New Brighton A.F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
New Brighton A.F.C. are an English football club from New Brighton, Merseyside. The club are currently in the First Division of the West Cheshire League, and play their home matches at Harrison Drive. They play in red shirts, white shorts and red socks. They are nicknamed The Rakers, though are sometimes called The Towers by some of the older fans who can remember the town's first professional club, New Brighton Tower.
The current club are not the original New Brighton F.C., who played in the Football League, but were founded in 1993, several years after the original club folded.
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[edit] History
[edit] Original club
The original New Brighton Football Club was formed in 1921 out of the ashes of the bankrupt South Liverpool, and played at Rake Lane. The club started life in the Lancashire Combination in 1921, assuming South Liverpool's membership. After two seasons, the club was elected to the Third Division North of the Football League when the division was expanded to 22 clubs. They also played Football League games at The Tower Grounds (formerly home to New Brighton Tower) especially after Rake Lane was destroyed during the War.
The club remained in the Third Division North until 1951, when they were voted out of the Football League after finishing bottom and replaced by Workington.
The club dropped into the Lancashire Combination, before switching to the Cheshire County League in 1965. In 1981 the club finished bottom of the Cheshire County League second division, and folded. By then they had left The Tower Grounds and were playing at Hoylake Cricket Club.
The club had reached the 4th round of the FA Cup on three occasions; in the 1927/8 season when they lost to Port Vale, in the 1937/8 season when they lost to Tottenham Hotspur in a replay, and most impressively in the 1956/7 season, when as a non-League club, they beat three League clubs before losing to Burnley.
[edit] Revived club
New Brighton A.F.C. were reborn in 1993, and joined the Birkenhead and Wirral League, which they won in their first season. In 1995 the club switched to the South Wirral League. After upgrading their new ground, the club were admitted to the Second Division of the West Cheshire League in 1996. The club won the Second Division in the 2004/5 season, and were promoted to the First Division.
There is a history of New Brighton, published in 1990 (Breedon Books) author Garth Dykes. Titled "New Brighton - a complete record of the Rakers in the Football League".
