Footballing Stories from Suffolk

Extra Time

Footballing Stories from Suffolk

Extra Time brings different generations together to explore the rich cultural heritage of grassroots football in Suffolk, help preserve the county’s sporting legacy, and create a resource for others to use as part of the archive collections.

As part of the project, we invited people to share their footballing stories with us. These were recorded and curated into two story boxes for people to listen to and enjoy.

This page contains the same stories as those featured in the Extra Time Footballing Stories from Suffolk Box 1.

Recorded during 2023, they cover decades of football, from championship winning goals and an FA Mastermind contest to the joys of the supporter’s coach and the loneliness of a groundsman during the pandemic. A few of them have been slightly edited, for the sake of clarity.

We are immensely grateful to our contributors, including members of the Ipswich and Lowestoft Sporting Memories groups and the Ipswich Town Heritage Society, as well as many others, for sharing their stories with us; we would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to you all.

And we would like to say a huge ‘thank you to National Lottery players’; this project has been made possible through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as Lowestoft Rising and the Association for Suffolk Museums.

The Footballing Stories boxes are produced by John Royle at Chronicle Digital Storytelling, to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude for everything he has done to make this possible.

Extra Time is a partnership project between Suffolk Artlink and Suffolk Archives.

A Legend’s Boots

By: James Hacker

In this story, James describes his prized possession— a pair of football boots from Ipswich Town player, Richard Naylor.

[My name is] James Hacker. These are a pair of boots owned by Ipswich Town player and some would call legend, Richard Naylor. Richard was a home grown player who came through the Youth Academy and was nicknamed Bamm-Bamm for his all action style.

He had a career start as being a striker, including coming on in the play-off final in 2000. Being part of the winning team gave him cult status and then later in his career he was transferred to being a centre back where he really excelled; he became my all-time favourite player and still is today.

I came to Ipswich and to football later on in life. I got dragged to football by a friend who said, “Come along, you’ll enjoy it.”

Not really knowing too much about it, I went, and Richard was the player that made me fall in love with foot
ball, due to the way that he played.

I was very lucky to come by these boots.

There’s another cult hero, legend you could call him, within the Town ranks, who was assistant kit man, amongst other jobs, at the Club through the years, called Ken Goody.

While they were clearing out the kit room at the football Club, and Ken, who knew of my love for Richard, contacted me and said, “I’ve got something special for you if you’d like it.”

I was working at the Club at the time, and I popped down to the football ground, went to the dressing room, and there he presented me with this pair of boots, and I was amazed that something that special was available, you know, for me to have.

He’d contacted Richard, who said, “No, don’t bother about posting them up to me, just hand them on to somebody that you think would appreciate it.” And absolutely it’s, you know, it was an amazing thing to be presented with.

Favourite photograph

By: Shirley Whitlow

You can listen to Shirley’s recording on YouTube

As volunteer photographer for Lowestoft Town Football Club, Shirley has taken thousands of photographs at Crown Meadow, so choosing just one to share here was very difficult.

Considering how many photos I’ve taken over the years, it was quite difficult to pick out one favourite memory and the photo to go with it.

So I’ve chosen one from the last season of Sam Johnson celebrating his goal.

It was taken on a chilly February evening at Crown Meadow. Our opponents were Wroxham FC. I’d been treated by Paul [Shirley’s husband] to be the match sponsor and to choose Man of the Match.

There was a touch of mist in the air just before kick-off, which I kind of predicted would get worse as the match went on.

Wroxham took the lead 10 minutes in, but Lowestoft started to put the pressure on with Jake Reed equalising 16 minutes later.

At half time, the score was level and I already had Sam in mind for Man of the Match for his charging runs down the left wing.

When the whistle went for the start of the second half, the sea mist was starting to gain momentum, creeping across the pitch.

Both teams were playing well, but Lowestoft had the edge. Then, on the 81st minute, Sam scored a cracking goal from out of the mist and ran straight towards me and my camera to celebrate with his team mates. I knew I’d made the right choice for Man of the Match.

Everyone in the ground was probably thinking that Lowestoft had done enough to win at this point and whether the match could even continue, as you couldn’t see the other end of the pitch.

However, this was not to be when we heard a cheer from across the pitch and Wroxham had equalised, minutes from the final whistle.

No-one saw the ball going in and, speaking to Luke Holt our goalkeeper after the match, neither did he.

Quite a Game

By: Graham Barker

A football ‘derby’ is a match between local rivals.

In this story, Graham recalls attending his first derby in 1982, between Ipswich Town and Norwich City.

My name is Graham Barker and I’d like to record some of my memories of the first East Anglian Derby I went to.

It was in December 1982; there was a capacity crowd there and four of us went down in the car from Lowestoft, and it was quite a game.

Norwich scored first through Peter Mendham and then Ipswich equalised through Russell Osman and it was a really good entertaining game, as derbys should be, although they’re not always; sometimes they can be rather drab because there’s a lot of tension involved.

So it was 1-1 at half time, out they come for the second half, all looking forward to it, as you can imagine, being the Derby, there’s a lot of banter, between the fans.

Again, Peter Mendham, a mid-field player, scored so they were 2-1 up and Norwich supporters were happy with that and then, to give Ipswich their due, within just a few minutes, Paul Mariner, their big centre forward, scored, so it was 2-2.

The longer it went on, we thought ‘Oh, it’s going to be a draw,’ which sometimes in a derby is probably the best result, because it keeps everybody happy, doesn’t it?

The game went on and on, end to end, and then suddenly Norwich got a free kick – and I can remember this quite vividly – Martin O’Neill took the free kick and actually scored, with just a few minutes to go.

So then, of course, the Norwich supporters were absolutely delighted whilst the Ipswich supporters were thinking this is absolutely horrendous.

It gave Ipswich very little time to come back. They tried hard, but it finished, Norwich won 3-2.

It was a really good pulsating game, and some of the players I can remember, well, for Ipswich there was Terry Butcher, Russell Osman, and up front there was Mariner and Brazil, which was quite a ‘potent’, shall we say, strike force for them.

For Norwich, there was Mick Channon, he was a really famous player, he came to Norwich in his later years, he was quite a character and I can remember him playing.

And, I believe, there was a former Ipswich player, which made it more interesting, playing for Norwich upfront, called Keith Bertschin and in goal for Norwich was Chris Woods, who I think actually went on to play for England.

So, as first derbys go, that was my favourite memory of all that, that was not bad, shall we say, for a first one, yeah?

Grassroots

By: Mark Auchterlonie

A keen Brighton supporter, Mark is still up for visiting an Ipswich match. He describes some of his experiences watching football matches in Ipswich’s home ground at Portman Road and some of the players he’s seen play.

I’ve got a couple of grassroots stories from Portman Road, but I guess that, up front, I ought to put a disclaimer out there that I’m actually a Brighton
supporter, but have lived in Suffolk since 2007.

So, I’m going back to 2011, when I took my eleven-year-old son, Tom, along to Portman Road and we watched a game which started with Tom’s favourite player Vicente Rodriguez who we’d signed from Valencia which back in the day, Brighton were in the lower regions, so that was quite a big signing for us.

We watched him dribble from the Brighton half, over the half way line, along the left side of the pitch and then, almost with a Johan Krotz turn, flick it from his left side onto his right, leave the defender in his wake and curl it into the top bins; we were right behind the goal at the time and it was just a beautiful goal to witness and Tom obviously enjoyed it for that was his favourite player at the time, as well.

I think we need to be fair about the score as I’m going to give another exam-ple of a game that we went to see at Portman Road where Brighton did win but I shouldn’t gloss over the fact that Ipswich went on to win 3-1, with 2 goals with Michael Chopra, if I remember correctly, both of which were pretty good goals, top bins again, and Sonko, I think, with a header.

So, that was a bit deflating; we saw Tom’s favourite player and Brighton go 1-0 up and then lose, 3-1.

However, two years’ later, on New Year’s Day 2013, we returned [to Portman Road] and Brighton won 3-0, and so it was just fantastic. As you can imagine, we kept quite quiet, as we were actually in the Ipswich end as we couldn’t get tickets in the Brighton away end.

I won’t bore everyone with the scorers, other than Wayne Bridge scored one of his very rare goals which was a stunner from outside the area. Probably, linked to the grassroots side of this story, looking at the programme, there were three players on the bench that day. Two for Brighton – Solly March, who Brighton had just signed from Lewes Rovers non-league club and he was 18 at the time, now still playing for Brighton in the Prem, and Lewis Dunk, a young 20-year-old, who has since established himself with a couple of England call-ups.

But it was the Ipswich programme on the subs bench that intrigued me, as there was a certain Tyrone Mings, who Ipswich had just signed for £10,000 from Chippenham and that, I believe I’m right in saying, that game was his first ever appearance for Ipswich, coming off the subs bench, well, certainly he was on the subs bench – and he’s obviously gone on to great things with Aston Villa and England.

So, those would be my rather Brighton-biased grassroots stories.

The Magical FA Cup Run of 1978

By: Mark Dunster

Mark followed Ipswich as they progressed through the FA Cup rounds and eventually won in 1978. In this story, he recounts some memorable moments of these matches and his excitement at winning the Cup.

My name is Mark Dunster and I’m here with my story of the magical FA Cup run of 1978.

