Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elected to the league in 1985, and plays its home matches at the

Carlisle Grounds The Carlisle Grounds is a football stadium in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. Situated directly behind the Bray D.A.R.T. station, it is home to Bray Wanderers A.F.C. History The Carlisle Grounds can claim to be the Football Association of I ...

. The club's colours are green and white, and it goes by the nickname ''The Seagulls''.

History

Early Days

In 1922, some members of St Kevin's Gaelic football club in Bray left the club as a result of a dispute and formed a soccer club called Bray Wanderers. Through the 1930s and 1940s, however,

Bray Unknowns Bray Unknowns Football Club was an Irish association football club based in Bray, County Wicklow. During the 1920s and 1930s the Unknowns were the dominant football club in Bray, playing in the League of Ireland for nineteen seasons from 1924 ...

were the leading team in the town, playing in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

for nineteen seasons from 1924–25 to 1942–43. Bray Wanderers went into decline in the mid-thirties but was reformed in 1942–43 and entered the Athletic Union League Division 3 for the 1943–44 season. By the 1948–49 season Wanderers had reached Division 1 of the AUL but the period in between did not pass without controversy. In 1944 the club reached the

Leinster Football Association The Leinster Football Association (LFA) is the governing body for association football in the Irish province of Leinster. It is responsible for organizing the Leinster Senior Cup and the Leinster Senior League as well as numerous other leagues ...

Shield final but was disqualified for fielding an illegal player in the semi-final. When in Division 2 of the AUL in 1946–47 the club was expelled from the league due to the B team not fulfilling a league fixture, although the club was reinstated the following season. Wanderers won the Junior Cup in 1950-51 and again in 1953–54, defeating Ierne 1–0 in the Final. The following season Wanderers left the AUL and joined the Leinster Senior League.

Mid 1900s

In 1955–56 Wanderers won the

FAI Intermediate Cup The FAI Intermediate Cup ( ga, Corn Comortais Peile na hÉireann), also known as the FAI Umbro Intermediate Cup and the Pat O'Brien Intermediate Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for intermediate ...

, defeating Workmens Club 2–1 in the final. There was also a first appearance in the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

against

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

in 1956. They won the FAI Intermediate Cup again two years later, defeating Chapelizod 2–1 in the final. In 1964–65 they were founder members of the

League of Ireland B Division The League of Ireland B Division is a former league within the Republic of Ireland football league system. Its debut season was 1964–65. It was originally a second level league. However following the emergence of the League of Ireland First Di ...

. However they left after just one season and once again went into decline. By 1973

were playing in the LSL and the management changed the name to Bray Wanderers in a partially successful effort to amalgamate the two.

League of Ireland

Bray Wanderers were elected to the

when it was expanded to two Divisions for the 1985–86 season. They played their first game as a League of Ireland club on 8 September 1985 in a

FAI League Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited ...

match against

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

with Jim Mahon scoring the club's first goal at senior level. The Wanderers' secured promotion to the Premier Division by winning the

Championship that year. They were relegated back down to the First Division in the 1987–88 season. Wanderers did not regain Premier Division status until the 1990–91 season but had their first major success during their spell in the First Division. They won the

in 1990 beating St Francis 3–0 in the first

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

final with John Ryan becoming only the second player to score a hat-trick in a

final. They made history by becoming the first ever First Division side to win the trophy. Due to this cup win, Wanderers competed in European competition, for the first time in their history in the 1990–91 season. They were defeated, however, by

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

in the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

preliminary round. After two seasons in the Premier Division, the club was once again relegated to the First Division where they remained for three seasons.Bray Wanderers A.F.C. – a brief history
compiled by Michael Duffy incorporating material by Jim Tobin; updated 2006 by Mícheál Ó hUanacháin In 1995–96 season, Wanderers were promoted back to the Premier Division as First Division champions, but were relegated back down in the following season. The next two seasons followed a similar pattern as they went back up and came straight back down. In 1998–99, a season they got relegated again, Wanderers won their second FAI Cup, defeating

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

after two replays which earned them a spot in the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup against a

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is a former English football manager and player. He managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstads BK in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to th ...

led

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

. In 1999–00, the club won promotion back to the Premier Division, and in 2000–01 Wanderers achieved their highest ever league finish of 4th place in the Premier Division. The club could not build on this as they were relegated back down in 2002–03 but were once again promoted in 2004. The club was relegated at the end of the 2009 season, but the demise of Cork City F.C. meant they were reinstated to the Premier Division. Finishing in a promotion/relegation play-off in 2010, the club maintained its Premier status following a penalty shoot-out with Monaghan United. The following season, finishing sixth in the Premier Division, the club gained a place in the all-Ireland

Setanta Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from the Republic of Ir ...

