Here's an article I wrote for Ipswich Town fanzine 'Those Were The Days'. You'll find a new one of my articles appearing on their website a few days before each of Ipswich's away games.
Norwich City
My first visit to Norwich was a school trip when I was twelve years old. I didn’t know anything about the place other than I was going to hate every stupid person in the whole stupid city. It was four months after the 1985 League Cup semi-final.
During the two-hour bus journey my mate Colin tried to cheer me up by telling me that everyone in Norfolk had ginger hair. We even played ‘spot the banjo’ along the A140, but that didn’t work either. There was no way I was going to crack a smile on our last day of term. I wasn’t even a teenager but had the weight of the world on my shoulders and this time it was more than just the duffel coat my mum had me wearing in July.
I listened to the semi-final second leg at Carrow Road on a radio under my duvet because I thought my heart would beat a bit quieter if I reduced the amount of fresh air reaching my bloodstream. It only made me feel sicker with nerves than I had felt in the two weeks following the first leg.
So in 1985, I kicked and scuffed my size eleven Clarks (I’m blessed with feet like canoes) around the stupid city’s pavements and I don’t think I lifted my chin off my chest until we got back to Suffolk. I didn’t learn much at school but I learnt absolutely nothing that day.
Twenty-two years on I’ve fortunately lost the duffel and Clarks, but I realised when writing this piece that I still didn’t know very much about Norwich. Apart from the fact I hate every stupid person in the whole stupid city.
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve leant backwards, filled my lungs and launched into "He’s only a poor little budgie" and not even given a thought as to how the Canaries got their nickname. Apparently it was all down to the 16th Century French Huguenot refugees who brought pet canaries with them when they came over to work in the Norfolk textile industry. [1] . I asked Oleg, my Polish postman, what he would like to give to the people of Norfolk today. Oleg said "scabies", I guess times must have changed.
Another thing I didn’t know was that there was once a film called "The Boy Who Turned Yellow" released by the Children’s Film Foundation about a little lad who was a Norwich City fan. [2] In the movie everything turns yellow after he’s paid a visit from a yellow alien called Nick. This reminded me of my Uncle Barry who used to make videos in a garage at the end of his road that my dad said were, "a little bit blue". None of the films my Uncle Barry produced ever made it onto the telly, but he did make a couple of appearances on Crimewatch.
Mind you, my Uncle Barry’s probably got more history than Norwich. Other than the 1985 League Cup final, their only other significant silverware was winning the same trophy 23 years previously. As well as winning the League Cup final twice, they’ve also lost the League Cup final twice: in 1973 against Spurs and 1975 against Aston Villa. Shame.
Other notable moments in the history of Norwich City include; relegation in 1985 to the Second Division, a third round UEFA Cup defeat to Inter Milan in 1994, relegation from the Premiership in 1995, a 5-0 defeat at Portman Road in 1998, 2002 play-off misery at the Millennium Stadium, and the 6-0 defeat on the final day of the 2004-2005 season ensuring relegation from the Premiership (again). And despite their 105-year-old history, they have NEVER won the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup or the First Division (now Premiership) title.
I’m glad I know all of that.
It’s not all bad for Norwich though; they’ve got an airport, a cathedral and Delia. And what have they all got in common? Well, they’ve all had a fair bit of wine that’s gone through them! Former Chelsea boss Mourinho made it a habit to take a bottle of plonk for the manager of the opposing club during his reign, but when he heard of Delia’s halftime "Lets be ‘aving you" ramble, he suggested taking a bottle for her as well.
Apparently Delia left school without a single ‘O’ level to her name; I did a little homework myself and found out that in April 1957, a few months before she would have sat her exams, Sir Alf Ramsey’s boys did the double over Norwich in the space of four days. Coincidence?
Those derby defeats can do terrible things to a kid…………..
Enjoy the game and have a safe journey!
Ken Ferris – Football Terms and Teams
Wikipedia – Norwich City Football Club