Sings:
From the special train to Cardiff, to the twin towers of Wem-b-ley
We saw the Blues victorious, to make that his-to-ry

Saturday, 7th January was the day of the 3rd round match at Cardiff City.

Mick Mills made a club record number of appearances of 494.

As our song says, Guy, Mike, myself and others made the over-500-mile round trip on a football special from Ipswich. Ipswich won 2-0, and progressed.

Round 4: This provided a home tie with Hartlepool, and this passed without any great alarms, Town winning by 4-1.

Round 5: Bristol Rovers away. An early pitch inspection designed to save us band of supporters a wasted trip, and the go ahead was given for the match.

The pitch was covered by snow and underneath was slippery and icy.

This game was to prove the closest that Ipswich came to exiting the cup.

The home team turned a 1 goal deficit in a 2-1 lead and when Bobby Gould intercepted an Allan Hunter back-pass and found the net, it appeared that the score was now 3-1 to Bristol Rovers.

However, fortune favoured Ipswich, in that the goal was disallowed for off-side, and Town went on to equalise in front of the travelling fans with 4 minutes to go.

Scenes that followed that goal included a respected unnamed teacher jumping on the back of another fan before shouting ‘I love you, copper’ to a nearby policeman. That teacher was my dad.

The replay at Portman Road proved straightforward and Town won 3-0.

Quarter final: Millwall away. We were on board one of over 50 coaches to travel to the ground at Cold Blow Lane. Both sets of fans were not segregated and the match was really remembered for the violence and intimidation.

Our group of a dozen fans or so left the ground for safety reasons at half time, for the coach.

Once on board, someone threw a large lump of concrete at the coach, narrowly missing the window and instead hitting the body of the coach. The final score of 6-1 to Ipswich seemed of secondary importance.

Semi-final: West Bromwich Albion at a neutral ground of Highbury, Arsenal.

Memories for me involved the journey to London, when I so badly needed the toilet and in my vanity and wishing to impress a young lady with my running ability, I ran hard for the nearby garage when our coach was apparently in stationary traffic.

Thanks to the kindness of our driver and his judgement, I was able just to make it back to return to the coach before the coach exited the roundabout – and would have waved goodbye to me.

The match itself is famous for the clash of heads between Brian Talbot of Ipswich and John Wile, when the aforementioned scored for the Town.

Talbot withdrew from the match and Wile continued with a bandage around his head.

An enduring image of John Wark hovering and scoring a header to restore the Town’s lead of two goals to make it 3-1 in front of the clock end at Highbury is one that I still remember to this day.

The Final versus Arsenal: Memories of such a wonderful final are fondly remembered. For me, this was the best performance by an Ipswich side in my lifetime.

The team tore Arsenal apart and on a luckier day would have won 3 or 4 or even 5-0, hitting the woodwork 3 times and having numerous other chances.

We made it back to Ipswich to watch the highlights on Match of the Day that evening.

A Groundsman’s Memories of Covid

By: Philip Charles

Philip volunteers as a groundsman at Portman Road. In this story, Philip talks about his experiences of attending games during the Covid pandemic when matches were played behind closed doors.

My name’s Philip Charles and I work as a volunteer groundsman at Portman Road. I work on match days on the pitch, as the pitch walker and I wanted to share a little bit of insight from the Covid 19 coronavirus pandemic that hit most of the world in the early 2020’s.

For the 2020-2021 season, a lot of that season was played behind closed doors across all of the UK, and so people were not able to go to the football, but I was an exception to that and felt very, very fortunate to still be able to go to the games.

They allowed no more than, I think, around 100 people on site for those matches, but of course groundsmen still needed to work, still needed to look after the pitch, so I was very, very lucky to still be able to go to those games.

[It was] very, very different, of course, I’m sure you can imagine – nobody, no fans in the stadium. We worked as ball boys as well, so we would be put into a whole stand on our own.

So I sat in the North Stand for half of that season completely on my own, which is the most bizarre feeling. And you could almost sense the history and the memories of that place being so empty and hollow was just bizarre.

And yeah, many changes. Obviously we were very, very socially distant. Every time a ball went into the stand, we had a bucket of disinfectant, we’d have to put the ball into the bucket of disinfectant, roll it around and then throw it back to the players on the pitch.

We’d have to spray the goals with disinfectant before the game and at half time and after the game and spray the goalposts with disinfectant. There were cardboard cut-outs throughout the stadium, so people could send in their own photo and it was created into a cardboard cut-out so it looked like some fans were there and some people sent in some Town legends, you know, Kevin Beattie, John Walker, etc. and then some odd ones as well, like a Boris Johnson cut-out I remember being there as well.

But yeah, very bizarre. You know, looking back even though it was only a couple of years ago, it feels so long ago and now, you know, we’ve just been promoted back into the Championship.

A full house could be to 30,000 people at the ground now. And I’ll never forget those days of sitting on the North Stand completely on my own, even quietly singing to myself, sometimes just yeah, it sends a shiver, thinking about it now, how different it was.

The games just felt like a training match really, especially at kick-off, very bizarre. Kick off, whistle goes—and there’s no noise, apart from the odd player shouting.

But yeah, let’s hope that never happens again. It was a real honour to have been there to represent working in the Club still and helping through that period because it was, you know, lots of unknowns.

That’s my experience of working at Portman Road during the Covid pandemic.

A Footballing Legend at Stowmarket Town

By: Trevor Wardlow

As former manager of Stowmarket Town, Trevor got to meet some footballing legends, including one of his heroes, Sir Alf Ramsey, at the opening of the new ground 40 years ago.

My name is Trevor Wardlow. I’m a former local football manager.

My photo concerns Stowmarket Town, who I was involved with for 17 years, and the photo is the opening ceremony of the opening of Greens Meadow Football Club at Stowmarket.

This year will be 40 years that we’ve been at Greens Meadow, so it’s 40 years old, the photo, and I’m the slim one in the tracksuit.

It was performed by Sir Alf Ramsey, the England World Cup winning manager. We were very honoured, in fact surprised, that he accepted our invitation to open it.

He was renowned for being a very private person and not doing these type of things, so we were very honoured to have him; the photo is very dear to me.

The opponents on the night were Norwich City. Ipswich Town were unable to do the fixture, but Norwich City were very obliging and two further incidents occurred, concerning former or what were to be England internationals.

Mick Channon, the former England striker, who had a goal celebration of a windmill with his arm, was good enough to score against us and to display his celebration to the crowd, which went down really well.

And Chris Woods, who was a young goalkeeper for Norwich on the night, had the misfortune of letting in a soft goal just before half time and proceeded, when he came in at half time, to kick a hole in the changing room door.

He then went on to become the full England goalkeeper and so we often toasted him when he would come on the television after that and remind ourselves of that night.

The feeling of shaking hands with Sir Alf Ramsay, who is one of my heroes, was a tremendous feeling. And, I also tended to have an affinity with Norwich as well for the fact that they were prepared to put themselves out and field several star names; that lasts with you.

And whenever Sir Alf Ramsay is mentioned and the word ‘private’ person is brought up, I’m quick to remind people that he did in fact open the ground.

Wembley Bound

By: Philip Mummery

Philip recounts his memories of Lowestoft’s exciting match at Wembley in 2008 when the team reached the final of the FA Challenge Vase.

I’m Philip Mummery. I was thrilled, watching Lowestoft take a 4-0 lead at Crown Meadow in the first leg of their FA Vase semi-final in March 2008, against Whitley Bay.

However, it was scary watching them hold out in the second leg at Whitley Bay for a 4-3 on aggregate win, after conceding 3 goals in the first 20 minutes, with goalkeeper Andy Reynolds repeatedly dislocating his hip and the players assisting him to put it back.

We were to play Kirkham & Wesham in the Vase Final at the new Wembley Stadium; there was plenty of pre-match publicity on TV.

On 12th May 2008, our family boarded a Belle Coach at Belvedere Road, Lowestoft, heading for Wembley, along with many others.

On our stop for refreshment at Birchanger Services, it was great to mix with hordes of other Lowestoft fans, including Trawler Boys, clad in oilskin coats, leggings and hats.

Arriving, it was a thrill to walk up Wembley Way and, after taking photographs, climbing up the steps to the balcony outside the stadium which overlooked 55 coaches or so on the Lowestoft coach park.

When we went through the indoor area of the stadium to our seats, it was so hot and humid that during the match we moved our supporters’ flags as much to keep cool as to encourage our players to score; I found it heartening that our fans outnumbered our opponents’ supporters by more than 3 to 1.

The game was played at a leisurely pace in the heat. Lowestoft led at half-time through a headed own goal.

In spite of the Trawler Boys efforts, it was not their Vase, as Matt Walwyn, a substitute for Kirkham & Wesham, equalised, before snatching the winner in the 93rd minute.

This left the Blues looking disconsolate when they went up to collect their loser medals.

Nevertheless, the fans turned out in their hundreds a week later to give the Lowestoft players, managers and officials a great reception in the town centre, for their great feat of reaching the final.

Friendship with Fortuna Dusseldorf

By: James Hacker

In this story, James talks about the background to the fan-friendship between Ipswich Town and Fortuna Dusseldorf supporters.

James Hacker. The relationship between Ipswich Town and Fortuna Dusseldorf is something that started organically over a decade ago now and has only grown, and lots of fans travel each year on different occasions across to watch games.

