Gillingham F.C.

Early years

The local success of a junior football side, Chatham Excelsior F.C., encouraged a group of businessmen to meet with a view to creating a football club that could compete in larger competitions. New Brompton F.C. was formed at the meeting, held on 18 May 1893, New Brompton being a settlement adjacent to Gillingham. The founders also purchased the plot of land that later became Priestfield Stadium. The new club played its first match on 2 September 1893, losing 5–1 to Woolwich Arsenal's reserve side in front of a crowd of 2,000. New Brompton were among the founder members of the Southern League upon its creation in 1894, and were placed in Division Two. They were named Champions in the first season (1894–95) going on to defeat Swindon Town in a test match to win promotion. In the seasons that followed, the club struggled in Division One, finishing bottom in the 1907–08 season, avoiding relegation only due to expansion of the league. Whilst the club's league performance was disappointing, the side did manage a famous cup victory over Football League First Division Sunderland and held Manchester City to a draw before losing in the replay. In 1912 the directors passed a resolution to change the club's name to Gillingham F.C., and the team played under this name throughout the 1912–13 season, although the change was not officially ratified by the shareholders until the following year. The team finished bottom of Division One in the 1919–20 season but for a…

Sources: League

Second Division (level 3) Play-off winners: 2000 Fourth Division / Third Division / League Two (level 4) Champions: 1963–64, 2012–13 Runners-up: 1973–74, 1995–96 Play-off winners: 2009 Southern League Champions: 1946–47, 1948–49 Runners-up 1947–48 Southern League Division Two Champions: 1894–95 Kent League Champions: 1945–46 United League Champions: 1908–09 Thames & Medway Combination Champions: 1898–99, 1899–1900 Cup

Southern League Cup Winners: 1946–47 Kent League Cup Winners: 1945–46 Kent Senior Cup Winners: 1945–46, 1947–48 Runners-up (5): 1938–39, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1994–95, 2014–15