ITFC v NCFC – Boxing Day

First written in 2009 and published on the now defunct Suffolk Sports Forum

I thought I’d do a little research into the fabled Boxing Day that is often sung about by fans of East Anglia’s top two clubs:-

That little ditty will no doubt reverberate around both Portman Road and Carrow Road for eternity despite the fact that Ipswich and Norwich have not played each other on St Stephens day since 1980. That is 29 years ago. I was 10!

So why do the fans still sing it? Lazyness? Idiocy? It has to be something. Surely someone will know?

On closer inspection it seems that the much sung about Boxing day fixture has only taken place 7 times.

The first was way back in 1951 in the old division three south with City winning 2-0 at Portman Road. It was 9 years before the next Boxing day fixture with Town winning 3-0 at Carrow Road in the old division 2.

Then we leap forward to the 73/74 season with NCFC hosting and losing 2-1. 77/78 again with Norwich the hosts saw a 1-0 win for the Canaries. 78/79 saw the first Boxing day draw this time at Portman Road

79/80 gave us a second consecutive festive draw with a sell out Carrow Road witnessing a 3-3

That then takes us to the last ever Boxing day fixture on December 26th 1980 with ITFC winning a home tie 2-0