Once a year, however, in January, when Germany are on their winter break, Dusseldorf brings around 100 fans over for an Ipswich Town home match, and it’s a proper celebration of a fan-friendship between the two Clubs.

It’s built up over the years to the point where we’re aware of at least two sets of fans, one from either team have actually ended up getting married through meeting through this fan-friendship.

It started because the Dusseldorf fans like to visit England; a lot of the European fans love English football from back in the day, it was the only thing they saw on TV, and the big English clubs in Europe.

They visited a few clubs, they visited Brentford for a match. They visited AFC Wimbledon, where they loved the story about how that was a fan built club from a pub conversation to a league club with all the promotions, and they were looking for a game to do on one of their visits.

Because it was January time, one of the games they were planning to visit was called off, and they looked at the fixture list and saw from where they were that Ipswich was manageable, distance-wise.

So they came up to Ipswich, and the reception they received and the way they were welcomed in, despite being a bunch of unknown Germans wearing red and white shirts, that was it, that started the relationship. And then they came back year after year.

The Green ‘Un

By: Steve Prentice

Steve describes the importance of the Green ‘Un, originally known as the Football Star, that was published on Saturday afternoons giving the results of all the matches played that day.

My name is Steven Prentice. The Green ’Un, as far as I’m aware, up until the 1950’s and ‘60’s, was the only way you could get the football results or any football information on a Saturday.

After the games were finished, you either listened to Sports Report, which was on the Light Programme, or you bought the Green ‘Un; otherwise you couldn’t get the results until the newspapers came out on Sunday morning. Now, the Ipswich Green ‘Un, I think, started when Ipswich Town turned professional or when they joined the football league.

The reason it was called the Green ‘Un was because it was printed on green paper and the Norwich one was called the Pink ‘Un, and some people used to read that, just to see what they were saying about us.

Its actual name was the Football Star and it was produced by the East Anglian Daily Times company, which was then in Carr Street [Ipswich] and they used to be able to get it out by 5:30 on a Saturday afternoon, which was amazing.

There used to be queues of people outside the Evening Star office, trying to buy it, and also all the newsagents around the town, they used to get their Green ‘Uns certainly by 6 o’clock, and there used to be huge queues of people outside the newsagents, trying to buy the Green ‘Un to find out what had happened.

You have to remember that there wasn’t only Ipswich Town but there’s always been a whole load of non-league football played in and around this area, so people wanted their Green ‘Un.

Obviously, you got a match report from the Ipswich Town game of the day, and you got all the results so you could check your Pool’s coupon, plus the fact that you had the reports from the Eastern Counties league, the Essex and Suffolk border league which was big and had loads of Suffolk teams in those days and the Ipswich and District league, which was the forerunner of the Suffolk and Ipswich league Premier Division.

I don’t know what the circulation was but that was mighty, and also all the smaller clubs used to be able to put their notes in the Green ‘Un, with comments on last week’s game and what have you, and that was really all that existed, in this area; there was no local radio at all, and really we had to rely on the local papers.

The Green ’Un was great, people used to fight for it. Me and my dad used to have one each because we couldn’t wait for each other to read it – and so did my brother-in-law and his dad; that was like a green Bible.

Referee Promotion

By: Martin Stiff

Plugs, penalties and promotion – it was all in an evening’s work for referee Martin, back in 1974.

The story I want to tell you is my promotion from Level 2 to Level 1. It happened on the last Thursday in May 1974, when I was appointed to the Charity Cup final at Halesworth.

I had trouble with my car and it stopped and started, stopped and started, and it’s 35 miles from Ipswich to Halesworth; I eventually got there 10 minutes before kick-off.

All the officials were worried about where I’d got to and there was a big crowd there, because it was a local derby between Halesworth and Bungay.

As you can imagine, there was quite an atmosphere there, and they were pleased to see me. They said, “What’s the problem?”

I said, “The car.”

“Oh dear, don’t worry. Give us your keys.”

So, I said, “Thank you very much, there are my keys.”

I just left them there, I forgot all about the keys, I forgot all about the car – I needed to focus on being the referee.

Within the first 10 minutes, I had to give a penalty to Halesworth. The local policeman was playing for Bungay. Anyway the crowd went crazy, it was that pleased I’d give a penalty against the local policeman. In the end, the game went well, Halesworth lost to Bungay, as Bungay was the far better side.

At the end of the game, when you go to pick up the trophies, they applauded all the team players and then they said, “We’ll have the referee up, now.”

I got the biggest cheer of the night, all the kids, they were all as chuffed as anything, that I’d booked the local copper and they were pleased as punch.

So, I got my medal and as I walked down from the pavilion to stay with the rest of the players and the chairman said to me, “Are you missing something?”

I said, “Yeah, my car keys.”

“There they are,” he said. “It was such a great performance for us, and you were the star of the show. If you ask the kids, they’ll all start cheering. We’ve fully serviced your car.”

“Okay, thank you very much. How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing. We’ve done an oil change for you. We’ve checked all the brakes. We’ve put a new distributor system in and we’ve changed all the plugs.” I said, “That’s expensive.”

“No, no, no,” they said. “That’s our goodwill to you for doing this charity final. And now, you’re invited back to the town centre.”

I forget the name of the pub we went to, but there was all this food laid on. Well, by now it’s getting on towards half past ten and I thought right, I’d better be getting home. So, I jumped into the car, well – it felt like I’d got a new car.

On my way home, I stopped in Farnham, where there’s a red telephone box, because my wife was worried about the car letting me down left, right and centre, so I thought I better give her a ring and tell her that I’m on my way and that the car’s been serviced; it was a Ford Cortina, by the way.

“You’ve had a phone call tonight,” she says. “This is the number. I’ll be in bed by the time you get home, but if you’re in before midnight, ring this number.”

“Okay, fair enough, thank you very much.”

So, I got home, got on the phone and I’m thinking I know that number, that’s Claude Fenton. He’s on the referees’ committee of the Suffolk County FA and a personal friend of mine. He says, “Martin, congratulations.”

I said, “What do you mean, congratulations?”

He said, “You’ve just got your Class 1, at tonight’s meeting.”

So that was a very good day for me. Fantastic. That’s the end of my story.

A Boy’s Game

By: Terry Lyle

Terry has been a Lowestoft Town fan since he was a lad and later became the Club Secretary.

In this story, Terry remembers playing football with his friends as a boy during the Lowestoft matches.

My name is Terry Lyle, I’m Secretary of Lowestoft Town Football Club.

I’ve been supporting the Club since 1954 when, like a lot of young boys at that time, you’d go to the match with an elder brother and watch intently from the side lines until half time.

And, as with all youngsters at half time, a football miraculously appears from somewhere, and you spend the half time interval kicking the ball into the goal mouth furthest away from the changing rooms until the voice booms over the tannoy, “Will those boys get out of the goal mouth, please.”

In which case, you then disappear, over the old railway sleepers up behind the top goal in those days, and carry on your football match there until the game ends.

Then you ask an adult what the score was, when the game’s finished, so that by the time you get home and tell your mum and dad, you know what the score is.

A Special Piece of Memorabilia

By: Mandy Garner

One part of footballing memorabilia that I’d have to take with me, if I had to leave [the house] in a hurry, would be my husband.

Making Friends

By: James Hacker

James describes his move to Suffolk and making friends through football.

Football’s really important to me.

I moved up to Suffolk from Essex. I moved up in my early twenties and I didn’t really know too many people – I was moving into a new place, all my friends that I’d grown up with, I’d kind of moved away from them, and football was a way of introducing me to new people and making friends.

I would say, without any doubt, 80 to 90% of my friendships that I have stem from originally attending Ipswich Town football matches and it is the main part of what forms my social life is in and around football.

I still have a season ticket, although work gets in the way sometimes it is, you know, I’m still trying to attend as many matches as possible.

Memories of my First Ipswich Match

By: Gordon Evans

Football in the sixties was full of amazing players and yet, according to Gordon, they seemed very down-to-earth.

By way of example, he cites Manchester United vs Ipswich Town at Portman Road in 1963 – reckoning it’s the best match he’s ever seen.

Hello. My name’s Gordon Evans, and I now live in Lowestoft.

In 1962, our family moved from Bedfordshire to Colchester. Although I always was, and always will be, I don’t know why, a Colchester supporter, the first thing I remember was Ipswich Town becoming league champions under the guidance of the legend that is Alf Ramsey.

However, it was over a year and a half later that I was taken to Portman Road for the first time. It was September 1963. Ramsey had gone to manage England and Jackie Milburn took over an ageing Town side; it was destined to be a season of struggle, ending in relegation and the departure of Mr. Milburn.

The town lined up that night Bailey, Bolton, Compton, Baxter, Nelson, Elsworthy, Stephenson, Moran, Crawford, Phillips and Blackwood.

Amongst the Manchester United side were Harry Gregg, Tony Dunne, Bill Foulkes, Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, plus youngsters Ian Moir and Phil Chisnall. A week later, a debut was given to a certain George Best.

Little surprise then that, having just won the FA Cup, they went on to come second only to Liverpool that season and a season later were crowned league champions.

My memory is of my dad coming home from work with three workmates in the car. One had a driving licence, as dad was a learner driver, driving our Austin 7.

