Ipswich Town vs. Norwich City: Thomas Kirk appointed as referee for East Anglian derby, record in charge of both teams, any controversies?

Ipswich Town and Norwich City will be looking to kick-start their Championship campaigns when they square off in the East Anglian derby on Sunday afternoon.

After relegation from the Premier League, Ipswich would have been hoping to be contending for top spot in the Championship table, but Kieran McKenna has overseen just two wins from their opening seven fixtures.

Norwich have accumulated the same amount of victories, but Liam Manning's side are on a four-match winless streak that has left the Canaries down in 19th position.

Ahead of Sunday's highly-anticipated showdown, Sports Mole takes a look at which referee has been appointed for this fixture and his respective record when officiating these two teams.

Who is the referee for Ipswich Town vs. Norwich City?

Thomas Kirk has been appointed as the official for this contest and it stands to be one of the highest-profile fixtures of his career.

Kirk has worked his way up the pecking order with 71 matches having been officiated at League One and League Two level.

However, Sunday's game will represent just the 16th time that he has been in charge of a Championship encounter since his maiden contest on December 23, 2023.

As for matches that he has officiated during 2025-26, Kirk has overseen four Championship games, two EFL Cup ties and one League Two contest between Fleetwood Town and Crewe Alexandra where he dished out 10 yellow cards.

He has recent experience of being the referee at a major stadium having been the man in the middle for Newcastle United's 4-1 victory over Bradford City in the EFL Cup on September 24.

Thomas Kirk's record in games involving Ipswich Town

This will be the first occasion that Kirk has ever refereed a game at Portman Road, and his solitary experience of officiating an Ipswich match came all the way back in 2022-23.

Kirk awarded the Tractor Boys a match-clinching penalty as they prevailed 2-1 away at Morecambe in League One on October 8, 2022.

Thomas Kirk's record in games involving Norwich City

Meanwhile, there have only been three occasions when Kirk has refereed a Norwich fixture, all of which have taken place at Carrow Road.

As well as overseeing 2023-24 victories over Huddersfield Town and Sunderland, Kirk was in charge of the 5-3 defeat to Portsmouth back in April.

Kirk awarded a penalty against Norwich on that afternoon, but it was a decision that brought about no complaints from Norwich as Marcelino Nunez tripped Isaac Hayden.