Sittingbourne
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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
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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