The road to Ipswich was not like it is now and we were all glad to arrive into the Cattle Market car park with two minutes to kick off.

We made for the first entrance, and me being carried over the turnstile, then passed down to the front over a packed Portman Road crowd was quite an experience, although not as frightening as being passed over a far larger Stamford Bridge crowd on a later date.

Although I can’t remember the details, Anglia TV recorded it and regularly re-showed it. It was an absolute classic. The Town scored twice.

Unfortunately, Manchester United replied with seven.

Not only that, Irish International goalkeeper, Harry Gregg, saved a Ted Phillip’s penalty. I remember Denis Law scoring at least twice and, along with Bobby Charlton, completely running the show.

The atmosphere was electric and both teams received a deserved standing ovation from the crowd; and still to this day, I think it is the best game of foot ball I’ve ever seen.

I did return to Portman Road later that season to see an already relegated team beat Blackpool 4-3, 2 of Blackpool’s goals coming from a young Alan Ball whilst Gerry Baker scored a hat trick for the Town.

Great memories, great times, watching football in the sixties. It was full of atmosphere, exciting, thrilling and the players always happy to meet the fans and sign autographs. Everything just seemed so much more down to earth than it is now. Oh, for those days to return.

One final note. The two games I saw at Portman Road that season gleaned no fewer than 16 goals – good value for the one and six I think paid at the turnstiles for the Blackpool match. Thank you.

All Aboard the Orient Express

By: Philip Mummery

Philip recalls his memories of Lowestoft’s FA Cup run in 1966, including chartering a train to take fans to the match between Lowestoft and Leyton Orient.

I’m Philip Mummery. I was on the Lowestoft Town Supporter’s Club committee when the Football Club had a memorable FA Cup run, before drawing Southern League Kettering Town to play in the fourth qualifying round on 15th October, 1966.

The match atmosphere was electric, 3,500 Cup followers at Crown Meadow.

Lowestoft fans erupted after half time when Robin Mills scored, but Kettering equalised from the spot.

Grice put Lowestoft back in the lead and I felt ecstatic when Mills made it 3-1 on the final whistle.

We were drawn to play Third Division Leyton Orient away in the first round proper of the FA Cup on 26th November.

In the following weeks, I helped in our Supporter’s Club efforts to fill a 500 seater chartered train, which we named the ‘Orient Express’.

At Norwich Union, where I worked, I obtained the Supporter’s Club a pluvius policy to cover the Club for refunds, should the train not run if the match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

On match day, my dad photographed my brother and I in front of the ‘Orient Express’ on Lowestoft Central. We left for Liverpool Street Station with our Mayor and Supporter’s Club Beauty Queen, and 500 fans on board.

Inside the ‘O’s’ Brisbane Road ground, the pitch was muddy. Leyton Orient took an early lead and I recall Lowestoft defended stoutly to go in 1-0 down at half time.

The outcome of the game was decided when Mick Tooley’s spot-kick was saved and, soon after, when he hit the Leyton woodwork.

I was disappointed when Lowestoft conceded a second goal but cheered up when Nigel Cassidy scored to pull one back with a hooked shot into the corner of the net.

The score remained 2-1 to the ‘O’s’, who resisted Lowestoft’s pressure to equalise.

On the journey home, I considered Lowestoft had given Leyton Orient from a far higher league, a fright.

One Thing

By: Steve Prentice

In the 1970’s, the FA Cup final was a day of celebration that went beyond the match itself; there was even an FA Mastermind competition on the day.

Here, Steve talks about taking part—and the celebrations on the way home.

If I had to leave the house in a hurry, and I had to take one thing regarding football with me, I think I would probably take the DVD of the FA Cup Mastermind from 1978, because I was one of the people who was on it.

Once Ipswich Town got into the FA Cup final, I was contacted by a member of the Ipswich Town Supporters Club, and he said would I be interested in representing the Club in the FA Cup Final Mastermind and would I go for an interview at Portman Road?

They had to have one person who was over 30, and I was 31, and one who was under 30, and they picked this guy called Paul Browes who was a 17-year-old Northgate school boy.

The actual programme was filmed at the Wembley Conference Centre, but 3 weeks before the actual Cup Final and it was shown at midday on Cup Final day, so none of the Ipswich Town supporters actually saw the programme, because they were all on their way to Wembley.

We were given a railway warrant and £5. We duly appeared at Wembley Conference Centre in our best suits and an Ipswich Town Club tie, which was loaned to us by the supporters club – but I have still got it.

We did have a coachload of supporters come, but they came later.

So, we got there about 2 o’clock, or something like that, they had all the Mastermind people there, plus John Shrewsbury, the Grandstand football man, you know, he was in charge of Grandstand and sport, but they didn’t have Magnus Magnusson – they had John Motson and he was brilliant – a very nice man.

Well, when we got there, we were greeted by a whole load of Arsenal people and they all had straws in their mouths and they gave us the whole ‘ooo-aa’ and country bumpkins and they just took the mickey incessantly.

We did this rehearsal, and we beat them something like – our combined scores were something like 60 and Arsenal got 18.

The Ipswich supporters had arrived by then, and they took us on a tour of the stadium. We came back and at 6 o’clock, they recorded the whole thing.

We went in the same order the second time but our Arsenal friends had some of the same questions they’d had in the rehearsal and we had different questions which, I think, some of them had been hastily rewritten, because some of them were ambiguous or very difficult, I’ll tell you that, but we still beat them.

At the end of the programme, they had Bobby Moore as a guest and he presented the trophy to us.

The trip home was hilarious. Some of these people had had a drink and the Alderman dropped his trousers on the coach [laughs]; it was a really good trip.

Of course, we got home and we weren’t allowed to tell anyone how we got on – and we never saw the programme. It’s so many years ago now, most people have forgotten about it. It was mainly ladies who used to talk to us about it, because their husbands were all at the Cup Final and they were watching it.

A Perfect Match

By: Tim Edwards

Tim’s first visit to Portman Road was as a Spurs supporter and, as he recalls, he screamed abuse at the home crowd, who screamed back just as vehemently.

It was, says Tim, the perfect preparation for married life.

[My name is] Tim Edwards. I’m a lifelong Tottenham fan, but married into Ipswich Town and am very involved with Ipswich nowadays.

The first time I ever came to Portman Road was in the early ’80s, mid-summer, I’d been to the Ipswich Beer Festival and had a few beers while supporting Spurs in the old away end in the North Stand.

Remember how it used to be divided with a fence? I was about ten feet away from the home fans, screaming abuse at them for 90 minutes.

My now-wife, Liz, was other side, ten feet away from the fence, screaming abuse at all the Spurs fans.

So, 20 feet apart, screaming abuse at each other for 90 minutes – perfect preparation for married life.

Many, many, many years later, via a couple of minor hiccups, our lives came together, perhaps in 1998, and I remember her saying to me, “I won’t marry you. Well, actually, I will marry you, but only if Ipswich plays Spurs in the Premier League.” And, as she tells the story, of course, that Ipswich let her down, by getting promoted.

We’d told people that we were going to get married, and that we were going to get married at Portman Road when Ipswich played Tottenham.

We were away on holiday, possibly in Greece or somewhere, in June, and we get a text message through (long before the days of mobile internet) from Liz’s mum, saying, “By the way, you’re playing each other on the first day of the season.” Oh-oh, six weeks to arrange a wedding.

Luckily, that first game was at White Hart Lane, so we got engaged that day.

We were actually on opposite ends. I was in my regular season ticket seat, she was in the away end, and we screamed abuse at each other for 90 minutes – some things don’t change.

We got married on December 30th, just a day before Ipswich played Tottenham at Portman Road. There was a bit of snow on the ground.

The actual ceremony was the day before up at St Peter’s Brewery, we actually had a brewery tour as part of the wedding reception, which was rather good fun.

Our guests all came up on a Galloway’s coach. They got on the coach at Portman Road, it was like going to an away game, we had the coach completely decked out, and we had so much fun that day.

The next day was the serious business of getting back to football. We had the wedding breakfast in the marquee for corporate guests, which is now the Fan Zone, and we even had a service of blessing on the pitch, just before the turnstiles opened.

Liz got her life’s dream; she walked through the players’ tunnel onto the pitch in her wedding dress on her wedding day.

It was a fantastic day in every way for me, bar one, every way for her bar none, because Ipswich won 3-0; Tottenham just didn’t turn up.

Well, a quarter of a century on, these are still fantastic memories, and I’m really hoping that maybe next year, Tottenham will play Ipswich in the Premier League again, and maybe I’ll get my revenge, next time.

Souvenirs

By: Rob Atherton

An Ipswich Town fan for 40 years, Rob talks about his prized collection of souvenirs including a match-worn shirt from Hermann Hreidarsson worn during a recent European night at Portman Road when the Town hosted Inter Milan.

Hi. My name’s Rob Atherton. I’ve been an Ipswich fan since I was at school. My first game was in January 1983 against Brighton, and we won 2-0.

So, several years watching Ipswich – 40 years by my maths – and I’ve going to tell you about a couple of souvenirs I’ve got.

The first one is a match-worn shirt from one of the big, more recent European nights at Portman Road, when we hosted Inter Milan; I have Hermann Hreidarsson’s match-worn shirt mounted and framed at home.

