The club was founded on 16 October 1878 as an amateur side known as Ipswich A.F.C., under the presidency of local MP Thomas Cobbold who had played football at Charterhouse School. George S Sherrington & J. M. Franks were elected joint Captains. Ipswich A.F.C.'s first match was a 6–1 home victory over Stoke Wanderers at the Broom Hill ground on 2 November 1878. This was followed by a 2–0 victory over Harwich in the club's first away match. Losing only one game in 17 in its second season, the club was able to build enough interest to enrol players for a second team. Ipswich recorded their biggest ever victory during the 1880–81 season, a 15–0 defeat of East Stamford with one player, John Knights, registering a treble hat trick; both achievements remain club records. The team moved to Portman Road, the current ground, in 1884, and would share, until 1936, the facilities with the East Suffolk Cricket Club who had played there since 1855. The Cobbold family involvement continued when, in 1885, Nathanael Fromanteel Cobbold was elected as a vice-president of the club. Following his sudden death the following year, the position was then held by his nephew John Dupuis Cobbold.