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THE STORY OF BOURNEMOUTH FOOTBALL CLUB |
The club was founded on 11 September 1875, and is one of the oldest clubs in the country being founder Members of the Football Association, the Hampshire F.A. and the Bournemouth F.A. They were also founder members of the Hampshire League and up to joining the Wessex League in 1986 had spent their entire existence in the Hampshire League, except for a short spell at the turn of the century.
The club played the second game in the inaugural Hampshire League campaign of 1896/97, going down 1-0 to Ryde Sports on 12 September 1896. The club eventually finished sixth in an eight team League.
The club has had three homes during its history with their first ground being at a place called East Common near the railway station. Dean Park (current home of Dorset County Cricket) was the next home before they moved to Victoria Park, which was made into a football ground from an old farmer’s field.
The first taste of County success came when they won the West Division in 1905 and again in 1910. They became County Division Champions either side of the Great War in 1914 and 1922. However in 1929 the club was relegated into the newly formed Division 2 regaining top flight status by winning the Division 2 Championship in 1932. The club languished in the bottom half of the table for several seasons before finally finding themselves back in Division 2 when football restarted after the Second World War. The club recovered some of its past glories by winning the Hampshire Intermediate Cup in 1950 and again in 1970 and 1972.
Division 1 status was regained for the 1979/80 season but relegation quickly followed in 1980/81 and then again in 1982/83 when they slipped into Division 3 where they remained until they were admitted to the newly formed Wessex League in 1985.
Although the Wessex League Championship has remained elusive “the Poppies” have come close on two occasions with a 3rd place in 1990/91 under the guidance of Tommy Taylor and a creditable runners up spot in 1994/5 to Fleet Town when Alex Pike was the manager.
Earlier in the clubs history you can trace them as playing under experimental electric lights – on Tuesday 26 November 1878 – at Dean Park for “a grand exhibition of the new electric light”, conditions weren’t perfect though with part of a cinder cycle track cutting the field of play. The club has also had three name changes, Bournemouth Rovers, Bournemouth Wanderers and now Bournemouth Poppies. As well as this the club has also had a change of colour several times, adopting the colour poppy red in season 1895/6 from green and white hoops (following the merger with Bournemouth Wanderers), the club since that date being known as the Poppies.
One of the clubs most famous members has been Mr. William Pickford (who later became Chairman of the English Football Association); he was also the instigator of the Pickford Cup that is still played for today.
Mr. J Joy, a local landowner and supporter of the club, gave the present Namu Road ground to the club. Victoria Park is squeezed in amongst surrounding houses and remains much as it was when the club first moved there in 1923. Bournemouth Council bought the ground after the Second World War for £4,500 providing a lease on a peppercorn rent.
The prestigious clubhouse was opened in 1985 and the current 250-seater stand provides adequate cover from the elements with several rows of bench seating. This stretches about a third of the length of the pitch - next to the glass-fronted clubhouse. The remaining three sides are flat terracing just separated from the playing area by a permanent
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