Sittingbourne F.C.

Did You Know?

• In the 1901–02 season, goalkeeper J Macey kept ten clean sheets in twenty Kent League fixtures, conceding only thirteen goals – a rate of 0.65 per match, a then record low that would stand for eighty-nine seasons.
• The club's all-time highest season total of 122 goals was scored in the 1925–26 season, with centre-forward Sutch netting forty-four of the club's 166 goals in all matches.
• In 1905, the club received a £25 fee for right winger Alex Birnie from Football League First Division club Everton.

History

An earlier Sittingbourne United club had been playing since 1881, but the current club traces its lineage to 1886 when it was reorganised under its present name. After playing at the Recreation Ground and then the original Gore Court, the club moved to a field behind the Bull pub in 1892, where it remained for ninety-eight years. In 1894 Sittingbourne became a founder club of Division One of the original Kent League. The nickname 'The Brickies' derives from the town's major brick-making industry. The club adopted professionalism for the 1898–99 season.

Stadium

Sittingbourne began at the Recreation Ground and from 1890 played at the original Gore Court Cricket Ground. In 1892 they moved to Vallances Meadow behind the Bull pub, fencing the area to create the Bull Ground. A £2,000 debenture scheme funded a new stand opened in November 1929. The club bought the ground in 1954 for £5,270 and sold it in 1990 for a reported £6.5 million after ninety-eight years there.

A new stadium, Central Park Stadium, was built on the north-eastern outskirts of the town and the club moved there for the 1990–91 season while the site was still in early development. Overspending caused a financial crisis; in July 1995 the club sold Central Park to the local council for a reported £875,000 and leased it back at an annual rent of £75,000. Greyhound racing began at Central Park in October 1995. After a season as tenants, the club was locked out in July 1996 due to unpaid rent but later allowed limited access.

The council sold the ground to greyhound racing operators, and in June 1997 the club signed a seven-year lease. For the 2002–03 season the club moved to a former training pitch within the Central Park facility, renovated as Bourne Park, which became the new home ground. Bourne Park was shared with Maidstone United from 2002 to 2009 and again for the 2011–12 season.

Honours

Sittingbourne have won the Kent League Division One title three times (1902–03, 1957–58, 1958–59) and the revived Kent League championship three times (1975–76, 1983–84, 1990–91). The club has won the Kent Senior Cup five times, most recently in 2009–10, and the Thames and Medway Combination championship on multiple occasions between 1902–03 and 1963–64.