Various

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

clubs located in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

vie for being the Pride of Anglia, an unofficial title celebrated by fans of the clubs involved. These clubs include

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

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 ...

and

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

—although by modern geographical reckoning,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

is not considered part of East Anglia. Currently, fans of Norwich can claim their club to be the Pride of Anglia under the two most common methods for deciding it, most recent league position and most recent result in the

East Anglian derby The East Anglian derby is a sobriquet used to describe football matches held between Norwich City and Ipswich Town, the only fully professional football clubs in the neighbouring East Anglian counties of Norfolk and Suffolk respectively. In rece ...

Description

Professional

teams from the ceremonial counties that make up

(i.e. the counties of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

and

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

in England) compete for this unofficial title (no actual official trophy or reward is awarded) which is celebrated by fans, pundits/media and the clubs themselves (among others) merely as regional prestige/

bragging rights Boasting or bragging is speaking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities. Boasting occurs when someone feels a sense of satisfaction or when someone feels that whatever occurred proves thei ...

etc.. Winning the most recent

and/or finishing as the highest Anglian team in the league pyramid are the two main measures employed by fans/pundits etc. that decide who can claim this title. The main two football clubs vying for the title are

from Suffolk and

from Norfolk. Both teams regularly compete in the top two tiers in the English football league in recent times and often find themselves in the same league, meaning at least two derby matches will be played during the season as league games, in addition to any cup/play-off games where the two teams may be drawn against each other. Potentially, the holder of the title using the derby game method can change many times during the season. Other league clubs from the region include

and

. These teams occasionally find themselves in the same league as the aforementioned two protagonists and thus have the opportunity to claim the title for finishing highest in the league. This has only happened in 2007 to Colchester United, the club were (uniquely) awarded a special trophy by

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

to mark the event.U's gain Anglia acclaim
Colchester United FC, 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2013-05-23.

East Anglian derby

When Norwich and Ipswich meet, the match is known as the '

', first played in 1902. The most recent encounter played on 10 February 2019 ended in a 3–0 win for Norwich. As of February 2019, Norwich have not been beaten by Ipswich in a competitive derby match since April 2009. The fixture is sometimes referred to as the "Old Farm derby", a humorous reference to the "

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

derby" and the stereotypical rural nature and farming tradition of East Anglia.

League position

Another commonly employed measure for "Pride of Anglia", and one that encompasses all of the East Anglian teams, is the side finishing as the highest-placed East Anglian team in the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

. In the 2021–22 season, Norwich finished bottom of the 2021–22 Premier League, making them the highest-ranked East Anglian team. Their nearest local competition was Peterborough United, who finished 7th in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, with Ipswich finishing 11th. Norwich will also be highest finishers in the 2022–23 season by virtue of being the only East Anglian club in the second tier; second place will be contested by Peterborough, Cambridge and Ipswich in the English 3rd tier.

Current status

Norwich City will be the only East Anglian team in second tier making them the highest-ranked East Anglian team at least until the end of the 2022–23 season. There will be no East Anglian teams in the highest tier of English football for the 2022-23 season. Norwich are also the most recent derby match winners, winning the match played on 10 February 2019, 3–0. Currently there are no derby matches scheduled as Norwich and Ipswich play in different divisions and the only way the teams could meet is for a cup game. Peterborough, Cambridge and Ipswich will play in the 3rd tier of English football and compete for "2nd in Anglia".

References

{{Norwich City F.C. Association football terminology Colchester United F.C. Ipswich Town F.C. Norwich City F.C. England football derbies

Description

East Anglian derby

League position

Current status

See also

References