Nickname(s) The Town Chairman Tony Guarino Ground The Saffrons | Ground Capacity 3,000 (200 Seated) Manager John Lambert Founded 1881 | |
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Full name Eastbourne Town Football Club 2015–16 Southern Combination Premier Division, 2nd League Isthmian League Division One South | ||
Eastbourne Town Football Club are an English football club based in Eastbourne, East Sussex. The club is a FA Chartered Standard Community club affiliated to the Sussex County Football Association. The club was founded in 1881 as Devonshire Park FC and they claim to be the oldest senior football club in Sussex, though they are certainly the oldest in the town of Eastbourne. The club are currently members of the Southern Combination Premier Division and play at the Saffrons.
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Early history
Founded in 1881 as Devonshire Park Football Club, named after the original ground they played at (now the venue for the Eastbourne International Tennis tournament), they moved to their current home The Saffrons in 1886. A home they have shared since with Eastbourne Cricket Club and Eastbourne Hockey Club. They changed their name to Eastbourne F.C. in 1889 as the town was being expanded after the railway arrived into the town. Although at the time they were not in a league, they competed in the Sussex Senior Cup reaching the final ten times between 1889 and 1903, winning eight times in that period.
They were founding members of the Southern Amateur Football League in 1907 in which they remained in until 1946, winning the Sussex Senior Cup three more times in that period. They briefly left in 1920 and was one of the founding teams of the Sussex County Football League, in which they stayed for one season and returned to the Southern Amateur Football League in 1921. 1946 saw them join the Corinthian League. In 1953, Eastbourne played their local rivals Hastings United in the FA Cup, although they lost 7–2 they recorded their record attendance of 7,378.
In 1963 the Corinthian League merged with the Athenian League Eastbourne were placed into the first division of the new league and stayed there for the first three seasons before relegation into the second division. In 1971, they changed their name from Eastbourne F.C. to the present name. The 1975–76 season saw Eastbourne reach the 5th round of the FA Vase. During the same season they nearly amalgamated with league rivals Eastbourne United but opted to re-join the Sussex County League.
Sussex County League and Isthmian League
Unable to continue in the Athenian League, due to falling attendances, they joined the Sussex County League in 1976. Their first season in the new league was successful, winning the Division 1 title. They came close to the title again in the 1984/85 and 1985/86 seasons, finishing third on both occasions.
In 2001 they were relegated into Division 2 after 25 years. They did not manage to gain an immediate promotion back in the following season, but achieved a return to Division 1 at the end of the 2002–03 season after finishing in second place.
In the 2006–07 season, they became Sussex County League champions again. They secured the title on the last day of the season by defeating Oakwood 6–1 away from home to pip Whitehawk at the post, earning promotion to the Isthmian League Division One South.
In 2014 they were relegated back to the Sussex County League. During the 2015-16 season they reached the 3rd qualifying round in the FA Cup, the furthest they had reached in 47 years.
Other teams
For the 2015-16 season the club runs two youth teams (U21, U18) and a ladies' team.
Ground
Eastbourne Town play their home games at The Saffrons, Compton Place Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 1EA.
Honours
Winners: 1889–90, 1890–91, 1893–94, 1894–95, 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1921–22, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1952–53.
Division 1 Champions: 1976–77, 2006–07.