Brislington F.C.

Brislington FC
Full name Brislington Football Club
Nickname(s) Briz, The Foxes
Founded 1956
Ground Brislington Stadium, Brislington
Ground Capacity 3,000 (150 seated)
Chairman Steve Jenkins
Manager Lee Perks
League Western League Premier Division
2015–16 Western League Premier Division, 11th

Brislington Football Club is an English football club based in Brislington, in Bristol. Nicknamed "Briz" and "The Foxes", they are currently members of the Western League Premier Division and play at Ironmould Lane.[1]

History

Brislington Football Club was reformed in 1956 when an under 16 team was formed under the name of Brislington FC and entered in the Bristol Church of England League. The team was managed by one of the clubs pre war players, Bill Parsons, and they found a pitch at Arnos Court Park. Brislington’s first major honour came in 1961-62 when they won the Somerset Intermediate Cup, which was retained the following year. In 1963-64 they won the Somerset Junior Cup.

The team had been steadily moving up through the leagues progressing to the senior division of the Bristol and Suburban League by 1965. In 1966-67 they ‘came of age’ reaching the final of the Somerset F. A Senior Cup, losing 3-1 to Chard Town.

The 1970s saw the side move on again to the Somerset Senior League, winning the League Cup in 1976-77 and were Premier Division runners up in 1979-80.They were to finish runners up again in 1984-85 but their greatest season came in 1988-89, winning the Somerset Senior League Premier Division championship, the Somerset FA Senior Cup, the Reserves finishing runners up in the Somerset Senior League First Division and the A team winning the Bristol and Avon League. The achievement ensured promotion for the club to the Great Mills Western League with the Reserves moving into the Somerset Senior League Premier Division and the A team moving up into the Bristol and Suburban League.

In 1994-95 the club achieved the double, winning the Great Mills League First Division by a clear 11 points and in a repeat of the previous years Senior Cup Final overcoming Bridgwater Town on penalties.

The installation of floodlights and the construction of the Park Pets Stand enabled promotion to the Premier Division of the Great Mills League and a new era for the club.

Season 1999-2000 saw the clubs best season to date, reaching third place in the Screwfix League behind Taunton Town and Mangotsfield United, only to be surpassed in season 2001-2002 when they again reached third place, missing out on goal difference to Taunton Town and only recording 3 league defeats in 38 games. The reserves also won the Fry Club Cup and the Premier Division Championship of the Somerset County League by a margin of 15 points. The youth team were runners up in the Somerset Floodlit Youth League.

In 2002-2003 this was again surpassed when the first team were runners up in the Premier Division and reached the final of the Les Phillips Cup. Season 2003-2004 was welcomed with great expectations but early exits in both F.A. cup and vase caused strain which eventually led to manager Nigel “Badger” Webb standing down the Chairman moved swiftly to replace him with Tony Cornelius from neighbours Keynsham Town who led the team to the Somerset premier cup final against Bristol City; who were winners 5-0.

The next season 2004-2005 began in chaos, when the manager resigned 3 weeks before the season began, again the chairman moved quickly to secure the services of Nigel Gillard an ex- Brislington player who somehow managed to get a squad together and after six games were top of the table, the side progressed to the quarter final stages of the F.A vase losing 1-0 at Enfield with about 8 weeks to go Nigel decided to stand down, many players left but with Gary Kemp taking the reigns with the help of Steve Jenkins a mixture of those left and an excellent crop of youngsters from the youth the club finished half way.

2005/2006 saw many changes Chairman Mike Richardson has left to take up the same role at neighbours Mangotsfield United, Mike has been a tremendous influence to Brislington F.C. and they would not find their selves in the position they are now without his drive and commitment The First Team will be managed by Jamie Patch who begins his second spell with the club and with Fred Hardwell taking the top job of Chairman.

Season 2007/2008 saw the club enter its 50th year. To mark this occasion The First Team wore a kit in the colours worn by the first side ever to represent Brislington F.C. Jeff Meacham and his assistant Paul Sainsbury who toke over from the outgoing Jamie Patch lead the team. The following year, The Reserves had a new management duo of Dave Payne and Steve Baddock who managed to gain the team promotion back to the Premier Division of the Somerset County League as runners-up, but resigned at the end of the season leaving way for ‘A’ manager – Kevin Hazell to step up with help from Brad Haynes.

