2,000.

Although there were many later matches between various mostly immigrant-founded teams from Melbourne and Sydney in the Australia Cup and the National Soccer League prior to the A-League Men era, the interstate rivalry aspect was not as much of a focus, given the context and identity of the clubs involved.

[6] The second meeting on 16 October 2005 resulted in a landslide win for Victory at their then home ground, Olympic Park Stadium, defeating Sydney FC 5–0.

The first encounter between the clubs during the 2006–07 A-League season (and fourth overall) entrenched the rivalry between the teams as passion and tension fueled the match.

[7] The ugly incident required urgent medical attention as it left Milligan struggling to breathe and there were fears he swallowed his tongue.

The teams played out a 0–0 stalemate in the first round of the 2011–12 A-League season, with Australia's head coach not picking either player for national duty, allowing the eagerly-anticipated match up to occur.

[9] Sydney FC claimed the inaugural BeyondBlue Cup by defeating Melbourne Victory 1–0 at Allianz Stadium on 10 March 2012.

On 10 November 2012, Melbourne Victory came from 2–0 down to win 3–2 at Allianz Stadium, with two late goals from substitute player Andrew Nabbout helping them achieve the result.