Full name | Portals Athletic Football Club | ||
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Dissolved | 1987 | ||
Ground | Portals Ground, Overton, Nr Basingstoke | ||
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Portals Athletic F.C. were a successful works football side based in Overton, near Basingstoke in Hampshire.
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After successfully climbing up through the local Basingstoke League, (and winning both the Hampshire Junior Cups) Portals were elected to Hampshire League Division 3 in 1967. They finished in a respectable mid-table final position before being placed in Division 3 West where they finished 3rd before clinching promotion as runners-up in 1969-70. Portals quickly adapdted well to life in what was then a highly competitive Division 2 as they clinched a final position of 3rd which was enough to secure a second successive promotion.
Life in the top flight was tough for Portals and they were relegated straight back again to Division 2 where they remained (winning the Hampshire Intermediate Cup in 1980) until the 1983-84 season when they bounced back as champions. Portals consolidated in Division 1 for two seasons until in 1986 they (along with the league's top clubs with the required facilities) broke away to form the new Wessex League.
In the league's inaugural season Portals finished in a steady 12th position but at the end of the season the parent company withdrew their support forcing the club to withdraw from the competition and disband.
The ground used by Portals Athletics remains in use today. During the 1999-2000 season it was leased to the short-lived Hampshire League side AFC Basingstoke.