I came across it, I think, it was on ‘Those were the Days’, they were actually just selling them. I think Hreidarsson and Martin Rosser maybe had the same agent, but both those shirts were available for purchase. It wasn’t an auction; it was a purchase. They were both available for £500 each.

So, I saw that and I thought – I had a bit of money at the time – I thought I fancy one of those.

So I bought Hermann’s (I’ve always liked Hermann) so I bought the shirt. In hindsight, I wish I’d bought them both, but hindsight’s a wonderful thing.

I went and got it framed. I went down to the East Anglian Daily Times. They had a really good photo of Hermann during the game with the ball, and on one side of him, he has a guy called Javier Zanetti, who was an Argentinean international, probably played over a hundred games for Argentina.

And the other side of this photo is Clarence Seedorf, midfielder from Holland, and he played for Real Madrid, AC and Inter Milan. These guys are world-class players.

So I’ve got this cracking photo of Hermann holding these two lads off the ball, world-class players. It’s all mounted and it’s just a really nice souvenir; it’s one of a kind. It’s from one of our great European nights.

Unfortunately, we didn’t do very well in the second leg, but they were a very, very, very strong team. So it’s a nice souvenir.

It’s hanging on my wall with a couple of other shirts I have, in my little office at home. It’s my little Ipswich tribute wall. I’ve got a few things on there, and that’s one of the prized possessions. I’m really, really pleased with it.

So, it’s a nice focal point for any Town fans that come around.

A Prized Possession

By: Chris Chenery

Chris talks about a match-worn shirt he owns of D J Campbell that is signed and was worn when he scored the winning goal at an Ipswich Town vs Birmingham City match.

Hi, I’m Chris Chenery and I’ve brought along with me today the match-worn shirt from D J Campbell, signed by himself, that he wore to score the winning goal at Birmingham City in Mick McCarthy’s first game as Manager.

It was presented to me on the pitch at Portman Road by Lee Martin, along with a year’s supply of Adnam’s beer, that was a prize from a promotion up in the Legends bar at the back of the South stand.

Lee Martin was a midfielder who came to Ipswich, who had emerged at Manchester United initially, was out injured at the time when he was designated to present this to me on the pitch, but was a current squad member at the time.

D J Campbell came to us on loan, was only there for a short spell but scored something like eight goals in the time he was with us. But as I say, this particular shirt was from when he scored the winner in a 1-0 win, Mick McCarthy’s first game as Manager and we’d been on a poor run up to then, so it was quite a big moment.

I keep it in a drawer mostly, I have kept it in a drawer mostly, but I did actually wear it to a game for the first time ever only a couple of weeks back; it was a home game and we won, so it might get another airing.

Playing for England

By: Ray Crawford

Ray talks about the time he played for England.

Yes, that, that shirt is my first England shirt for when I played at Wembley.

It’s a big experience for me and I’d been doing well for Ipswich Town; I was the first Ipswich Town player to play for England.

I enjoyed playing for England with all the star players and although I didn’t score in my first game, I made the goal for Bobby Charlton by going down and winning the cross for him to score.

And I got told off by Alf Ramsey after the game. He said to me, “What were you doing, going down the wing, crossing the ball for Bobby Charlton?” he said. “He should have been doing it for you.”

So I didn’t say anything – you didn’t argue with Alf Ramsey, you just took it.

Obviously, Alf was a great man, he taught me a lot. He took me from Portsmouth when I was a young player and he made me into the player that I became by teaching me to be a team player rather than just an individual.

And I must obviously thank him for all he’s done, what he did for me, in my career.

What We Remember

By: Nick Wright

Nick was seven years old when his dad took him to his first football match: Ipswich Town vs Sunderland.

He’s been to many matches since then, but will never forget the raw emotion of being a fan for the first time.

Nick Wright; my first big match.

Isn’t it funny, how you remember things? I did some fact-checking before telling this story about the first top-flight football game that I attended and learned that, contrary to my memory, a goal did not come from across from the halfway line and was not scored by Mick Mills.

I’ll come to the facts later, but let me start at the beginning. In April 1969, I was seven years old, and my interest in football was growing.

I played football in the playground before school, during breaks, and at dinner time. I also read the football reports in the newspaper. If the words were too difficult, then I tried to make sense of the results and the league table.

I couldn’t get my head around aggregate scores until my dad explained that some cup ties had both home and away legs. He also said that he would take me to my first Ipswich match.

On Saturday, 4th April, my dad and I left our house to take the short walk to the Ipswich Town Ground in Portman Road. We were going to see the first Division match between Ipswich and Sunderland.

When we got to the main road, we joined the growing stream of people walking down the hill towards Portman Road. Turning the corner into Portman Road, there were even more people queuing to get into the ground.

After pushing through the turnstile and climbing the steps, I got my first view of the pitch with its bright green grass. Whilst I will never forget the beautifully manicured playing surface, what left a lasting impression was the huge crowd in the stand opposite me and the huge crowds in the stands to my left and right.

Before I could start to comprehend the number of spectators, the noise hit me.

The chanting of the crowd was deafening, but not frightening or intimidating.

The clapping was made even louder by the echo of supporters banging on the walls at the back of the stand.

What an incredible, exciting atmosphere – and the match hadn’t even kicked off.

As I said earlier, my memories of the game itself were inaccurate. The Town won with the only goal of the game. Ron Wigg, not Mick Mills, turned the ball into the net from a corner, not across from the halfway line; I expect, but cannot be certain, this was the first time I heard the Ipswich supporters go with their opponents with the chant ‘1-0, and a long way home’.

Looking back now, I’m not surprised that I didn’t remember the details of my first game. I’ve seen a lot of football matches since and cannot remember many of them. But what drew me into the beautiful game was the sheer number and volume of passionate supporters.

I still get a tingle in my spine whenever I go to a match at Portman Road, but it will never compare to the raw emotion and the excitement of being a fan for the first time.

First Game

By: Liz Edwards

As a seven-year-old, Liz attended her first ever football match at Portman Road and her passion for Ipswich Town has continued ever since.

My first match was back in 1967. I can’t remember the exact game, but I remember some of the details and the enjoyment, the passion, just going to the match and being part of the great atmosphere at Portman Road.

My dad at the time was going to take my sister and a friend to the game, and I really desperately wanted to join them. So I pleaded, pleaded, pleaded,

“Please, dad, please, please, please, please let me go to the game.”

The answer was always ‘No’.

I persevered, though; if I wanted something, I always liked to make sure I got it. So I pleaded and pleaded, even started to cry.

“Why should they go? And I can’t go.”

I was told I wasn’t old enough, so that made me worse.

“Why? Why aren’t I old enough? Come on, Dad. Come on, let me go.”

In the end he relented, and I joined my dad, my sister, and her friend in the car as we drove up to Portman Road.

When we got to the game, we went into the North stand, which in those days was a terrace, so rows and rows of steps for people to stand on. It wasn’t a busy night, there weren’t so many fans in that end so, being a youngster, just barely seven years old, I could manage to see the game.

My sister’s friend had a rattle with her, which she lent to me to use. I thought, ‘This is great fun’.

Shaking the rattle, making lots of noise, as it turns and it clunks, I thought,

“This is fantastic. I really enjoy this,” and probably annoyed every single person behind me. But did I care? No. I was at Portman Road, having a great time.

At the end of the game. I decided I was going to carry on going to Portman Road to watch Ipswich. They needed support, and I was going to be one of those supporters.

My sister’s next game wasn’t until Wembley, in 2000, when we got promoted.

However, she’s now a season ticket holder and enjoys it as much as I do.

But that first game, that was the start of my passion and my love for Ipswich Town Football Club.

Black Socks

By: Bob Gray

Bob was a Class One football referee in the 1950’s and ‘60s.

In this story, Bob talks about his referee’s clothing – specifically his socks.

Bob Gray; I was a Class One referee in the sixties and seventies.

I had an unfortunate experience with the Suffolk FA, because I refused to wear the white tops on socks; I wore all black socks.

I did the Suffolk Senior Cup Final, it was drawn, we had the replay and some one approached me in the dressing room after the drawn game and said,

“You’ve got the replay next week. I take it you’ll wear the appropriate gear.”

And I said, “Oh yes,” but I still wore my black socks.

Well, in those days, I had three children, and there wasn’t that much money going round and white tops on socks – when it’s muddy they get covered in mud, the more you wash them, whites don’t always look good, do they?

So, that’s why I wore black socks. I would go through one pair each season and that’s why I wore them.

But ironically, now every referee in the premier and World Cup anywhere wears all black socks. They didn’t copy me, but I was right in what I was doing, that was me, and if so, I was years ahead of the game.

Simple as that.

Ball

By: Charlie Jones

Charlie is studying Creative Writing and English Literature at the University of East Anglia and is, in his words, a ‘long-suffering season ticket holder’ at Ipswich Town Football Club.

Ball.
Controller
Of joy. Dictator
Of our tears or our
Laughter. Blue flags rise
Or fall. Burger vans either a
Perfume of victory or a reek of
Defeat. Sir Alf and Sir Bobby standing
Proud as Suffolk Punch outside the temple
Of hope you built for us. A theatre of dreams with
All eager eyes on you. The star. Your supporting cast
Is twenty-two people. Eleven heroes. Eleven super
Villains. One daft muppet in the black. Today,
You’re the king for 90 minutes, a captain
Of a floundering ship. We are lost with
Out you, in seas of uncertainty. Is
This why do we sing to you?
Are you our God? Do
I even love
Ball?