, but early in 2012 conceded home and away matches to

Glentoran FC Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

in the first round of the competition (2–4 & 0–3). In the 2012 season, Bray finished tenth of 12 clubs in the Premier Division, five points above Dundalk, who had to survive a promotion/relegation battle against Waterford United to ensure their survival in the top flight. In 2013, Bray were again in the relegation mix, and having finished second-last they played First Division promotion play-off winners Longford Town over two legs, winning 5–4 on aggregate. On 10 January 2014, it was announced that

Alan Mathews Alan Mathews (born 27 June 1965) is a former Irish football player and manager. He is currently technical director at St Patrick's Athletic. Coaching career Following a stint as assistant at Shelbourne, Alan Mathews became Longford manage ...

would be the new manager with Barry O'Connor as his assistant. The club ended the season in tenth place, just one point above UCD, and entered the 2015 season as the fourth-longest surviving Premier Division club.

2015:Five managers in one season

The club had five first team managers in total across the 2015 season. On 1 April 2015, Mathews resigned suddenly, together with the rest of his backroom team, citing a breakdown in communication with the club's new owners: Gerry Mulvey, Denis O'Connor, and Martin (Murt) O'Connor, who had taken over during the off-season. The club appointed Under-19 coach Maciej Tarnogrodzki as interim senior team manager the following day. The following month, the club announced that former Shamrock Rovers boss

Trevor Croly Trevor Croly, (born 23 February 1974), is an Irish football coach and former player who is currently assistant manager of Bohemians in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Playing career Drogheda United Croly started his career with Drogheda ...

had signed a three-year contract to manage the club. Just one month later however, Croly also resigned in a similar fashion to Mathews before him.

Mick Cooke Mick Cooke (born 15 December 1973) is a Scotland, Scottish muli-instrumentalist who was the trumpet player of the indie band Belle & Sebastian for fifteen years before leaving in 2013 to concentrate on composing full-time.Taylor, Luke (2013)Int ...

was brought in to replace him as the fifth manager of the season (including temporary Player/Manager David Cassidy), and Bray finished the 2015 season in 8th position.

2016 - 2021

In July 2017, after much speculation about the future of the club, majority shareholder and interim chairman Gerry Mulvey released a statement which confirmed that the club was financially stable and outlined big plans for the future of the club. The statement was widely ridiculed, mainly due to its branding of

Wicklow County Council Wicklow County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae Chill Mhantáin) is the authority responsible for Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local government in County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed ...

as "the

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

of Ireland for business" after the council's repeated refusal to allow the Carlisle Grounds to be rezoned. In September 2017, the FAI launched an investigation into alleged match-fixing surrounding Bray Wanderers friendly against

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

on 8 September 2017. The FAI released a formal statement in February 2018 affirming that no evidence to support any charge had been found. The 2018 season went badly for Bray, with the club losing 28 of their 36 league matches and exiting every cup competition at the first time of asking. The financial situation was not any better, with players voting to strike due to unpaid wages and medical costs. The players were eventually paid before the strike went ahead. On 26 July 2018, after several weeks of speculation over Bray's future, the club was taken over by St. Joseph's Boys academy director Niall O'Driscoll. Mulvey remained in a minority role. Bray were officially relegated to the

in October 2018, ending a 12-year stay in the top flight of Irish football.

Merger with Cabinteely

In November 2021, Bray Wanderers and

Cabinteely F.C. Cabinteely Football Club () is an association football club based in Cabinteely, County Dublin, Ireland comprising adult and many youth under-age teams for both males and females, 60 teams in all. Cabinteely competed in the League of Ireland Fir ...

announced a merger, technically a takeover of Wanderers by Cabinteely. The newly created team would be known as Bray Wanderers and continue to play in the

, with the intention to apply for a First Division licence. Bray's former manager Pat Devlin and then Director of Football (DoF) at Cabinteely became the DoF for the new Bray Wanderers. Since the merger and Devlin's return to Bray Wanderers, there have been a number of conflicts. Incidents have included Devlin reputedly telling fans not to support the team or attend matches on local radio station

East Coast FM East Coast FM (formerly known as BLB, Horizon FM, then East Coast Radio) is an Irish local radio station broadcasting from Bray, County Wicklow under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland The station operates ...

