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Gillingham Football Club in the 20th century
At some
point in the early 1890s, the members of a junior club, playing its
games on a public ground, decided to aim for the big time. Entry to
senior competitions meant having a ground of its own, fully
enclosed so that gate money could be taken. It meant the issue of
shares, to pay for the ground, the administration of the club and
(maybe) the players. Chatham Excelsior had gone about as far as it
could go in 1893, winning three trophies. It was Excelsior's
players and committee men who were instrumental in forming the New
Brompton Football Club Company Limited in 1893.
An area of land off Gillingham Road was selected for the ground
– there was no Priestfield Road in those days, just open
spaces.
A pavilion was built and the ground laid out ready for the first
match of the 1893/94 season, a friendly with Woolwich Arsenal’s
reserve team on 2 September. Arsenal won 1-5; the first team played
its first ever Football League game that day. The new status of the
club meant its entries to the F.A.Cup and the Amateur Cup were
accepted. It lost in the first round of the F.A. Cup against Ilford
but had victories over Maidstone United and the Royal Scots
Fusiliers before losing to the Royal Ordnance in the Amateur Cup.
The season was filled with friendly matches, with visits from Long
Eaton Rangers, Burton Swifts, Swindon Town and Tottenham Hotspur
amongst others. The Chatham Charity Cup was won, so there was one
item of silverware to show for the players' efforts.
New Brompton was keen to join the new Southern League when it
was formed in January 1894. The guaranteed fixtures against the
leading clubs in the south meant that turning professional was
essential. In the event, New Brompton’s relatively new status as a
senior club was perhaps the reason that they found themselves in
Division Two of the new League. Eleven wins in twelve matches gave
them the first championship at the first attempt. Promotion to the
First Division followed after a test match against the bottom club,
Swindon Town.
New Brompton (and later Gillingham) finished bottom of the First
Division of the Southern League on three occasions, yet always
avoided relegation – something of a record perhaps. Although the
club finished bottom in 1907/08, the Division was increased in size
and it retained its status. Following the growth of the Borough of
Gillingham, the club changed its name in 1912/13 but came bottom
again in 1914/15, when outbreak of war led to the League being
inactive for four seasons. After the war, the club was bottom again
in 1919/20, though it was still elected to the new Football League
Division Three, along with the other Southern League clubs. Success
remained elusive in the Football League. After five successful
re-elections, Gillingham was voted out of the League in 1938,
Ipswich Town taking its place.
After five seasons back in the Southern League, winning the
championship on two occasions, Gillingham was elected back into the
Football League in 1950. Re-organisation of the old regional Third
Divisions in 1958 found it in Division Four; the only way now was
up. Gillingham's first and only championship came in 1963/64 when
the club was promoted to Division Three, where it remained until
1989, apart from three seasons back in the lowest division. It was
back to the basement in 1989/90.
Following receivership in 1995, new management oversaw
unparalleled success for the club: promotion in second place in
1995/96, consistently better season-by-season finishes in Division
Two, with promotion to what is now the Championship via the
play-offs in 2000 and best-ever progress to the sixth round of the
FA Cup.
Contributed by Roger Triggs
Additional material by Malcolm Bowman and Chris Kiff
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