 

A Committed Town Fan

By: Glenn Sedgwick

Glenn explains how a shout from the living room inspired his devotion to Ipswich Town, despite an arduous 6-hour round trip to watch them play.

I have never lived in Ipswich, nor have I even lived close to Ipswich, so why have I been a fan for over 50 years? Roger Osbourne is to blame.

When I heard my older brother shout in the living room, I asked him why. He said that Ipswich had just scored in the FA Cup Final – and Ipswich were my team from then on.

After many years of watching Ipswich from afar, from the latest scores appearing on the TV, Final Score, the Sunday newspapers, Ceefax and Oracle, I finally made it to Portman Road for my first game in 1991.

A kind friend drove me to Peterborough from Northampton, where I was studying in college, so that I could make the direct journey to Ipswich by train.

It was only last season that I decided to buy my first season ticket, and what a season it was. I managed to make it to 33 games during the course of the season, even though Portman Road was still a 6-hour round trip, without accounting for the A12 delays.

The current set-up at the Club is so good that I have decided to buy another one for this season, and things are going pretty well, so far.

The Club has accommodated my hearing dog for the deaf, Anya, so well, and this was a big reason for me taking the plunge to make visiting Ipswich Town regularly, along with a few away matches, a big part of my life right now.

The photo shows what I have in pride of place on my lounge wall in my home in Wiltshire.

It’s a Dog’s Life

By: Anya

As a Hearing Dog for Deaf People, Anya loves visiting Portman Road with her owner, Glenn, not least for the tasty sausages and delicious smells.

When Daddy says that we are going to Ipswich to watch football I think of the smell of pies and sausage rolls.

I also get lots of hugs, cuddles and kisses from people wearing blue or orange.

I love walking around the ground before and after matches as there are so many interesting things on the ground.

Daddy tries to hurry me along but I sometimes manage to sneak something into my mouth.

My season ticket seat is great because a lot of people around me eat pies or sausage rolls. I don’t get to eat much of them but I love the smell.

I loved it when Harry Clarke let me lick his face earlier this season.

The sausages from the Sir Bobby Robson Suite are the best I have ever tasted. When will Daddy take me there again?

Saturdays at Portman Road is my favourite day of the week. I deserve it, after working hard for my daddy during the week.

Standing on a Stool

By: Liz Edwards

Back in the day, fans would take milk crates and boxes to stand on, to help them see over the heads of the crowd.

Some children, like Liz, were lucky enough to have a dad who made them their own special stool.

Elizabeth Edwards. When I first started going to football, most of the stadium at Ipswich Town was for standing; rows and rows of concrete steps, not very deep, either.

There were barriers at various places in the stand and some people would get into the ground early, so that they could lean on the barrier to watch the game.

Being only sort of seven or eight years old, I couldn’t see if I was stood in a crowded end with loads of people around me, much taller than me. So, I took along a stool to stand on.

It was a stool that was made by my dad. And each game we would carry it along to Portman Road and take it into the stand and place it on the step.

Other people had similar stools or milk crates. Milk crates were very popular for people to stand on, to watch games. And this made us just that little bit higher so that we could see most of the pitch.

One problem with having a stool, though, was if there was a goal, everybody would jump up and down and surge, and suddenly you’d find that the stool was no longer near you, no longer under your feet; it was several steps further along.

So, after a goal, once it had been celebrated, you’d then sort of go around, look for your stool, find it, go back, put it on the step and stand on it again to watch the game.

I remember one game, I think it was against Norwich, when we scored a goal, and for several minutes I was just basically being held up by the crowd around me because my feet wouldn’t touch the ground, but everybody was so excited and jumping up and down and that was just how it was.

Those certainly were the days.

Four Goalkeepers, Yet Still They Lost

By: Dean Parkin

You can listen to Dean’s recording on YouTube

Goalie poet Dean Parkin recounts the worst footballing defeat of his life.

Hello there. My name’s Dean Parkin and when I was 13, I played for the worst football team in the land.

We were called Reydon Hunters and I was the goalkeeper. Well, when I say I was the goalkeeper, that’s the position I wanted to play in.

But we had four goalkeepers at Reydon Hunters and our manager, who was a very nice man, didn’t wanted to upset anyone so he played a rotation system.

In fact, everyone in the team played in a different position every week, to keep things fresh.

We lost every week but our worst result of the season was away to a team called Broadside; we lost 36-0 to them.

Remember, the match lasted only an hour, when we were that age, so that’s pretty much a goal every 2 minutes, in fact every under 2 minutes.

It was a freezing cold January Sunday morning, all grey skies and blowing a gale with rain. I was playing centre-forward that match, with another one of our goalkeepers, called Dennis.

I remember standing with Dennis at the half-way line, watching the goals go in, we were almost blown sideways by the wind. We were sort of shivering.

We stood on the half-way line because we’d be ready for the next time we had to kick-off and we never had to wait long and we’d always lose the ball again really quickly and Broadside began another successful attack.

That was our biggest defeat ever, but we did improve a little as the season went on and the next time we played Broadside, we only lost 24-0 and I even had a shot at goal.

Football, Football, Football

By: Maureen Jackson

Football is often a family affair and, in Maureen’s case, it started on her wedding day.

My name is Maureen Jackson, I am a resident at Britten Court Care Home [Lowestoft] but I come from Sunderland, the northeast, God’s country and I’m a big fan of Sunderland football.

Or should I say my partner was a fan of Sunderland football, and every Saturday he had his season ticket, and regardless of whatever, he went.

And I remember, we booked our wedding, and there was a football match on.

And the first thing he did when we came out of the reception was race to the newsagents to buy his football Pink, which he read all the way to our honey moon on the train.

But there again I should have realised–that that was him; he loved football.

And when my daughter was old enough, she used to go to the football match with her dad.

She had the season ticket with him and they would watch the football together and you could hear them from the other room.

And it was just football, football, football.

And that’s been the stuff of my life, I put up with him for about 25 years.

Then I think football took over.

You’re Never Too Young

By: Chris Chenery

Football is often a shared passion in families, with children following in their parents’ footsteps when it comes to team allegiances.

In Chris’ case, he wanted to get in early.

Hi, I’m Chris Chenery. Football to me means a lot. It’s been something that’s been there right from an early age for me.

I’m 52 now, since I was seven and Ipswich won the FA Cup – they were my local side, I lived in a village just near Bury St Edmunds, always been a Town fan throughout.

I met my partner through Ipswich Town and our 12-year-old daughter has had a season ticket at Ipswich Town since she was four days old.

It would have been less than that, but they apparently needed to have a birth certificate even though I was holding her at the time. So, to prove that she actually existed, we had to go and get her registered first, before she could get season ticket.

A Boy’s Dream

By: Clive Penning

Clive remembers the time he was selected as Ipswich Town’s mascot for their game against Sunderland at home.

My name is Clive. I was chosen to be a mascot for the game against Ipswich and Sunderland.

The year was 1976, either October or November1976. It was a Tuesday night and my dad and me went to the game.

We met up with Paul Mariner in the boot room while I was getting changed and Paul Mariner spoke to me Dad and me.

I went out and warmed up with the team prior to the kick-off and I walked out with the team and I shook hands with Alan Hunter, who was the Ipswich captain of that day and also Bobby Kerr, the Sunderland captain; I know we won 3-1.

I was a member of the Junior Blues, which was the junior-base fan club for the Club at the time. I was at school and I’d come home and I received a letter and it was a shock to me to be picked for the game.

‘Dear Clive, you’ve been selected to lead the team out for the mascot on the Tuesday night game against Sunderland at home. You and one other person’ – you can bring someone else with you – and my dad was an avid Ipswich fan, so we all went.

The trouble was, when you’re younger you don’t feel the anxiety, but I was always anxious in them days, so yes, leading the team out in front of 28,000, I forget that night, but yeah, it was something I don’t think I’d do nowadays; if someone asked me to do it now, I wouldn’t do it.

It was a good experience; it’s something I’ve always remembered and I’ve always been an Ipswich Town fan.

My first game, I think – I went with my dad – was the 1971/2 season, and I can remember one game he took me and Kevin Beattie broke this bloke’s leg and we used to go to the football games and I used to stand on the drinks carton, the Corona drinks carton.

New Shoes

By: Ady Smith

As a lad, you might want a pair of new shoes. But would you really want to
go shopping for them on the day of the FA Cup Final in 1978?

It was 1978 – and the FA Cup.

I come from a large family, five sisters, mum, brother, so no way was I going to get to go to Wembley, but it was on television, so I was going to sit down and watch it.

Unfortunately, Mother had other ideas, that I had to get new school shoes, so she whisked me into Stowmarket, which was the closest town to home.

It was deserted.

So, the first shoe shop we went into, the first pair of shoes I bought, I tried on.

I said, “Yeah, they’re fine, they’re fine.”

Straight home. Sat on the sofa. Watched the game. Jumped off the settee when we scored, through Roger Osbourne.

I paid for it for the next nine months because the shoes didn’t fit. My toes were curled up, and it was absolute agony. But I daren’t tell my mother what had actually happened.