Things remained mildly unchanged until season 2011/2012, which saw Brislington FC create our very first Ladies Team. This came as an agreed 'natural progression' from our partner Junior FC. The Ladies started in Division 2 of The Somerset County Women's League – and won the league with a goal difference of +186 having won every league game. Managed by Steve Greenslade and Lee Williams, our U18 Youth Division were also champion of the league and gained promotion to the Premier Division of the Somerset Youth Floodlite League. With a new Assistant Manager – Lee Perks, assisting Jeff with the First Team, the side reached the semi-final of the Somerset FA Premier Cup where we were beaten by local side – Weston Super-Mare by a goal to nil.

Halfway through season 2012/2013, the club was tested to the extreme with the sad sudden loss of Chairman Fred Hardwell, following a hard battle with Cancer. However, he was commemorated with a steam of success from our teams; The First Team become Western League Premier Division Runners-Up, but were rejected for promotion by the FA for ground standard issues. Our Reserves battled their way to the Somerset FA Senior Cup Final where they unfortunately lost 1 – 0 against Wincanton. Our Ladies didn’t fail to impress either and finished the season Somerset County League Champions and League Cup Winners as well as Somerset FA Junior Cup Winners. Vice Chairman - Phil Rex was elected as the new Chairman with former Reserve Team Manager Rich Chaffey taking the position of Vice Chair.

In 2013/2014, Brislington reached to furthest point yet in the FA Cup, following wins over; Barnstaple Town, St. Blazey, Wells City, Truro City and Weston-Super-Mare. Eventually we were knocked out at the last qualifying round by Conference Prem side Welling United 1 -0 at home with a record breaking attendance of 700 spectators. The prize money from winning five consecutive rounds allowed us to carry out essential upgrades to our floodlighting and pitch draining systems as well as erecting a new turnstile block. Our Ladies Team retained the title of Somerset FA Women's Junior Cup Champions as well as gaining promotion to the Premier Division of the South West Women’s Football League with a goal difference of +76 after losing only one game. The new season will see Paul Keen and Steve Jenkins take over the ‘A’ Team following the resignation of Jason Hughes, after managing to gain the team promotion to Prem 1 of the Bristol and Suburban League.

Much remained unchanged until 2016/17 started following the resignation of Chairman Phil Rex and First Team Manager Jeff Meacham. Phil was made an Honorary Life Member of the club for his decades of dedicated commitment and Jeff took over the role as Director of Football with the vision of developing our youth players. Steve Jenkins will take the club helm with support from Lee Williams, and Lee Perks will become First Team Manager with support of David Payne and Kevin Hazell. Bradley Haynes has stepped up to be Reserve Team Manager with support of Danny Guibarra and youth team manager Nigel Jones.[2]

Stadium

After being reformed in 1956, the club initially played on a pitch at Arnos Court Park.[3] They now play at Ironmould Lane.[4] The ground holds 3,000 with 160 seats and 2,800 covered standing places.[5]

Honours

League honours

Cup honours

Records

References

  1. ↑ Twentyman Talks Back BBC Sport, 9 September 2010
  2. ↑ http://media.wix.com/ugd/9d168b_3632e80094c14d9cb18b1d8c86546a62.pdf
  3. ↑ Brislington Archived June 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Western League
  4. ↑ Brislington v Truro City BBC Sport, 22 February 2008
  5. ↑ Brislington Allsports International
  6. ↑ "CHEW VALLEY GAZETTE TODAY | SPORT | Bishop Sutton AFC are champions". Chewvalleygazette.co.uk. 2013-05-31. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Brislington at the Football Club History Database
  8. ↑ "Senior Cup". SomersetFA. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  9. ↑ "Intermediate Cup". SomersetFA. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  10. ↑ "Junior Cup". SomersetFA. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2013-04-04.

External links

Coordinates: 51°25′46.73″N 2°31′29.39″W / 51.4296472°N 2.5248306°W / 51.4296472; -2.5248306

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.