Barkingside Football Club 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

Barkingside Barkingside is an area in Ilford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It includes the major road junction of ''Fullwell Cross'' which also gives its name to the locality near that roundabout. The area is situated 10.6 miles (17km) north east of ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

, England. The club are currently members of the and groundshare with Ilford at the Cricklefield Stadium.

History

The club was established in 1898 and joined the Ilford League.History Of Barkingside FC
Barkingside F.C. They won the league (jointly) after

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 ...

, but folded due to a lack of support during the 1922–23 season. In 1925 the club was reformed as Barkingside Boys Guild, and initially played in the Ilford Minor League. They were soon renamed Barkingside Old Boys, before becoming simply Barkingside in the 1930s. 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 joined the

South Essex League The South Essex League was a football league that was held in Essex and East London. History The league was formed for the 1892–93 season. Only four clubs in the league managed to fulfill all their fixtures, with Barking Excelsior winning th ...

, finishing runners-up in their first season. The following season they switched to the Walthamstow League, also joining the

Amateur Football Alliance The Amateur Football Alliance is a county football association in England. It is unusual among county FAs in not serving a particular geographical area. It was founded in 1906 as the Amateur Football Defence Council, was briefly known as the Ama ...

. In 1950 they joined Division Two of the London League, and after finishing as runners-up in their first season, were promoted to Division One. The club won the Ilford Festival Cup and the Romford Charity Cup in 1952, and the London League Cup in 1956. The league was reduced to a single division in 1956, and when it gained another division in 1963, Barkingside were placed in the Premier Division. At the end of the season the league merged with the

Aetolian League The Aetolian (or Aitolian) League ( grc-gre, Κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν) was a confederation of tribal communities and cities in ancient Greece centered in Aetolia in central Greece. It was probably established during the early Hellen ...

to form the

Greater London League The Greater London League was a football league for clubs in and around London. It was formed in 1964 by a merger of the London League and the Aetolian League, after the two leagues had run a joint league cup the previous season due to both stru ...

. The league had two sections, A and B, with Barkingside in the former. After finishing tenth in the 1964–65 season, they were placed in Division One for the following season.Greater London League 1964-1971
Non-League Matters The following season saw them finish second in Division One, earning promotion to the Premier Division. However, they were relegated in 1966–67 after finishing second-bottom of the division. The league was reduced to a single division for the 1969–70 season, but the following season saw it enlarged to three divisions, with Barkingside placed in Premier Division Section A. In 1971 the Greater London League merged with the

Metropolitan League The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971.Metropolitan–London League The Metropolitan–London League was a short-lived football league for clubs in and around London. It was formed in 1971 by a merger of the Greater London League and the Metropolitan League (which had lost several clubs to the Southern League). I ...

, with Barkingside in Division Two. They remained in Division Two until the league was reduced to a single division in 1974, and at the end of the 1974–75, another league merger occurred, with the Metropolitan–London League merging with the

Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establish ...

to form the

London Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establish ...

; Barkingside were placed in Division Two of the new league.Spartan League 1955-1983
Non-League Matters After finishing fourth in 1976–77, they were promoted to the (renamed) Premier Division. However, the following season saw them finish bottom of the Premier Division, resulting in relegation back to the Senior Division. They remained in the Senior Division until the end of the 1985–86 season, when a fifth-place finish saw them promoted to the Premier Division. In 1987 the league was renamed the Spartan League. The 1996–97 season saw Barkingside win the last Spartan League title, as the league merged with the

South Midlands League The South Midlands League was a association football, football league covering Bedfordshire and some adjoining counties in England. It was founded in 1922 as the Bedfordshire County League and merged with the Spartan League in 1997 to form the ...

at the end of the season to form the

Spartan South Midlands League The Spartan South Midlands Football League is an English football league covering Hertfordshire, northwest Greater London, central Buckinghamshire and southern Bedfordshire. It is a feeder to the Southern Football League or the Isthmian League, ...

