Crane Sports Football Club were a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England.

History

The club joined the

Suffolk & Ipswich League The Suffolk and Ipswich Football League is a football competition based in Suffolk, England. The league has a total of eight divisions; the Senior Division and Divisions 1–3 for first teams, three divisions (Leagues A, B and C) for reserve tea ...

prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, winning Division Three in 1935–36. They won the

Suffolk Senior Cup The Suffolk Senior Cup is the second level football cup competition organised by the Suffolk FA after the Suffolk Premier Cup. It is currently open to Suffolk–based clubs competing in Eastern Counties League Division One and the top divisions ...

in 1971 and 1974, and the following season won the Senior Division of the Suffolk & Ipswich League in 1974–75. They won the Senior Cup again in 1982 and 1984, and also entered the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

for three seasons during the 1980s, reaching the second round in 1983–84 after defeating

Arlesey Town Arlesey Town Football Club is a football club based in Arlesey, Bedfordshire, England. Affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association, they are currently members of the and play at New Lamb Meadow. History The club was establishe ...

in what the ''Ipswich Evening Star'' described 25 years later as "memorable matches". After dropping into the lower divisions of the SIL, the club won Division Three in 1998–99 and Division One in 2001–02 to return to the Senior Division. In 2004–05 they won the League Cup for the first time. They won the Senior Division title in 2014–15, retaining the title the following season. In April 2021 Crane Sports announced they would be folding, due to "commercial, financial and logistical factors".

Ground

From the early 1960s to the 1980s, the club was the regular venue for the Suffolk county

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

team's matches. According to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

correspondent, it had "a well-kept pitch with good drainage and the amenities are superb. Suffolk have been using this ground for 19 years and it is believed to be lucky for them". After the ground was taken over by

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

in 1998, the club had to share facilities; they moved to their current home, Greshams Sports Ground, before the 2010–11 season. Between 1966 and 1998, the club played host to an annual seven-a-side invitational football tournament, the "Crane Summer Sevens", to be revived in 2011. Among the early winners were

, whose team included future

England national team Team England usually refers to the name under which athletes representing Commonwealth Games England compete. England team or Team England may refer to: *Commonwealth Games England *England national football team *England cricket team *England nat ...

captain

Mick Mills Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich Town's ...

.Plans afoot to re-stage Crane Sevens again
Ipswich Star, 27 January 2011

Honours

*Suffolk & Ipswich League **Senior Division champions 1974–75, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2018–19 **Division One champions 2001–02 **Division Three champions 1935–36, 1998–99 **League Cup winners 2004–05 2010–11, 2012–13, 2017–18 *Suffolk Senior Cup **Winners 1970–71, 1973–74, 1981–82, 1983–84

Records

*Best

performance: Second round, 1983–84

References

External links

Official website
* {{coord, 52.075844, N, 1.179664, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Defunct football clubs in England Defunct football clubs in Suffolk Sport in Ipswich Suffolk and Ipswich Football League 2021 disestablishments in England Association football clubs disestablished in 2021