Bournemouth Football Club is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team currently playing in the , in the ninth tier of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

. Their nickname is "The Poppies", and they are often known as Bournemouth Poppies to avoid confusion with the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

. The club plays at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

, Namu Road, in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

and are founding members of the Hampshire FA and Bournemouth FA.

History

The club was founded as Bournemouth Rovers on 11 September 1875 at a meeting held in Abbotts Auction Mart in Old Christchurch Road. In 1878 on Tuesday 26 November the club participated in one of the first floodlit matches, when they played under experimental electric lights at Dean Park for "a grand exhibition of the new electric light". In 1888 the club moved to Dean Park, and changed their name to Bournemouth Dean Park. The club changed its name again to Bournemouth F.C. in 1889 when the club amalgamated with local side Bournemouth Arabs, and moved grounds a season later to Victoria Park. In 1896–97 the club became founder members of the

Hampshire League The Hampshire League was a football league in Hampshire, England. During its heyday its constitution consisted of four divisions with over 60 clubs taking part - this included a vast number of semi-professional teams and Reserve/’A’ sides of ...

. The club won the West Division in 1905 and repeated this again in 1910, this time playing at their new home of Namu Road. Namu Road was given to the club in 1908 by Mr. Jack Joy, a local landowner and former member of the club. A year later a grandstand was erected and formally opened by the Mayor. The Poppies had more success in the early years becoming 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 Two, but were promoted back to Division One as champions in 1932. After the war, the club entered the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the first time in the 1946–47 season. The club achieved some success in other cup competitions in winning the Hampshire Intermediate Cup in 1950 and again in 1970 and 1972. In 1974 the stand that had been erected in 1909 was destroyed by fire. The club at the end of the 1978–79 season were promoted back to Division one of the Hampshire League but could only last a season in the top division. This relegation was followed two seasons later by a further relegation putting the club back into Division Three. They would remain in this Division until joining the newly formed

Wessex League The Wessex Football League is an English association football league formed in 1986, with its premier division currently at the fifth step of the National League System, or the ninth tier of the overall English football league system. The par ...

in 1985. The club two seasons later made its Debut in the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

losing to

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...

in the Extra Preliminary round in the 1987–88 season. The club has since remained in this division with its best performance being in the 1994–95 season when under manager Alex Pike, they finished as runners-up to Fleet Town. In the 2010–11 campaign the club won the League Cup, winning the final 1–0 against Winchester City.

Club Officials

Ground

Bournemouth play their games at Victoria Park, Namu Road, Winton, Bournemouth BH9 2RA. The ground was sold to Bournemouth Council after the Second World War for £4,500, they now lease it to the club on a

peppercorn rent In legal parlance, a peppercorn is a metaphor for a very small cash payment or other nominal consideration, used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract. It is featured in ''Chappell & Co Ltd v Nestle Co Ltd'' (960AC 87) ...

. The clubhouse was opened in 1985. The ground features a 205-seater stand and several rows of bench seating replacing the stand that was destroyed by fire in 1974. The remaining three sides are flat standing separated from the playing area by a permanent metal barrier.

Honours

*Wessex League Premier Division : ** Runners-up: 1994–95 *Hampshire League Second Division : ** Runners-up: 1978–79 *Wessex League Cup : ** Winners: 2010–11 ** Runners-up: 2006–07 * Hampshire League Shield ** Winners 1913-14 *Hampshire Intermediate Cup : ** Winners: 1949–50, 1969–70, 1971–72 *Russell-Cotes Cup : ** Runners-up: 1995–96, 2001–02

Records

*Highest League Position: 2nd in Wessex premier Division 1994–95 *

best performance: second qualifying round 1949–50, 1990–91, 2011–12 *

best performance: Quarter-finals 2011–12 *Biggest win: 14–1 versus Tadley Calleva on 5 October 2010

References

External links

* * {{coord, 50, 44, 49.222, N, 1, 53, 12.419, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Sport in Bournemouth Wessex Football League Association football clubs established in 1875 Football clubs in Dorset 1875 establishments in England Football clubs in England