Trouble On Paradise Street - The Rise and Fall of Middlesbrough Ironopolis FC
When I first got into football as a young boy, clubs whose names were a little different quickly piqued my interest. Crystal Palace was the first, which I thought was awfully grand. Sheffield Wednesday, a football club named after a day of the week? Leyton Orient - though I think they were just going by Orient back then - is an incredible moniker. And dare I say it, but both Arsenal and Port Vale had something about them back then, though things changed over time. All far more interesting than your Uniteds or your Cities, Stoke City excepted of course.
But one of the best names for an English football club that I have ever come across - though the club is long gone - is Middlesbrough Ironopolis.
Everybody knows of Middlesbrough. The club where Brian Clough made his name as a player scoring 197 goals in just 213 appearances. The club whose home Ayresome Park hosted three matches during the 1966 World Cup, and which saw one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history when North Korea beat Italy 1-0. The club who will be hugely familiar to the Premier League generation thanks to the stewardship of Steve Gibson, and the management of the likes of Bryan Robson and Steve McClaren, while players such as Fabrizio Ravanelli, Juninho and future England manager Gareth Southgate did their thing at the shiny new Riverside Stadium, leading Boro to League Cup glory and a UEFA Cup final.
But most won't necessarily know of Middlesbrough Ironopolis, or The Nops as they were popularly known. And that's perfectly understandable given that they were formed in 1889 and were gone within five years.
Middlesbrough is a relatively young town, a planned settlement around a new port, collieries, and an ironworks. Towards the end of the 1800s, the town was expanding rapidly thanks to increased steel production and shipbuilding, and as football was growing in popularity, local people began to debate the creation of a professional club. This was picked up by members Middlesbrough FC - an amateur club at the time - who left to form Middlesbrough Ironopolis FC. However, this break away spurred Middlesbrough FC on, and both clubs turned professional within a week of each other.
Ironopolis played their first fixture - a friendly - on 14 December 1889, holding Gainsborough Trinity to a 1-1 draw at the Paradise Ground.
The Paradise Ground was initially laid on a field adjacent to Oldgate Farm, south-west of Middlesbrough town centre. When Ironopolis arrived, facilities were non-existent. But over a short period of time, the club developed three covered stands, and an area of uncovered seating. However, the ground lacked changing facilities, and players and officials prepared for games at the nearby County Hotel.
For the 1890/91 season, The Nops joined the Northern League and were an instant success, winning the title at the first attempt, while reaching the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup where they were beaten by Darlington. They went on to repeat their league success, lifting the title again in each of the following two seasons. During the 1892/93 season they reached the FA Cup quarter-finals, drawing mighty Preston North End at home. The Nops held their more illustrious opponents to a draw in front of the Paradise Ground's record attendance of 14,000, before exiting after a replay.
The summer of 1893 saw Ironopolis team up with Middlesbrough in an effort to enter the Football League - as Middlesbrough and Ironopolis - but their bid was rejected. However, Ironopolis weren't prepared to give up, and following the resignation of Accrington, were accepted into the Second Division for the start of the 1893/94 season. However, it turned out to be a very short tenure.
Ironopolis were competing with clubs such as Liverpool, Newcastle United, and Woolwich Arsenal. Indeed, The Nops made their league bow at the Paradise Ground, hosting Liverpool who took the points with a 2-0 win.
Extensive travelling around the country put a huge strain on the club's finances, while their form on the pitch wasn't great, which was reflected in attendances; just 200 saw their fixture with Small Heath, much less than the Football League's official lowest attendance of 469 set by Thames FC. During February 1894, the club's professional players were given notice that it would be liquidated at the end of the season. They ended their one and only Football League campaign in 11th place - out of 15 - recording just eight wins. The club's final league fixture ended in a 4-1 defeat away to Rotherham Town.
Match report from Middlesbrough Ironopolis' 2-0 defeat away to Liverpool (Image: beyondthelastman.com)
In May 1894, Ironopolis resigned from the Football League and folded, becoming one of only two clubs - the other being Bootle - to spend just one season in the Football League. The Paradise Ground was eventually swallowed up by the development of Ayresome Park - a horrible irony perhaps - and a housing scheme. Middlesbrough FC had reverted back to amateur status in 1892, but in 1899 turned professional once more and entered the Football League. Three years later, the club reached the First Division. The rest, as they say, is history.
There is little left that commemorates Middlesbrough's first professional football club. Back in 2022, the Ironopolis Social Club - or the Nops Club as it was fondly known by Boro fans - closed its doors for the last time, citing post-Covid struggles as the reason for its demise. But perhaps the most poignant reminder of the Ironopolis title can be found on a nondescript wall at the heart of the town, where the poem Ironopolis by Ian Horn, 'the footy poet', has been shared:
Where alchemists
Were born
Below Cleveland's hills
A giant blue dragonfly
Across the Tees
Reminds us every night
We built the world,
Every metropolis
Came from
Ironopolis
While Horn's prose may not have been directly about the club, it contributes to ensuring that the name remains in the consciousness of local football supporters. Middlesbrough Ironopolis FC is an important part of the north east's football heritage.