Ian Clubb first made state selection for New South Wales in 1975 in the bow seat of the men's eight which contested and won the King's Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships.
[7] For the 1975 Australian Championships the New South Wales King's Cup crew split down and contested the coxed four national title in two boats.
[8] He rowed at three behind Islay Lee in a Sydney coxed four to a national championship win in 1976,[9] and then successfully defended that same title in 1977[10] 1978, 1979[11] and 1980 each time in the three seat.
[13] The Australian men's eight for the 1976 Montreal Olympics was mostly that year's King's Cup winning New South Wales crew excepting Malcolm Shaw in the two seat and Brian Richardson at bow.
[13] For the 1978 World Rowing Championships in Lake Karapiro, the successful New South Wales King's Cup eight was again selected and was composed of all Sydney men excepting Gary Uebergang and Athol MacDonald from Mosman.