Days Gone By | Norwich City vs. Cardiff City
Saturday’s fixture between Norwich City and Cardiff City will be the 60th meeting between both sides.
They first met each other in the Division Three Southern League in 1931, where the Canaries came out on top with a 2-0 win.
City would get their revenge less than a year later as they notched up their first victory in the fixture, with a 4-2 win at Ninian Park, with two goals from Jimmy McCambridge and one each scored by Stan Cribb and George Emmerson.
The two sides continued to meet sporadically through the course of the 1930s and mid-1940s, with Norwich coming out on top more often than not (the Bluebirds had only two wins to their name in this period).
The teams would then not reacquaint themselves in a league format until the 1960s. While Norwich remained in Division Three, Cardiff saw themselves rise up the Football League; through Division Two and into Division One.
In August 1963, on the opening day of the 1963/64 season, Welsh football legend John Charles would make his league debut for Cardiff City against Norwich City, having joined from Roma in the months prior.
Playing alongside his brother Mel in a 3-1 home victory in the Welsh capital, John scored his first goal for the Club, in front of nearly 22,000 supporters in the Division Two campaign opener. Charles scored 11 league goals that season as the Bluebirds went on to finish 15th in the division, and was behind only fellow Welsh international Ivor Allchurch's record of 12 goals come the end of the campaign. This was despite playing most of the season as City's number 5!
Between 1962 and 1975, the City clubs met each other 22 times in Division Two; City winning seven of those ties and drawing five.
Norwich gained their first piece of silverware at the beginning of this competitive period; winning the 1962 League Cup, with a 4-0 aggregate win over Rochdale. The competition proved fruitful for Norwich, as they were also runners up in both 1973 and 1975.
The Canaries would reach Division One in 1975 for the first time in their history and their rivalry with the Bluebirds was paused, as City, after one season in Division Three, stayed in Division Two.
Nearly 30 years later, both sides would find themselves playing in the Championship. Although the Canaries would be promoted to the Premier League as league winners at the end of Cardiff City's first season back in the second tier, Cardiff City defeated Norwich in April 2004, delivering one of only eight defeats that Norwich City suffered all season. First half goals from Paul Parry and Robert Earnshaw enough to seal all three points in front of over 16,000 supporters at Ninian Park.
By 2013, the two teams would meet for the first time in the top flight. After a 0-0 draw at Carrow Road, Cardiff recorded a 2-1 win at Cardiff City Stadium. After Robert Snodgrass had put the visitors ahead, quickfire second half goals from Craig Bellamy and Kenwyne Jones meant that the Bluebirds returned to winning ways at home.
With the Canaries returning to the Sky Bet Championship following their relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2021/22 season, Cardiff City played host for their debut fixture of the current campaign. On the opening day of the season, Romaine Sawyers fired home the winner from range in a hard-fought match at CCS. Now heading to Carrow Road following two consecutive victories, the stage is set for another memorable clash with the Canaries this weekend.
Sawyers only scores stunners! 💙
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) February 24, 2023
This goal decided our last clash with @NorwichCityFC! 👇#CityAsOne pic.twitter.com/1ghqM36wOh
