Middlesbrough Ironopolis Football Club was 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

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Although it was only in existence for five years, the club won three Northern League titles, two cup competitions and once reached 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 ...

quarter-finals. They were based at the Paradise Ground.

History

The club was formed in 1889 by some members of

Middlesbrough F.C. Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional football club in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium ...

, an amateur club at the time, who wanted the town of

to have a professional club. The team played its first ever non-competitive game against

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

on 14 December 1889 at home. The match ended in a 1–1 draw.

League and Cup

Middlesbrough Ironopolis played in the Northern League from 1890 to 1893, winning three consecutive titles. In their first season, they reached the Fourth Qualifying Round of the

, losing to

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. During the 1892–93 season, the team reached the quarter-finals of the

before losing to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

in a replay, after drawing the first game. Following an abortive attempt to enter the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

in combination with Middlesbrough F.C., under the name Middlesbrough and Ironopolis, Ironopolis were accepted into the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

for the 1893–94 season, replacing

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

who had resigned. Competing in the league alongside them were

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, and Woolwich Arsenal (now known simply as

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

). Ironopolis finished 11th out of 15 clubs, recording wins against Small Heath (now

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

), 3–0, and over Ardwick (now

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

) 2–0. They played in total 28 games, won 8, drew 4, lost 16, scored 37 goals, conceded 72, and finished with 20 points. 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.'s

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and r ...

, 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 against

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Alber ...

on 30 April 1894. Ironopolis resigned from the Football League the following month and disbanded. Ironopolis and

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

are the only two clubs to have spent a single season in the Football League.

Seasons

Name and colours

The club was formed during the late Victorian industrial boom and adopted the name "Ironopolis" (

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

-city) partly to emphasise this (Middlesbrough was then a centre for iron and steel production; see

Teesside Steelworks The Teesside Steelworks was a large steelworks that formed a continuous stretch along the south bank of the River Tees from the towns of Middlesbrough to Redcar in North Yorkshire, England. At its height there were 91 blast furnaces within a 10 ...

) 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 maroon and dark green kit, later changed to a dark blue kit with a white sash, and on entry to the Football League, its best-known kit; cherry red and white stripes.

Honours

Northern League Division One The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League. It contains two divisions; Division O ...

**Champions: 1890–91, 1891–92, 1892–93 *

**Quarter-finalists: 1892–93 *Cleveland Charity Cup **Winners: 1889–90, 1892–93

References

External links

* {{former football league members Association football clubs established in 1889 Association football clubs disestablished in 1894 Defunct English Football League clubs Defunct football clubs in North Yorkshire 1889 establishments in England 1894 disestablishments in England Sport in Middlesbrough