WOODBRIDGE TOWN
THE WOODPECKERS - EST. 1885
ASCOLI CALCIO 1898 FC
Since the summer of 2019, Woodbridge Town are proud to have been affiliated with Italian football club Ascoli Calcio 1898. Ascoli Calcio play in Serie C, Group B - the 3rd division of Italian football.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
After some research in 2019 by then-Media-Manager, Ben Ramsey, it was discovered that Ascoli Calcio Spa FC are the only other team recognised by UEFA as 'The Woodpeckers'. Coincidentally, the team from the Italian town of Ascoli Piceno also play in black and white stripes.
Ramsey describes this as, "As any football fan knows, the close season can be tough, particularly without a European Championship or World Cup. The summer of 2019 was no different for me. With boredom setting in my mind started wandering and I started to explore clubs that could possibly have some kind of tie in with Woodbridge Town. I began by thinking about other teams that played in Black and White stripes. Newcastle United sprung to mind but they were a bit of an obvious choice. St Mirren were a little more quirky whilst Notts County already have a quite famous link with Juventus, who adopted their famous colours. Santos from Brazil were a bit more exotic and of course famous as the club of Pelé."
This was until he stumbled across an article on the UEFA website, detailing football clubs with bird-based nicknames. After scrolling through, a variety of avian species before getting to "The Woodpeckers." To his surprise, there was only one UEFA recognised team with that nickname: Ascoli Calcio.
Further research showed that they also played in black and white stripes. This was enough for Ramsey who, with the help of an Italian friend, drafted a letter explaining our common nickname and wishing Ascoli Calcio luck for the season ahead, enclosing a Woodbridge Town scarf as a token of our friendship.
Several weeks passed and the new season began, when suddenly Ramsey was met with a flurry of notifications. "I can still remember the day like it was yesterday. I was working from home and had long forgotten the letter I had sent off to Italy, when my phone beeped. As social media manager for Woodbridge Town at the time it wasn’t that unusual to get an alert, often when another team tagged us in a forthcoming fixture. It beeped again, and again and again! I panicked but suddenly realised what had happened. Ascoli had not only received the letter and gift but also posted the details into a nice little story on their Facebook page! We were getting ‘likes’, ‘follows’ and comments that I was trying to translate as quickly as I could."
Until this point, Ramsey had no reason to share his plan with any other board members but with the increasing attention, he was compelled to mention it. He pushed work to one side for the day and informed a handful of board members, including then-chairman Dan Daley and Paul Leech, who had also been receiving the constant notifications.
"I’m not sure it had really sunk in, until a journalist wanted to contact Dan for an interview- which he swiftly passed on to me!" Ramsey explained. "After demands of a friendly, a few orders for WTFC scarves and ‘several’ enquiries from journalists I had to do my best to explain that we were not a Chelsea or Man City but a small non-league team, in the ninth level of English football with less than 200 supporters that attend the matches.
"The four page spread appeared in Il Resto del Carlino and further orders came in for scarves. I also got to interact with a few Ascoli fans that had sent private messages or added me on Facebook. Some of these I’d go on to keep regular contact with and eventually meet."
MEETING ASCOLI
The partnership was something new and exciting for the club and as a seasoned traveller in Europe for football, Ben Ramsey started to organise a trip to Ascoli Piceno, for their final game of the 2019-2020 season. There was some surprisingly positive interest in the trip locally which was eventually curtailed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
However, just before the world closed its borders, a group known as 'La Zingarata' came to visit us in February. They pick a different location across Europe each year and despite there not even being a game they chose Woodbridge as their destination for 2020. Part of the group was Peto’, a local celebrity in Ascoli Piceno. Not only is Pier Paulo the singer in the band Nerkias, who wrote and sung ‘Cuore bianconero’, one of the Ascoli Calcio anthems, a comedian but also The Deputy Commander of Urban Police in Ascoli. They were a good group and a pleasure to host at Notcutts Park on a non match day and into the evening, while watching Champions League football in Yates Winebar in Ipswich.
Ramsey made his first journey to Ascoli in October 2021, experiencing the beautiful renaissance architecture, visiting the Stadio Cello e Lillo del Duca and meeting many fans, including Pietro Travaglini the President of Supporters Group 'Veterani AP'.
Since 2022 many of us have been to Ascoli, lots having repeat visits. Ramsey said, "I’ve been happy to introduce people to Ascoli Piceno and the people that I have met over there. It’s fair to say that both the beautiful surroundings and wonderful people are a major factor in people wanting to go back. Whilst the cultures can be quite different and the language barrier causing a few minor issues it’s amazing to think that football and, of course, The Woodpecker, can bring people together."
In April 2025, we were delighted to welcome 16 members of ‘The Veterani’ to Woodbridge for the weekend of our Thurlow Nunn Premier Division match against Dereham Town. This included being guests of honour for the match, a tight draw, where Liam Ablitt notched his 22nd goal of the campaign. Supporters traded chants, with Woodbridge Town fans encouraging chants of "Ablitt again, ole, ole" and the Veterani group teaching us chants like "Forza Picchio, Forza Picchio, ah, ah", and "Ascoli, Forza Ascoli! Ascoli," which still ring around the Homestyle UK Ground today.
The evening continued with local fish and chips and Karaoke in the clubhouse, and supporters traded memorabilia. They visited the sights the day after with a group of Woodbridge Town supporters.
We're excited to continue this partnership and look forward to our next trip across to visit Ascoli and welcoming their supporters back to Woodbridge in the future. Forza Picchio!