Town supporters donated more than ÂŁ6,000 to Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks in 2024/25, taking the overall total raised since the group began their monthly matchday collections in January 2023 to ÂŁ20,000.
Whilst it was a disappointing season for supporters on the pitch, off of it was a roaring success as fans came together for local Suffolk food bank Families in Need (FIND).
Over the last two and a half seasons, in the face of an ongoing cost of living crisis, fans went above and beyond, filling FIND’s warehouse with warm clothes, tins of food and providing vital funds for those less fortunate.
The monthly collections by the fan-led and independent group acted as a focal point for match-goers to donate with their two sites in the FanZone and opposite Planet Blue becoming a staple of many people’s pre-game routine.
Throughout the season, hundreds of pounds have also been raised by opposition fans attending Portman Road. Whether through whip-rounds on away coaches or carrier bags of donations, supporters have united in the face of price increases, from utilities to football tickets, a strain felt up and down the country.
Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks was borne out of the idea that football fans can come together, regardless of club allegiance, to support those less fortunate. It is one of the 40-plus across the English footballing pyramid that was born from the Fans Supporting Foodbanks initiative launched by Liverpool and Everton fans in 2015.
The national campaign is run under the banner Hunger Doesn't Wear Club Colours - it doesn't have a race or a religion, it doesn't have a creed, it doesn't have a gender.
Nationally, the group has received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations for local causes and hopes to eventually have a fan-led organisation at every club in the 92 and beyond.
The most recent figures show that Ipswich now ranks in the top 50 worst places for child poverty in UK, with Suffolk as a whole also having similar issues. In the past year alone, the DWP has reported a 28 per cent increase in child poverty, making Town fans’ contributions all the more important.
"This year has been incredibly humbling,” spokesperson and organiser of the Ipswich Town group, Elijah Aldridge, said.
"Whether it is little kids giving 50p of their pocket money before a game or almost 200 Ipswich and Fortuna Dusseldorf fans sponsoring our cycle to Germany, this is a fanbase organised and a community protected from the scourge of food poverty. Every donation makes a difference, and we know that you’ll continue this into next season.”
Maureen Reynel, founder of FIND, paid tribute to the generosity of the Blue Army: "Yet another wonderful season of giving by amazing fans who really do care about those in need.
"Their donations enable us to provide quality fresh foods to add to the thousands of food parcels. Thank you all so much, not only to the donors but also to the volunteers involved.”
Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks can be contacted via ITFC.FSF@gmail.com, while they can be found on Facebook here and on Twitter here. Donations can be made via a GoFundMe page here.