| In
1957 (yes fifty-seven!), Mr David Routh and a few friends decided to
start up a Football League for boys teams in Ipswich.
If you have a year or two to spare, I am sure David would be
delighted to let you know the history of those early years, but
suffice to say that in 1957, the Ipswich Boys Combination was born.
In those early seasons, the League was small and local to Ipswich,
but it is pleasing to report that out of those teams were to come a
small number of footballers who went on to make a living out of the
game such as Brian Talbot (Ipswich Town) and Jon Samuels (Arsenal).
During
the late seventies, the League had to fall in line with the FA which
sought to ensure that all youth football be played under their
watchful eye.
This meant a great deal of work had to be done at that time
to formulate a set of League Rules for the IBC which would satisfy
the FA. There is no doubt that the fruits of that labour were to
materialise during the eighties as more and more teams came forward
– driven in part by the changes within schools football. The
League was now strong enough to accept this influx but it became
clear that a change of name was appropriate, and the Ipswich Boys
Combination became the Ipswich & District Sunday Youth Football
League.
Running
a League, which was growing during the eighties at a fast pace, was
time-consuming for those involved and there was a failure during the
late nineties to appreciate the introduction by the FA of
Mini-Soccer. This, however, had been noticed by two rival Youth
Leagues; the Felixstowe & District League (Saturdays) and the
Suffolk & Essex Youth Combination (Sundays). They both provided
Mini-Soccer Divisions for the younger age groups, while the Ipswich
& District League had under-11 as the youngest age division. It
was time for the Ipswich & District League to make a
change - it made sense at this time to merge the 2 Sunday
Leagues – the Suffolk & Essex Combination with only
mini-soccer divisions and the Ipswich & District League with
only 11-a-side divisions. Therefore in June 2000, the Ipswich &
Suffolk Youth League came into being.
Now
in its seventh season, the League set out after the AGM (June 2006) with
17
divisions and 167 teams. The inevitable loss of some of these teams
has happened since then - this as at 11th Aug. 2006;
| Under-8
division
has lost 2 - now 8 teams |
| Under-9
division
has remained at 10 teams |
| Under-10
division 1 has remained at 10 teams |
| Under-10
division 2 has remained at 10 teams |
| Under-11
division 1 has remained at 7 teams |
| Under-11
division 2 has remained at 7 teams |
| Under-12
division 1 has remained at 12 teams |
| Under-12
division 2 has remained at 11 teams |
| Under-13
division 1 has remained at 12 teams |
| Under-13
division 2 has remained at 12 teams |
| Under-14
division 1 has gained 1 (Honington Foxes) – now 10 teams |
| Under-14
division 2 has remained at 10 teams |
| Under-15
division 1 has remained at 9 teams |
| Under-15
division 2 has remained at 9 teams |
| Under-16
division has remained at 13 teams |
| Under-18
division 1 has remained at 9 teams |
| Under-18
division 2 has lost 1 – now 6 teams |
Leaving
a total of 165 teams from 53 clubs at the time of writing.
There is a KO
Cup in all sections
except the under-8, under-12, under-13 & under-16 divisions, and
either a Vase or League-Cup competition
in all sections
except the under-10, under-12, under-13 & under-16 divisions.
An
Open-cup competition will be offered at each age, except under-8, and it is hoped
that the end of season 5-a-side event will be staged again. All cup
finals will be at the Gainsborough Sports Centre, Ipswich. In
addition, some of our teams have entered the Suffolk County
FA Minor Cup and/or Tesco Cup. We wish them well.
A
mention should also be made at this point of those officers who are
involved in the running of the League. Arthur, Bryan, David, Allan,
Rick, Sandra, Cathy and Terry.
There
are always many hopes and wishes for each season; we wish that all
young footballers have an enjoyable season and that they all remain
free from serious injury and are as enthusiastic at the end of the
season as they were at the beginning. This wish can be applied to
girls teams, competing in the Suffolk Girls League, as well as boys.
Having completed their apprenticeship in the game with the League,
we hope those players in the older teams (under-16 and under-18)
will continue to play the game for many more years to come, at
whatever standard they are most suited for.
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