| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s 12:08 - Jul 29 with 1828 views | PhilTWTD |
Had an email from a Town fan yesterday asking if anyone on here could help with the below.
My wife and I went back to a little town above Sorrento where we had got married years earlier.Its a hotel run by a Napoli-mad Italian family.
One morning,I wore an old Town polo shirt for breakfast, as we walked towards reception we suddenly heard an Italian voice
shouting ‘Eeeppswich town eeepswich town!’. We looked up to see William (the ageing Italian hotel manager) running towards us ,arms waving and beaming from ear to ear in the style of Paulo Rossi's goal celebration from the 82 World Cup.
The words poured out of his mouth in excitable Italian English! ”I played Ipswich Town, I played Ipswich Town!” After a while he calmed down enough to explain that as a young man he played for a local team and pointed in the general direction of Sorrento, Naples, bay of Napoli area and they had played Ipswich in a pre-season game locally then been invited back to play at Ipswich the following summer.
We lost about 15 -0, he laughed ,but he was so proud to have played against a professional team from England. I was so surprised I didn't ask him for any details.
I watched him walk slowly back to reception and the two young girls working there. He pointed in our direction and started laughing and joking with them, legs and arms were going in all directions, he was clearly telling them how good a footballer he once was. For a few moments he wasn't seventy years old but a young man again.
The young girls were laughing with him and it was looked so lovely
and strangely very poignant. I immediately thought I would like to go back there one day and take some Town stuff for his grand kids and hopefully track down any picture or report of either game Ipswich played against his team. I know this would make him happy and repay his family for giving us a lovely week’s break.
If you have the time Phil please could you ask your forum members or any Town historians if they could identify when Town could have played these games. My Italian friend would be about seventy, so the match could have been played about fifty years ago give or take a few years! Did Ipswich go on pre-season tours back then? |  | | |  |
| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 13:03 - Jul 29 with 1706 views | Richgyblue |
Went to Sorrento last October and watched them play😊 |  | | |
| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 13:05 - Jul 29 with 1686 views | TractorCam |
That's one for PJH. |  |
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| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 15:26 - Jul 29 with 1488 views | BryanPlug |
[content removed at owner's request] |  |
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| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 01:47 - Jul 30 with 1284 views | Guthrum |
I went to have a look in the Pride of Anglia website archive of matches - but it appears to have vanished! Terribly sad if this marvellous resource has gone forever.
Edit: Phew, it hasn't. Just not accessible from the front page any more. [Post edited 30 Jul 2019 2:07]
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| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 08:27 - Jul 30 with 1117 views | Radlett_blue |
| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 15:26 - Jul 29 by BryanPlug |
[content removed at owner's request] |
He might still get his chance there, mightn't he? |  |
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| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 08:58 - Jul 30 with 1054 views | Pippin1970 |
ITFC would have some documentation of it somewhere. Archive files etc. | | | |
| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 09:09 - Jul 30 with 1026 views | linhdi |
| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 08:58 - Jul 30 by Pippin1970 |
ITFC would have some documentation of it somewhere. Archive files etc. |
I wouldn't bank on it. Pride of Anglia is the most complete record that I know. Though there are a few fans who I sometimes turn to, and who generally have info where other sources fail. | | | |
| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 09:14 - Jul 30 with 1012 views | PJH |
| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 13:05 - Jul 29 by TractorCam |
That's one for PJH. |
I have been searching through The Men Who Made The Town and although there were games played some pre seasons and some post seasons in Europe I have not found any mentioned as being in Italy.
TMWMTT finishes with 1984/85 so it looks like the game in question was more recent than that although if the gentleman in question is in his 70's then that casts a doubt on that.
I will continue to see if I can find anything. |  | | |
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| Town Friendly in Sorrento Late 60s/Early 70s on 09:35 - Jul 30 with 956 views | xrayspecs |
I have a list of matches played since the club turned professional, I used to collect programmes, which I believe to be pretty much complete. I am struggling to find something that fits the story Phil. Town used to play pre- and post-season tours but I cannot find any record of them playing in Italy. It could be that they were on tour and played some low key local games that somehow did not get picked up by our local press.
Home friendlies are a lot easier to track as the records are a lot better - local press, programmes etc. The only team Town played in consecutive seasons around the time you describe is La Gantoise (May 67 (A) and Aug 67(H)). They are Belgian though and one was an end of season game, the other pre-season.
It could possibly have been an unofficial/practice match with the Italian team visiting PR as a reciprocal arrangement. It does not appear to have been an official first team friendly fixture. [Post edited 30 Jul 2019 9:38]
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