Ilford Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in Ilford,

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, England. Affiliated to the

Essex County Football Association The Essex County Football Association, also simply known as the ''Essex FA'', is the governing body of football in the county of Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridges ...

, they are currently members of the and play at the Cricklefield Stadium. Nicknamed the Foxes, the club play in blue and white hoops or stripes.

History

The original Ilford Football Club was established in 1881 by a group of teenagers.Resurgam
David Bauckham They were founder members of the Southern League in 1894, joining Division One. They finished bottom of Division One in 1895–96, losing all 18 matches and subsequently faced a promotion-relegation test match against Wolverton LNWR; after losing 2–0, Ilford resigned from the league. They then became founder members of the London League, where they were placed in Division One for the 1896–87 season.London League 1896–1910
Non-League Matters However, they also left the London League after two season, this time joining Division One of the

South Essex League The South Essex League was a football league that was held in Essex and East London. History The league was formed for the 1892–93 season. Only four clubs in the league managed to fulfill all their fixtures, with Barking Excelsior winning th ...

. In 1905 Ilford were founder members of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

, which their treasurer George Clarke had played a key role in establishing. Although the club finished bottom of the table in the league's first season, they were champions the following season and runners-up in 1911–12. Following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the club were runners-up in the 1919 season and then won back-to-back league titles in 1920–21 and 1921–22. In 1925–26 they reached the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the first time; after beating

London Caledonians London Caledonians F.C. was an amateur football club based in London, primarily for Scottish players. They were founder members of the Isthmian League, which they won in its inaugural season. They remained in the league until 1939 when the club f ...

2–1, they lost 1–0 at Clapton in the second round. The club went on to finish as league runners-up in 1926–27, and reached the second round of the FA Cup again the following season, losing 5–3 at

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. In 1928–29 Ilford were finalists in the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

, beating

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

3–1 at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

in front of a crowd of 35,000. They retained the cup the following season, beating Bournemouth Gasworks Athletic 5–1 in the final at Upton Park. The club were Isthmian League runners-up again in 1931–32, and reached a third FA Amateur Cup final in 1935–36. However, after the first match at Crystal Palace against Casuals ended in a 1–1 draw, they lost the replay at Upton Park 2–0. The club finished as Isthmian League runners-up in 1937–38 and again the following season. In 1957–58 Ilford were FA Cup Amateur finalists for a fourth time, losing 3–0 to

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Another appearance in the FA Cup first round the following season ended with a 3–1 defeat at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. In 1973–74 the club reached the final of the last edition of the FA Amateur Cup, losing 4–1 to

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

at Wembley. The following season the club reached the second round of the FA Cup, losing 2–0 at home to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. With plans in place to build a new ground in

Fairlop Fairlop is a district in the north of Ilford, part of the London Borough of Redbridge in east London. The district consists of fields, forestry and open land providing space for sport/ activity centres (Redbridge Sport Centre), some houses, farml ...

, Ilford moved to

Leytonstone Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, S ...

's Granleigh Road ground in 1977. However, land development tax from the sale of their

Lynn Road Lynn Road was a football ground in the Newbury Park area of Ilford, London. It was the home ground of Ilford F.C. from 1904 until 1977 and hosted football matches during the 1948 Summer Olympics.Leytonstone Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, S ...

in 1979 to form Leytonstone/Ilford. The new club later merged with Walthamstow Avenue to form Redbridge Forest, who in turn merged with

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

to form the modern

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

. Ilford Football Club was resurrected as a separate entity in 1987. They joined Division One of the

Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establish ...

in 1988. However, issues including a lack of finance, manpower and home ground led to the club leaving the league in 1990. Although they returned in 1993, they left at the end of the 1993–94 season. After a further two seasons in abeyance, the club joined the

Essex Senior League The Essex Senior Football League is an English men's football league. It contains clubs from the Essex FA, Hertfordshire FA, London FA, Middlesex FA and the Amateur Football Alliance. It is a feeder league to Division One North of the Isthm ...

in 1996. They were Essex Senior League runners-up in 2003–04, earning promotion to Division Two of the

. They won Division Two at the first attempt, and were promoted to the Eastern Division of the Southern League. After a single season in the Southern League, Ilford were transferred back to the Isthmian League, joining Division One North. They finished in the bottom three for six of the next seven seasons, before being relegated back to the Essex Senior League at the end of the 2012–13 season, in which they had finished bottom of Division One North. In June 2017 the club were voted out of the Essex Senior League due to the non-payment of fines. However, they were readmitted to the league in July following an appeal.Essex Senior League: Ilford win appeal and back in the division
Ilford Recorder, 17 July 2017

Ground

The original Ilford were playing at the Ilford Sports Ground by the time they joined the Southern League in 1894. However, after being given notice to leave the site in 1904 as it was to be used for housing, the club leased four acres of land to the north of Ilford, where the ground that became known as

Lynn Road Lynn Road was a football ground in the Newbury Park area of Ilford, London. It was the home ground of Ilford F.C. from 1904 until 1977 and hosted football matches during the 1948 Summer Olympics.1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

to host two matches in the football tournament. In 1977 the club moved to Leytonstone's Granleigh Road ground whilst a new ground was planned to be built in

. After reforming, the modern Ilford struggled to secure a permanent ground, groundsharing at

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

East Ham United and Southgate Olympic, as well as playing at the Douglas Eyre leisure complex in Walthamstow and two matches at the council-owned Cricklefield Stadium in 1989. However, in 1994 the club made a permanent move to the Cricklefield Stadium in 1993. Cricklefield had been opened in 1925 as an athletics ground. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it was used as a balloon landing site and following the war the ground was rebuilt and reopened on 27 May 1950.

Honours

*FA Amateur Cup **Winners 1928–29, 1929–30 *Isthmian League **Champions 1906–07, 1920–21, 1921–22 **Division Two champions 2004–05 *Essex Senior League **League Cup winners 2002–03

Records

*Best

performance: Second round, 1925–26, 1927–28, 1974–75 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

performance: Third round, 1974–75 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

performance: Second round, 1999–2000, 2004–05, 2020–21

References

External links