Ipswich
Town Football Club
Not a lot
of people know this!!
The soccer club
was formed in 1878 and was called Ipswich AFC, not to be confused
with a Rugby club called Ipswich FC who played at Portman Road
at the time. Town's first ground was at Broomhill off the Norwich
Road infact the players used to use a shed at the Inkerman Public
House across the road as a dressing room.
In 1888 the AFC
and FC amalgamated under a new title "Ipswich Town. "The
Rugby section eventually sought a ground of its own, ending up
funnily enough at Broomhill. For 20 years town played on a pitch
which was then a cricket pitch and now used for training situated
at the rear of the Pioneer, or as it is now known Brittania stand.
The main pitch as we know it today was then wasteland or more
accurately marshland granted to the "Portman" and then
the Alderman of the town as grazing land.
Town were very
much an amateur team and did not get involved with the league
until 1899 , this meant ground improvements were difficult to
finance, although Town were among the first to use goalnets in
1890. Three sides of the ground were bordered with trees in those
days. The fourth south side was dominated by a tobacco processing
plant owned by the Churchman brothers, one of these brothers actually
played in goal for Town during the 1880s
The cricket pavilion
was used for the teams to change in, however the conditions were
so basic that the players preferred to use the Station Hotel up
the road.
As Town were
deemed to be tenants at Portman Road it was thought impossible
for the club to build permanent stands around the pitch, with
this being the case and with no real money to speak off, the club
erected boards around the pitch for spectators to sit on. The
pitch of course was a major asset then as it is to this day. Trouble
was the cricketers were also very fond of their playing surface
and the football club were despite changing the axis of the football
pitch several times to avoid damage to the cricket square, asked
to find a new home, perhaps, it was suggested, they could make
use of the unused wasteland beyond the cricket boundary.
This was agreed
and four years of planning went into the football clubs sideways
move. The Corporation ie landlords did not object to this but
were not prepared to assist financially. Therefore in 1905 the
Ipswich Cricket, Football and athletic Ground Company was formed
with a share capital of £2000 and Town were granted a 20
year lease. Portman
Road positioned as it is today was inaugurated on January 9th
1907 but not by Town, a proposed debut 2 weeks earlier had been
snowed off.
The stand along
the Portman Road was made of wood at a cost of £230 while
there was fencing all around the ground there were no fixed barriers
along the west side, to divide the football pitch from the cricket
pitch. That summer a Pavilion was build in the south west corner
of the ground where the the present day offices and gym are situated.
Though this was very welcome, the £280 cost resulted in
town paying an 8 fold increase in rent from £30 to £240,
reduced on appeal to £150. Thus Portman Road started to
develop to a point most other big city clubs had attained 15 years
earlier. as Town retained there amateur status, the gap between
them and the city clubs, was to continue to widen over the next
30 years.
In 1911 a stand
roof blew of one night The army took up residence and stayed until
1920 when Town returned whippet racing was tried for a time, while
Mr Walter Woollard the groundsman kept sheep goats and chickens
in the stand. One game in 1926 had to be halted after the appearance
of rats caused havoc amongst the fans. To add to the Farm like
atmosphere a cattle market opened across Portman Road. No wonder
rival fans take the mickey out of our rural heritage.
To
be continued