Football Focus Issue 73 | Page 26

Sittingbourne FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/FOOTYFOCUSMAG Sittingbourne T FOOTBALL CLUB he club was started as Sittingbourne United back in 1881 and become just Sittingbourne in 1886. Football developed rapidly and the Gore Court cricket ground was getting overwhelmed. A field at the rear of the Bull Hotel was secured in 1892 on a five-year lease and became the club’s home for the next 98 years. Farm wagons and traction engine trucks were pulled around the ground for spectators to stand on and within a year stands and dressing rooms were being built and the club had obtained senior status. The club won its first major title in 1897/98 when it won the Kent League. The Kent Senior Cup followed in 1902. After the First World War more senior cup and league titles followed with the club also enjoying the first of three spells in the Southern League. Success followed and in another spell in the Southern League Sittingbourne 26 Issue 73 twice in succession missed promotion to the Premier Division only on goal average. The club reached the first- round proper of the F.A Cup in 1962 but lost 3-0 at Hinckley Athletic. Back in the Kent League Sittingbourne were one of the strongest teams throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In February 1990, the club decided to sell its town centre Bull Ground and buy a 23-acre site on the town’s Eurolink estate. A magnificent stadium with a 2,000 seater stand, restaurants, bars, sumptuous dressing rooms, greyhound track and training pitches was the envy of non-league football. There was success too, on the pitch when, in their first season at Central Park, Sittingbourne won the Winstonlead Kent League without losing a game - the only senior football team throughout Europe to achieve that feat in the 1990/91 season. Promotion to the Beazer Homes Southern League followed with the championship of the Southern Division secured in 1993 followed by promotion to the highest level achieved by the club since it’s foundation. The ground record was broken five times during that one season with 5,951