Eastbourne Borough F.C.
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| Eastbourne Borough | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Eastbourne Borough Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | The Sports, The Bo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1964 (as Langney F.C.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Langney Sports Club, Eastbourne |
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| Capacity | 5,664 (542 seated) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Len Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Garry Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Conference South | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Conference South, 17th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Eastbourne Borough are a semi-professional English football club, based in the town of Eastbourne, East Sussex, and are members of the Conference South division.
Compared to many other so-called 'non-league' clubs (i.e. those outside English football's top four professional divisions), Eastbourne Borough are relative newcomers to this level of football. They were formed in 1964 as Langney FC, naming themselves after the area of Eastbourne in which the club continues to play its home games. From 1968 until 2001 they were known as Langney Sports FC, renaming themselves Eastbourne Borough to ensure the club could be identified with the town of Eastbourne.
[edit] History
On forming in 1964, Langney FC entered the Eastbourne & District Football League, competing in Division 2. Prior to season 1968/69 there was a change of name to Langney Sports F.C. when the club affiliated to the Langney Community Association. At this time the club was playing on local recreation grounds before moving to Princes Park near the seafront. At the end of season 1973/74, the club won promotion to the Premier Division of the Eastbourne & Hastings League. The following nine years saw Langney Sports recognised as the most progressive club in the Eastbourne area.
In 1983 the club was elected as a founder member of Division 3 of the Sussex County League and at the same time, moved to its current home ground at Priory Lane, in the heart of the residential area of Langney.
In 1986/87 Langney Sports became Third Division champions, and completed a treble by winning both the Division 3 League Cup & the Eastbourne Challenge Cup. Sports followed this with yet another promotion the following season, this time elevating them to Division 1. In 1992 Langney reached the final of the Sussex Senior Cup, losing 0-1 to the reserve team of Sussex's only professional club, Brighton and Hove Albion. Apart from two seasons (1994/95 and 1995/96) when they finished in 11th and 9th place respectively, Langney never finished outside of the top four in Division One, and in 2000 finished the season as Sussex County League Champions, and were promoted to the Eastern Division of the Southern League.
After one season in the Southern League, the club was renamed Eastbourne Borough. In their second season they finished seventh, and in the following season finished second, and were promoted to the Premier Division. Though they only finished 11th in their first season in the Premier Division, the club were elevated to the newly-formed Conference South for the start of the 2004/5 season. A further promotion was almost earned immediately as the club finished fifth, and won the Conference South play-offs, beating Cambridge City 3-0. However, they were beaten 2-1 by Altrincham (who had won the Conference North play-offs) in the play-off final at Stoke City's Britannia Stadium, and remained in the Conference South.
During the 2005/6 season, the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history, when a battling performance saw them hold League Two club Oxford United to a 1-1 draw at home, winger Ollie Rowland holding his nerve to score a 90th-minute penalty. This epic match gained the club three massive milestones. These were: 1. The first time that Eastbourne Borough had played a fully-professional league-side. 2. The first time that Eastbourne Borough were given national television coverage (highlights of the match at the Priory Lane ground were shown on BBC's Match Of The Day) 3. For the first time ever the home and away supporters had to be segregated due to the huge attendance of 3,770.
Sadly the East-Sussex side failed to win the replay at Oxford's Kassam Stadium on a cold mid-week November night. Despite losing 3-0, the Borough squad put up a very good fight and were extremely unlucky not to score. Ex-Yeovil Town striker Yemi Odubade played particularly well and caused many problems for the Oxford defence, so much so that Oxford manager Brian Talbot admitted he was very interested in having the talented youngster play for his side and asked the Eastbourne Borough committee if he could take Yemi Odubade on a trial at Oxford United. In January 2006, Oxford paid Sports £15,000 to sign Odubade on an 18-month contract.
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- Full Record of Langney Sports' League Positions
- Full Record of Eastbourne Borough's League Positions
| Conference South 2006/07 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Basingstoke Town | Bedford Town | Bishop's Stortford | Bognor Regis Town | Braintree Town | Cambridge City | Dorchester Town | Eastbourne Borough | Eastleigh | Farnborough Town | Fisher Athletic | Havant & Waterlooville | Hayes | Histon | Lewes | Newport County | Salisbury City | Sutton United | Thurrock | Welling United | Weston-super-Mare | Yeading edit |
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