The Original Tractor Boy

By: Dan Ford

Fans of Ipswich Town are often known as ‘tractor boys’, referencing the agricultural heritage of the area.

In this story, Dan Ford, the original tractor boy, recalls his time on BBC Radio Suffolk and meeting Kevin Beattie.

Hi, my name is Daniel Ford, and I used to be Tractor Boy on Radio Suffolk.

So, this involved being on a show called Life’s a Pitch, which was presented by Mark Murphy, along with Phil Ham and Kevin Beattie.

Originally, Mark did it in my house at home because I was seven or eight when I first began, and he would come round and interview me. But then as I got older, I was able to go into the studios.

This meant that I got to meet the absolute legend that was Kevin Beattie. I can honestly say he was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

He would just treat me like a normal human being and he really took my opinions on board, which was crazy, bearing in mind that he was such a foot ball legend and I was a 10-, 12-year-old who was putting some strong opinions across, probably some of which weren’t always the best. As I said, he was a lovely man.

Mark would always say that the best content came off-air – so we would have some absolutely great discussions and he’d tell us some great stories which obviously weren’t appropriate to be on air.

He was all round just a fantastic guy and it was such an honour to be able to work with him and such a sadness when we lost him in 2018.

Glorious

By: Nick Wright

In this story Nick talks about taking his young son to watch a match between Ipswich Town and Barnsley at Wembley, the last competitive football match at the old stadium.

The last competitive match at the old Wembley.

The winners of the last competitive football match at the old Wembley would play in the Premier League in the 2000 to 2001 season.

This play-off final was between Ipswich Town and Barnsley, and the Town were going to win because James, my nine-year-old son, said so.

James was a football-loving Town-mad fan. Every pre-match article he read in the East Anglian Daily Times and Evening Star forecast a comfortable victory.

He pointed out that even the Norwich-based Look East was supportive of the Blues.

We were traveling to Wembley on a supporters’ coach. Sitting next to us were James, his best friend Chris, and his dad, Dave. Like James, Chris was certain Ipswich would win; it was just a question of by how many.

As long-time Ipswich supporters, Dave and I were faithful realists and, thanks to a photo published in The Star earlier in the season, Dave was clearly more of a realist. It showed about 100 exuberant Ipswich fans, all with their mouths open, screaming, and hands up in celebration.

But there was one concerned face in the middle, looking like it had been photo-shopped there by mistake. Dave claimed it was taken after our first goal, and he couldn’t relax until we had a second.

The bus journey from Ipswich to Wembley passed quickly as we shared stories of previous games and away days without too much swearing as we were on a family coach.

The spirit on the coach was wildly optimistic. The atmosphere at Wembley was fantastic, and the match itself was dramatic, with the lead changing hands before Ipswich eventually won 4-2.

In an attempt to store a multi-sensory experience that I could recall in the future, I closed my eyes, listened to the supporters chanting, smelled the crowd, and squeezed James’s hand.

It didn’t really work as I can’t recreate that feeling of the glorious day, but it was glorious nonetheless.

Glorious because, at the final whistle, Dave, Chris, James, and I had a big emotional hug that would have rivalled the Tele-tubbies, glorious because the roadside banners welcoming our coach back into Ipswich made us supporters feel like heroes, and glorious because, for 20 minutes, Dave had enjoyed a two-goal cushion.

A Family Heirloom

By: Grant Bage

In this story Grant, talks about a precious family heirloom – a letter from Ipswich Town Football Club.

So the item I’d like to share with you today is a letter from Ipswich Town Football Club, dated 10th December 1946, and the letter says: –

Dear Mr. Turner, I shall be pleased if you could come to the Portman Road Football Ground for a trial on Tuesday next, 17th December, at 10a.m.

The recipient of the letter was my stepson’s grandad, Bill Turner, and Bill was doing his national service at HMS Ganges.

The sender of the letter was a certain Scott Duncan, who was the Ipswich Town Manager from 1937 until 1955.

And the letter’s come to me via my stepson’s dad, John, and his uncle David, who found it in Bill’s effects.

I remember talking to Bill about this before he died, and he said that he went for the trial, didn’t play that well, but he went on – he wasn’t picked as a player for Ipswich, but he went on to have a very good amateur career and he went back to London, played amateur football there, and then throughout the 1950’s, won lots of trophies; then the club he played for employed a new coach in 1952.

The club was called Eton Manor. Bill was really excited, because the coach was a very good right back – he’d played right back for England – and Bill was a right back and you’ve probably guessed already the name of that coach who coached Bill Turner from 1952 to 1955.

Yes, it was Alf Ramsey.

So there’s a connection to my stepson’s family that I’m very proud of. A letter from Scott Duncan and being coached by Alf Ramsey.

God rest, Bill.

Ladies Charity Match

By: Ray Crawford

In this story, Ray recalls being a linesman for a ladies charity match between Ipswich Town and Norwich in 1962.

Yes, I remember this charity match, played at Ipswich against the Norwich Ladies. Ipswich Town Ladies played ever so well that day, and I think we won the game.

John Hauser and myself were linesmen, and Roy Stephenson, referee. It brings back memories of how good it was in those days that people started to turn up and, and watch the ladies play football and that was a great memory, just to look at this charity match programme.

I think somebody came down to Portman Road and said, would a couple of players like to come along and take part in it and obviously I put my hand up and said, yeah, I’ll come along because I love football.

And it was it was such a wonderful experience. I like watching ladies football and I always have and I still do.

I think there was quite a few there that day. There was, you know, I think it would be into thousands. And of course, it wasn’t publicised at all. It was just sort of friends, relations and things; there was a bit in the paper the night before, but it was a great achievement that those ladies got out there and played the football that they did.

It was a really good day.

Birthday Cookies for Beattie

By: Lucy Ford

Lucy was too young to know Kevin Beattie as a player on the field, but she got to know him through BBC Radio Suffolk, and found him to be one of the nicest people she’s ever met.

Hi, my name’s Lucy. One of my favourite footballing memories in Suffolk was my brother was Tractor Boy and so went on BBC Radio Suffolk show and I used to come in and watch because we used to go to the game after together. So, I’d come in and watch and listen and engage with everyone.

I think it was Phil or Kevin Beattie’s 70th birthday, I believe, one of his birthdays. My mum and I decided to make some cookies for him, so we baked some cookies and we decorated them.

I think there was lots of sprinkles involved, lots of kind of running icing that stuck everywhere in the tin. I think there might even have been some kind of edible glitter at some point; they were quite garish.

But I think I did try to do a little ‘Happy Birthday Beattie’ on there. They weren’t the best cookies in the world, but I remember bringing them in in this little Quality Street tin and he was absolutely delighted and everyone found them hilarious.

So that was a really, really lovely memory that I’ve got of that time. I think I can’t have been more than about ten, really, at the time.

I was a huge fan of his. I mean, before I met him, because it was obviously slightly before my era, I knew who he was, but didn’t know much about him, but meeting him week in, week out at the radio station, he was one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met.

The Greatest Sport on Earth

By: Lewis Old

The sky’s the limit for Lewis and the Wot’s Up Warriors football team.

My name is Lewis.

I love football because it’s just one of the greatest sports on earth.

Everyone and anyone can get involved, and it’s really at-the-heart-of-the community kind of sport. And yeah, everyone can have a go.

No matter what your story, your background, you can all get up and have a go and kick a ball around. And that’s what we want to see.

So, the Wots Up Warriors have been around for a few years, I think to my memory. I’ve done a couple of seasons with them, I took part in a few tournaments and within that I’ve already won three awards, and this passion that I have now, that I get to enjoy doing every single week.

There is a lot of us, you know, we’re a big team, made up of different abled people, different mind-sets and different stories.

But as soon as you enter that pitch, you put them all to one side and you just get on with football; that’s what you’re there to do – concentrate.

Well, being autistic, I’m obviously a bit late to the party with everything normally; I suppose, the fact that it was only by the time I got to probably about 12 or 13 that I actually properly started following football.

Chelsea was my first team. Then I switched over to Liverpool, where I have been a Liverpool supporter for the last however long, but more recently Ipswich Town.

It’s only through doing this that I’ve started to get behind my local team and got my first season ticket for the championship new season in a few weeks’ time; it’s only through doing this that I’m now more properly involved with football.

[It’s] the feeling of going to the matches now, as well as playing; I just love the fact that it gives you all this freedom and anyone can access it.

I suppose you could say that my ambition, well, my number one ambition is just to always keep improving, you know, always strive to be better than you were last session.

Like tonight, I’ll probably be a five out of ten, then I’ll improve to be a six out of ten the week after; the sky’s the limit when it comes to what you can achieve.

So my advice would be for anyone who wants to take part in these football sessions, come and have a go, there’s no limit as to what you can do.

A UEFA Adventure

By: Peter Garner

In this story, Peter recalls travelling to see a match against Arras Salonika in Greece in 1980.

My name is Peter Garner. I’m going to tell you about a football match, away from home in Europe, which is slightly different.

This was the first round of the UEFA Cup, which we ended up going on to win that year.

The year was 1980, and we were playing away Arras Salonika in Greece.

The reason why we went by train was, one of our friends was afraid of flying and so said why don’t we get young persons’ railcards and go by rail?

