Football Club Parson Drove is a

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 ...

club based in

Parson Drove Parson Drove is a fen village in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. A linear settlement, it is west of Wisbech, the nearest town. The village is named after the central thoroughfare along which the village developed, a green drove, much ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They are currently members of the and play at Main Road.

History

The club was properly established in the village of Parson Drove in 1921 by the headmaster of the local council school.History
Parson Drove F.C. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the club played in the Peterborough & District League and also started entering 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 ...

. After winning Division One in 1948–49, the club were the first champions of its Premier Division in 1949–50. Although they were relegated later in the 1950s, the club won Division One again in 1959–60 and returned to the Premier Division. Parson Drove saw a sustained period of success in the 1960s and 1970s, winning the Premier Division in 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71 and 1973–74. They also won the

Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup The Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup is the senior county cup competition of the Cambridgeshire County Football Association. Established in 1950,Blakeman, M (2010) ''The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935–2010, Volume I ...

in 1969–70 and 1972–73, as well as the Cambridgeshire Challenge Cup twice and the Peterborough Senior Cup four times. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the club began entering the FA Cup again and also played 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 ...

for three seasons. In the 1979–80 FA Cup the club went on a remarkable run that included defeating Southern League clubs

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...

and

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

, with the 2–0 win over Chelmsford labelled City's worst ever performance. In 1988 they made a late application to join the new Division One of the

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suff ...

, but were rejected.Blakeman, M (2010) ''The official history of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935–2010 Volume I'' With their ground in a poor state and a lack of interest from the public and players, the club was then disbanded. On 2 March 1992 the club was resurrected following a meeting by village residents and re-entered the Peterborough & District League in Division Six. They returned to the Premier Division after winning Division One in 2003–04. Midway through the 2013–14 season, the club folded, and had their results expunged from the league. A new Parson Drove club was established in August 2017 when Peterborough & District League Division Two club Wisbech St Mary Saints (who had been formed earlier in the summer) moved to Parson Drove and were renamed to FC Parson Drove. The new club went on to win the Division Two title, earning promotion to Division One, as well as the Cambridgeshire Junior Cup and the North Cambridgeshire Junior Cup. The 2018–19 season saw Parson Drove win the Division One title, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division. At the end of the 2020–21 season the club were promoted to Division One North of the Eastern Counties League. The reformed club entered the

for the first time in 2021–22.

Ground

Prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the club played on the Butchers Arms Field and at Woadmill Grassfield. Due to a lack of a suitable venue, after the war the club moved to nearby Murrow for two seasons. They returned to Parson Drove to play at some land at Clough's Cross Farm before moving to a field in Fen Road, known as Down the Fen in 1930. In 1975 a new playing field was opened on Main Road, and the club moved to the ground.

Honours

*Peterborough & District League **Premier Division champions 1949–50, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73 **Division One champions 1948–49, 1958–59, 2003–04, 2018–19 **Division Two champions 2017–18 *Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup **Winners 1969–70, 1972–73 *Cambridgeshire Junior Cup **Winners 2017–18 *North Cambridgeshire Junior Cup **Winners 2017–18

Records

*Best

performance: Fourth qualifying round, 1979–80 *Best

performance: Third round, 1976–77

References

External links