. Barkingside were placed in the Premier Division South for the first season, and after finishing third, became members of the Premier Division for the following season, which saw them win the title. However, the club were denied promotion to the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

, and instead requested a transfer to the

Essex Senior League The Essex Senior Football League is an English men's football league. It contains clubs from the Essex FA, Hertfordshire FA, London FA, Middlesex FA and the Amateur Football Alliance. It is a feeder league to Division One North of the Isthm ...

. As a result of the FA ruling that sideways moves were not allowed within the

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

, the club withdrew from senior football for one season and joined the Essex Senior League for the 2000–01 season. Their first season in the new league saw them win the Gordon Brastead Memorial Cup, and they went on to win the League Cup in 2008–09 and

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. The latter season also saw them finish as runners-up, earning promotion to Division One North of the

. However, after three seasons in which they finished in the bottom five on every occasion, they were relegated back to the Essex Senior League at the end of the 2015–16 season. The 2018–19 season saw Barkingside finish second-from-bottom of the Essex Senior League, resulting in relegation to Division One South 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 ...

Ground

The club initially played at a ground on Barkingside High Road opposite the State Cinema. They later played at Barkingside Recreation Ground, and after 25 years, moved to Station Road, located next to

Barkingside tube station Barkingside is a London Underground station on the Central line. It is on the eastern edge of Barkingside (a district of Ilford) in east London at the end of a cul-de-sac off Station Road (which is itself a cul-de-sac). The station is next d ...

. Groundworks began in 1956 and involved removing World War II-era

tank trap Anti-tank obstacles include, but are not limited to: *The Czech hedgehog and Dragon's teeth are the most famous types of World War II anti-tank obstacles. *Anti-tank trenches were used on the western front during World War I, and in the Pacific, ...

s from the site.Jon Weaver (2006) ''The Football Grounds of Essex Metropolitan'', pp9–11 Banking was created on three sides, with plans to install terracing; the other side was to feature a 600-seat grandstand, giving the ground a capacity of 10,000. However, these plans never came to fruition and only a lean-to stand with a capacity of 100 was built. The ground was opened on 24 August 1957 with a London League match against

Cray Wanderers Cray Wanderers Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Sidcup, London. Based on later reports, the club has a claim to have been established some time in 1860 in the twin villages of St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cr ...

. A fire in the early 1970s forced the club to play its home fixtures at Woodford Avenue until the clubhouse was rebuilt and they could return to Station Road. A new stand was built in place of the lean-to in the late 1970s and floodlights were installed in 1989. A 250-seat stand was built on one side of the pitch, but was removed due to a lack of planning permissions. Prior to the start of the 1998–99 season the club came under the control of new owners and work then commenced on the ground, which was renamed Oakside Stadium, to bring it up to

standard. During the 2001–02 season the lease at Oakside was sold on to Ford United, who needed to find a permanent home to allow their progression up the football pyramid. In 2014 the club left Oakside after being told their rent would be increased, and began groundsharing at Ilford's Cricklefield Stadium.

Honours

*Spartan South Midlands League **Champions 1998–99 *Spartan League **Premier Division champions 1996–97 *London League **League Cup winners 1955–56 *London Senior Cup **Winners 1996–97 *Essex Senior League **Gordon Brastead Memorial Cup winners 2000–01 **League Cup winners 2008–09, 2012–13 *Ilford Festival Cup ** Winners 1951–52Barkingside: The football historian on a mission to find Festival of Britain heroes
Enfield Independent, 2 September 2011 *Harry Sunderland Shield **Winners 1983–84

Records

*Best

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 ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 1998–99, 2007–08 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 2014–15 *Best

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 ...

performance: Third round, 1990–91, 1998–99 *Record attendance: 957 vs

Arsenal reserves Arsenal Football Club Academy is the youth system of Arsenal Football Club based in Hale End, London, England. It is often referred to as Hale End eponymously by the club, sports media, and fans. The academy teams play in the Professional Dev ...

, London League, 1957Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p656

References

External links