On the Saturday we were playing away at Wolverhampton Wanderers, and from memory, we won 3-1, and we left the ground at full time and had a hair raising journey because of accidents en route to make the ferry at the Hook of Holland.

We went across by ferry and, believe it or not, we then only had to change train once in Germany. We had our own little carriage with Ipswich flags, we were being bought drinks all the way; everybody wanted to chat with us.

We then had to change to go down to Greece. People were wanting to bring electrical goods into our carriage because they were going back to Greece, and it must have been some reason that they’d have to pay tax or something on these goods and said, can you put them up on the shelves?

And we thought, why not? They’re buying us drinks. So we were quite happy to do this because we’d say they’re nothing to do with us, and the police or anybody could confiscate them.

So we had a great time on the way there. We arrived, we had to stay at the same hotel as the official supporters, which were run by Felixstowe Travel and it was quite hair raising.

There was quite a bit of trouble with their supporters there. We weren’t allowed to make our own way to the ground. We, for our own advice, the supporters put us on the same coaches, and we sat on the floor.

We had the game. I think it’s on the Tuesday; could have been the Wednesday, and we got back safely.

We obviously got through to the next round, and we enjoyed another journey back. Got back on the Friday, late in the afternoon I think it was, ready to go to Portman Road on the next day, on the Saturday. Great, great times.

Proposal

By: Peter & Mandy Garner

In this story, Mandy and Peter recall a very memorable away match at Swindon.

Mandy Garner. Peter Garner. We’re going to tell our story.

Swindon away, 12th November 1988; we went on to win 3-2.

But the most important thing there was my husband, Peter, got down on one knee at Swindon on the terraces.

We were away on one of the fantastic weekenders.

I did get down on my knee exactly at 3 o’clock when the ref blew his whistle and there was a big round of applause on the terrace, and we were obviously staying with 40 or 50 good friends of ours on the weekend, so it seemed an appropriate time.

It ended up a brilliant occasion because we were 2-1 down with about 5 minutes to go.

Yes. And what happened was then Dalian Atkinson scored and then Jason Diesel scored in the 87th minute with Romeo Zondervan scoring in the last minute.

And the scenes were absolutely fantastic.

We got back to the hotel, our friends ordered champagne. We had a great meal, a great evening and what a memory.

We got married the following year ….

So it’s 35 years ….

Yeah, it was ’89 we got married. Yeah, it was just really emotional. Fantastic.

From start and end of it to finish when Romeo Zondervan put the final goal in.

Wow, it was just a fantastic day.

I think we then phoned, phoned up family and let them know.

Yeah and friends and it was lovely to be with our friends and yeah it was just a lovely day.

Weekenders

By: Peter Garner

Away games provide an ideal opportunity to make a weekend of it – and here Peter describes some of the places he’s visited and the friends he’s made.

Hello. My name’s Peter Garner. I want to tell you about the away weekenders.

It was a group of friends and supporters that not only just went to a football match, but they enjoyed a weekend together.

Various trips were laid on by the organisers, and the main organisers were Geoff Dobson and his wife, Ann, and Tony Critch and his wife, Gwen.

This started with the UEFA Cup in Cologne in 1981 and went on for 35 years.

It’s fantastic memories. They used to be a waiting list to go on these trips. It just brought a smile to everybody’s face.

The highlights? The football was incidental in some ways. We did see lots of wins, we were away when we got promoted at Oxford, which was absolutely fantastic. The hotel decorated up in all blue and white, but it was about friend ship as much as football.

We had tours of the stadiums, perhaps on the Friday when we went up, so we had so many tours, and they would not just football-related.

We would go to the Isle of Wight, we would go down coal mines. So many we’d go to theatres in London. You name it, over the years that we’d done it.

But everybody enjoyed the football. Everybody was a diehard football. But it was something about friendship being able to spend time away and it was great. So many happy memories.

Emotional Connection

By: Michael Allpress

It’s not the game – it’s the team that you support. That’s how Michael feels about football, and he’s not alone.

[My name’s] Michael Allpress.

Like most people, my allegiances were formed in my childhood. So, despite having lived in Ipswich for over 30 years, they are not my team.

In ’68, I was taken to Stamford Bridge and the times I’ve been to Ipswich first off was as an away supporter and most times I go now is as an away supporter.

In fact, in ‘78 I remember them letting the away supporters out first and keeping the home crowd in,
which was novel.

But the thing that triggered the memory was when my son was growing up in Ipswich, his school in Copleston regularly used to get free tickets, so I used to take him along to some games but had no particular interest and there was one particularly dire game, Town at home to Swindon, but it was enlivened by me for just being able to watch an ex-Chelsea youth centre back called Gareth Hall.

Not a great player, in and out of the Chelsea team, but it’s the only game I can recall watching a player and not the ball.

Thinking about football, I am reminded of the quote I think attributed to Danny Baker that
‘he’s not a particular football fan, he’s a Millwall fan’

and I can see the essence of that because to really enjoy the game you have to have an emotional connection.

And that emotional connection was forged in my youth and belongs to the teams that my father used to take
me to. Consequently, it’s almost irrespective of the quality of the level of football they play; if that’s your team, you support them.

It’s nice to watch the game with other people, other teams, but nothing connects, unless it’s your team. It’s a passion.

Memories and Memorabilia

By: Peter Garner

Peter recalls his time as an Ipswich Town supporter and some of the memorabilia he has collected over the years.

My name is Peter Garner.

A brief history of some of my memories, memorabilia.

I first started supporting Town from a really early age. We lived in the middle of the sticks, between Long Melford and Acton, near no houses or anything like this.

My family were into cricket. Shared a bedroom with my elder brother who supported Man United.

One half of the bedroom was red. The other half was blue.

We weren’t in the top division then, and I just begged for somebody to take me to an odd game.

And as soon as I’d gone to one, I was hooked.

I went in the late sixties, quite fortunate that the Marlies bus used to go to home and away matches, and it was in the next village and I used to be able to walk a mile or so and catch the bus to the games. That’s how it started.

Lots of memorabilia from back in the 1970’s. I’ve got the old silk scarves with the players when we won the FA Youth Cup in ‘73 from the silk scarves in the 70’s to the FA cup.

Not sure what year I started wearing a particular scarf, but I can remember in the 1975 semi-final, I had that scarf on and I’d had it a few years.

So, I still bring it out for the FA Cup games now. So it’s well over 50 years old and that brings a smile to my face.

I went to every game in the 1978 FA Cup run and I’ve got all the stubs from all the away games, right from Cardiff all the way through to the final and similar with the UEFA.

I’ve got stubs from the Arras Salonika game and then the quarter final, semi and final and I also have pictures holding both of the cups.

But I’ve also got hundreds of pictures with friends and fellow supporters, and for me and my wife, Mandy, these pictures are as precious with the memories as well as all the actual memorabilia.

Knitted Together Through Football

By: Lee Smith

Wot’s Up Warriors is a mixed abilities football team. From their training grounds at GOALS in Ipswich, head coach Lee explains how the Warriors started and what the players get out of being part of the team.

Hello, my name’s Lee, I’m the head coach of Goliath of Wots Up Warriors football. I helped found it with my mum who runs the day service, which is aimed at adults that are looking to be active, independent, look to achieve, compete or just enjoy being active.

Wots Up Warriors is a football club, a football team. It’s primarily learning disabled players, but we’ve got a few that have got other impairments, such as visually impaired and cerebral palsy players, as well.

We’ve been here at GOALS [a training ground in Ipswich] now for about ten to 12 years. It started on a really cold December night. I think it was just eight of us then, a little bit of snow …

I think my mum went in goal as well, and it’s just grown ever since. Word of mouth, social media obviously helps, and that network, that close-knit group of learning difficulties, disability, disabled, really came together, and encouraged each other to attend.

And then, over time, the group has grown. We’ve competed in local leagues and national tournaments and done very well. But the main emphasis is obviously learning football, enjoying football, being part of a team and just enjoying that competitive element, if that’s what you want from it.

Feeling included, we’re very strong on that, and it’s just a great group to be part of.

Childhood Memories

By: Jeff Lowe

Jeff grew up in Manchester and has many fond memories of watching both United and City play.

He’s given away a lot of his possessions, but there’s one thing he’s keeping for someone special.

Well, I’ve got some things that would be precious to anyone; I’ve never had them valued, but they’re mementos of Manchester City’s heydays.

They’re long, glossy pictures, each one a full length standing footballer with his career to date, in full colour.

I’ve got several dozen, I was given them as a boy, and I’ve still got them.

Most of my personal possessions I’ve given away. But they’ll go to someone
when I see him and recognise him as a real football supporter.

I even gave my trout fishing stuff away to someone who’d enjoyed getting on with it – but the pictures are different, they bring back a lot of memories.

Blow Your Whistle

By: Bob Gray

 

As a referee, you have to be prepared for items other than just players to appear on the pitch. I was refereeing up at Gainsborough when we had an airport there, when planes used to land there.

I was refereeing this particular game, Gainsborough Labour Club.

A player said to me,

“Ref, blow your whistle.”

And I said, “What on earth are you on about, what’s happened?”

He said, “Blow your whistle and look up.”

And there was a parachutist, about a hundred yards up.

And the next minute, we just heard a thud of the boots.