| Full name | Middlesbrough Ironopolis Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | The Nops The Washers | |
| Founded | 1889; 136 years ago (1889) | |
| Dissolved | 1894; 131 years ago (1894) | |
| Ground | Paradise Ground,Middlesbrough | |
| Capacity | 14,000 | |
| 1893–94 | Football League Second Division | |
Middlesbrough Ironopolis Football Club was afootball club based inMiddlesbrough,England.
Although it was only in existence for five years, the club won threeNorthern League titles and two cup competitions, and once reached theFA Cup quarter-finals.
The club was formed in 1889 by some members ofMiddlesbrough F.C., an amateur club at the time, who wanted the town ofMiddlesbrough to have a professional club, as the original stayed amateur; however, once Ironopolis turned professional, Middlesbrough followed suit within a week.[1] The team played its first ever game againstGainsborough Trinity on 14 December 1889 at home, having recruited a squad of professionals mostly from Scottish clubs, including four fromArthurlie, three fromDundee clubsHarp andStrathmore, and retaining some from Middlesbrough.[2] The match ended in a 1–1 draw, T. Seymour scoring the new club's first goal, an equalizer just before the break.[3]
Middlesbrough Ironopolis played in theNorthern League from 1890 to 1893, winning three consecutive titles.[4] In their first season, they reached the Fourth Qualifying Round of theFA Cup, losing toDarlington.
Both the Washers and Middlesbrough came to realise their only real chance of gaining promotion tothe Football League was through a reunion of the two teams. On 7 May 1892, after a meeting between the two clubs, an application to join the Football League was made under the name Middlesbrough and Ironopolis Football and Athletic Club.[5] The club received only one vote in its application to join the First Division, and did not enter the vote to join theFootball League Second Division,[6] so the two original clubs split up once more. Thenext season, Ironpolis had its best run in the FA Cup, losing toPreston North End in a quarter-final replay; in the original game, at the Paradise Ground, Preston played the second half with ten men due to injury, and McArthur scored a late equalizer for the home side to send the game into extra time, which could not split the sides.[7]
Ironopolis applied to join theSecond Division for the1893–94 season, and was originally unsuccessful in the vote; however, in August 1893,Accrington resigned, and Ironpolis was invited to take its place.[8] Competing in the league alongside them wereLiverpool,Newcastle United, and Woolwich Arsenal (now known simply asArsenal). Ironopolis finished 11th out of 15 clubs, recording wins against Small Heath (nowBirmingham City), 3–0, and over Ardwick (nowManchester City) 2–0. They played in total 28 games, won 8, drew 4, lost 16, scored 37 goals, conceded 72, and finished with 20 points.[9] The squad that season was: G. Watts; J. Elliott, Philip Bach; Thomas Seymour, Robert Chatt, R. Nicholson; J. Hill, Archibald M. Hughes, Thomas McCairns, P. Coupar, Wallace McReddie.
The club lost its stadium, the Paradise Ground, which was adjacent to Middlesbrough F.C.'sAyresome Park, at the end of the season. Its financial position was poor, as gate receipts did not cover the cost of players' wages and the costs of travelling to fixtures in distant parts of England. In February 1894 all the professional players were served notice of the plans to liquidate the team. The club's final game was a 1–1 draw againstSouth Bank on 30 April 1894.[10] Ironopolis resigned from the Football League the following month and disbanded.[11] Ironopolis andBootle are the only two clubs to have spent a single season in the Football League.[12]
| Season | Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | FA Cup | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1889–90 | Middlesbrough Ironopolis played onlyfriendly matches | ||||||||||||
| 1890–91 | Northern Football League | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 37 | 24 | 20 | 1st | First round | |||
| 1891–92 | Northern Football League | 16 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 49 | 13 | 29 | 1st | First round | |||
| 1892–93 | Northern Football League | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 6 | 19 | 1st | Quarter-finals | |||
| 1893–94 | Football League Second Division | 28 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 37 | 72 | 20 | 11th | Second round | |||
The club was formed during thelate Victorian industrial boom and adopted the name "Ironopolis" (iron-city) partly to emphasise this (Middlesbrough was then a centre for iron and steel production; seeTeesside Steelworks) and also to distinguish itself from the other local club, Middlesbrough F.C.
The club had three sets of colours in its brief history; initially a cardinal and green kit jersey, which had been Middlesbrough's colours in 1885–86.[13] In 1891 it changed to cherry and white stripes (the racing colours of Alderman Weighell, who presented the club with its new shirts),[14] and in February 1893 altered the design to cherry with a white sash, worn for the first time in anFA Cup tie withPreston North End.[15][16]
The club played at theParadise Ground, a formerrugby union pitch on Linthorpe Road, next toAyresome Park; indeed part of the latter was later built over a corner of the Paradise pitch.[17]