, and Devlin and fans engaging in an "ugly exchange" at an away fixture against Wexford FC. Attendances dropped at the

as Bray experienced one of the worst seasons in their history, going from a title challenging side to one near the bottom of the table. In mid-2022, club chairman Tony Richardson reportedly stated that the club were "making progress" in "eliminating crowd trouble which .marred some of their games this season", and the club stated that it had appointed a "Fan Liaison Officer .for dialogue with fans who wish to make their point". A report in the '' Bray People'', after the clubs's eighth home league defeat of the season, referred to a "lack of goals" and a video reputedly showing "people throwing pyrotechnics .over the walls of the Carlisle Grounds". With a 5-1 home defeat in Bray's final home game of the 2022 season to Cobh Ramblers, the season ended with a 18.75% win record, among the worst season performances in the club's history. In November 2022, former Wexford FC manager Ian Ryan was appointed as head coach, with Devlin remaining as "Head of Football".

Ownership

The current ownership of the club is as follows: * 51.0% - Niatim Holdings (Tony Richardson) * 41.7% - Milway Dawn (O'Connor Brothers) * 4.9% - Pat Devlin * 2.2% - John Deering * 0.2% - John O'Brien

Supporters

Up to 2022, Bray Wanderers had a small, but loyal fanbase, with annual average attendances generally around 700–1000 home fans. For away matches the Bray Wanderers Supporters Club organised a bus to run direct to the relevant ground. In March 2008, the

Ultra adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. '' ...

group of Bray Wanderers fans, "Na Fánaithe",https://twitter.com/nfanaithe08 was formed by five members of the supporters club. Unlike similar groups in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, such as "Briogáid Dearg", "SRFC Ultras", "Shed End Invincibles" and "Notorious Boo Boys", Na Fánaithe is a much smaller group.

Honours

: 2 ** 1990,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

: 3 ** 1985–86, 1995–96, 1999–2000 *

League of Ireland First Division Shield The League of Ireland First Division Shield was an association football competition featuring teams from the League of Ireland First Division. The inaugural winners were Derry City. It was also the first competition Derry City won after they joi ...

: 1 ** 1995–96 * Leinster Senior League: 3 ** 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60 *

: 2 ** 1955–56, 1957–58 *

FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairvi ...

: 2 ** 1950–51, 1953–54 *

Enda McGuill Cup The League of Ireland U19 Division is the under-19 division of the League of Ireland. The current division is the successor of earlier U21 and U20 divisions. Like the Premier Division and First Division, the U19 Division is currently sponsored ...

: 1 ** 2005

Records

* Record Victory: 7–0 v Cobh Ramblers 17 October 1997, 7–0 v St. Mochta's

2007 FAI Cup The FAI Cup 2007 was the 87th staging of The Football Association of Ireland Challenge Cup or FAI Cup. It was the first FAI Cup to be sponsored by Ford. The 2007 FAI Ford Cup officially kicked off in late April, when twenty clubs from the junior ...

, 17 June 2007 * Record League Defeat: 8–1 v

4 May 2015 * Most Points in a Season: 72 in 1999–00 * Most League Goals in a Season: 19,

Eamon Zayed Eamonn or Éamon or Eamon may refer to: *Eamonn (given name), an Irish male given name *Eamon (singer) (born 1983), American R&B singer-songwriter and harmonicist * ''Eamon'' (video game), a 1980 computer role-playing game for the Apple II *" Éamo ...

, 2003 * Most League Goals: 72, Jason Byrne 1998–03, 2012–13

European record

Overview

Matches

Current squad

Technical staff

Managers

Notes

References

External links

Bray Wanderers AFC Website

"'You can't lose, you'll make the league look bad'"

RTÉ Sport RTÉ Sport is a department of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. The department provides sporting coverage through a number of platforms including RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Player Sport and RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ holds the television ...

, 13 May 2020.
Club profile on Airtricity League site

by Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation {{authority control Association football clubs established in 1942 Association football clubs in County Wicklow Former Athletic Union League (Dublin) clubs Former League of Ireland Premier Division clubs Former Leinster Senior League clubs League of Ireland B Division clubs League of Ireland First Division clubs Wanderers 1942 establishments in Ireland