At the start of the 2023–24 season, there is a lot of excitement surrounding Ipswich Town following a fantastic League One campaign in 2022–23.
With the club embarking on their first season at this level since 2018/19, there is a real sense that Kieran McKenna’s side can avoid the drop, and by some distance.
The club’s early performances this season certainly suggest that there is potential for that to be the case.
Heading into the first international break of the season, the club have played five league games, for example, winning four of those, with just one defeat.
Those four wins have included some impressive victories, too, with Ipswich winning away at Sunderland on the opening day, for example.
That result was then followed up by back to back victories in the league, with solid 2-0 and 1-0 victories over Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers respectively.
The club’s only league defeat came at the hands of Leeds United, with the Tractor Boys losing 4-3 at Portman Road to the Whites.
To be honest, though, with the international break upon us, results are not exactly what this article is going to be looking at.
In fact, what we are looking at, is something I have just mentioned – the ‘Tractor Boys’ nickname often used when referring to Ipswich Town.
Indeed, while Championship football is currently on hiatus, we delve deeper into EFL club nicknames and their origins.
In this article, we look at how Ipswich Town got its nickname ‘The Tractor Boys’.
Why is Ipswich Town called the Tractor Boys?
Having researched the subject, it appears that although most nicknames are generally quite historical, Ipswich Town’s ‘Tractor Boys’ nickname is a relatively modern one.
Indeed, it seems that its origins were as a self-deprecating nickname coined in the late 90s, with the nickname first used on a day out in Birmingham in 1998.
An interview with Phil Ham of BBC Sport’s Ipswich Town fanzine ‘Those Were the Times’ describes the origin of the nickname.
Indeed, 23 years ago, Ham told BBC Sport:
“It’s really a long-term thing that has evolved over the years,”
“The away fans were singing ‘Ooo-arr, oooh-arrr’ but it was two years ago in Birmingham that everything changed.
“”We were ridiculed so we said ‘zero for Tractor Boys’.
“We may be brothers, but we’re actually 1-0 up.”
Looks like the rest is history!
It’s interesting to note that in the same interview, Ham stated that opinions on whether or not the nickname was liked by the players, staff, and fans varied, and he expected that it wouldn’t be around for long.
How could he have been so wrong?
In the BBC Sport interview, Ham made light of the fact that there was a division within the team.
“It’s an irony by-pass on the parts of some players.
“Jim Magilton hates it. He has this image of straw-chewing bumpkins coming out of the tunnel.
“But Matt Holland and John Scales like it.
“It will probably keep going until the end of the season when we give up and become the ex-Tractor fans.
“We’ve even got the ex-Tractor fan T-shirts for next season.”
Of course, The Tractor Boys is just one nickname Ipswich go by, with the club traditionally referred to as The Blues.
