East Anglian Derby

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The East Anglian Derby is a sobriquet used to describe football matches held between Ipswich Town and Norwich City. It is also described humorously as the Old Farm Derby, a reference to the Old Firm derby played between Celtic and Rangers. According to the Football Rivalries Report 2008, the East Anglian Derby is the second fiercest rivalry in England after the Black Country derby between West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.^[1]

1 History
2 Statistics
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

Portman Road

The first Derby was held between the two clubs on 15 November 1902, when both sides were still playing at an amateur level. The Norfolk & Suffolk League fixture was played in Norwich and finished 1–0 to Norwich City. Norwich turned professional in 1905, Ipswich following in 1936. Ipswich were elected to the Football League in 1938 and the first league game between the two clubs (in the Third Division (South)) was on 2 September 1939. Played at Portman Road, Ipswich, the match finished 1–1, although the league was abandoned due to the Second World War.

Carrow Road

The first league game after the war took place on 7 September 1946. In another Third Division (South) match at Portman Road, Ipswich won 5–0 with a hat-trick from Albert Day and two from Tommy Parker. One of the most important meetings between the two clubs came in 1985, when they met in the semi-final of the League Cup with a place in the Wembley final at stake. Ipswich won the first leg 1–0 at Portman Road, but Norwich scored early in the return leg at Carrow Road to level the tie. With extra-time looming, Steve Bruce scored a late winner with a powerful header to send Norwich to Wembley. They went on to win the final 1–0 against Sunderland.

Club honours for Ipswich include winning the English championship, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Cup^[2], whereas honours for Norwich include winning the League Cup twice.^[3]

[edit] Statistics

In a total of 137 matches, Ipswich have a slight edge, winning 59, while Norwich have won 51, the remaining 27 being drawn. Ipswich have scored 203 goals whilst Norwich have scored 176. The highest attendance in the derby at Portman Road is 35,077 in a First Division match in September 1975 while Carrow Road hosted 39,890 spectators in an FA Cup match in January 1962. John Wark is Ipswich's leading goalscorer in the derby with nine goals.^[4]