History of Ipswich Town F.C.

Ipswich Town F.C. is an English association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk and formed in 1878. The side played amateur football until 1936 when the club turned professional and was elected into the Southern League. Ipswich Town were elected into Division Three of the Football League in place of Gillingham F.C. on 30 May 1938.

The club experienced league success during the early 1960s, winning the Football League Championship in 1961–62, one season after winning promotion from the Second Division. Two decades later, under the guidance of Bobby Robson, the club achieved success both in the FA Cup and in European competition, winning the UEFA Cup in 1981.

Ipswich Town have made a contribution to the history of the England national football team; both Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey moved on from Ipswich to manage England, presiding over the nation's best results in the World Cup: fourth place in 1990 and world champions in 1966.

The club was founded on 16 October 1878 as an amateur side known as Ipswich A.F.C., under the presidency of local MP Thomas Cobbold who had played football at Charterhouse School. George S Sherrington & J. M. Franks were elected joint Captains. Ipswich A.F.C.'s first match was a 6–1 home victory over Stoke Wanderers at the Broom Hill ground on 2 November 1878. This was followed by a 2–0 victory over Harwich in the club's first away match. Losing only one game in 17 in its second season, the club was able to build enough interest to enrol players for a second team. Ipswich recorded their biggest ever victory during the 1880–81 season, a 15–0 defeat of East Stamford with one player, John Knights, registering a treble hat trick; both achievements remain club records. The team moved to Portman Road, the current ground, in 1884, and would share, until 1936, the facilities with the East Suffolk Cricket Club who had played there since 1855. The Cobbold family involvement continued when, in 1885, Nathanael Fromanteel Cobbold was elected as a vice-president of the club. Following his sudden death the following year, the position was then held by his nephew John Dupuis Cobbold.

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