Bideford A.F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Bideford


fullname = Bideford Association Football Club
nickname = The Robins
founded = 1946
ground = The Sports Ground, Bideford, Devon
capacity = unknown | chairman = Roy Portch
manager = Sean Joyce
league = Western League Premier Division
season = 2007-08
position = Western League Premier Division, 6th
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pattern_la2= |pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
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Bideford A.F.C. is an English non-league football club from Bideford, Devon that plays in the Western Football League, with rival clubs from the counties of Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. Managed by Sean Joyce, they are one of the top sides in the division. The club is nicknamed "The Robins" due to their all-red strip. The club plays its home matches at The Sports Ground, Kingsley Road, Bideford.

History

Founded in 1946, the club played three seasons in the Exeter & East Devon League before joining the Western League in 1949. Bideford had a request to be elected to the Second Division denied, and had to play in the Third Division instead. This was the only season the Western League ran a Third Division, and Bideford won it without losing a game. Two seasons later they also won Division Two, and so took their place in Division One.

Bideford won the Western League three times before joining the Southern League in 1972. The club spent three seasons at that level before the expense involved and increased travelling took its toll, and they had to drop down back to the Western League. During their Southern League days, the club set an all-time FA Cup record, when in 1974-75 they played thirteen FA Cup games in a single season - they faced numerous replays in qualifying rounds including needing five games to beat Falmouth Town and four more to beat Trowbridge Town in the next round. With the subsequent abandonment of second and further replays, this record is likely to stand for a very long time. Two more Western League titles followed in the early 1980s, before a financial crisis hit the club. There was doubt that the club would be able to continue, but a re-formation took place in 1987] leading to the current setup, a company limited by guarantee, under the revised company name Bideford AFC (1987) Ltd.

Under the stable chairmanship of Jim McElwee, and then Paul Mitchell, the club have recovered to the point where they have now won four more Western League titles since 2000, and have also made the FA Vase semi-finals, where they lost to Winchester City. Now under the new chairmanship of Bideford businessman Roy Portch, and managerial skills of Shaun Joyce the club has been transformed into a once again winning side. Despite winning the Western League several times, they have elected not to apply for promotion to the Southern League due to the amount of travelling and expense that would be involved in playing teams which, almost without exception, would be over 100 miles away.

Several players from the club have progressed to Football League status, the most recent of them being Tony Dennis and Shaun Taylor. Two former internationals have played for the club at the end of their career, Welshman Leighton Phillips, and Dermot Curtis from the Republic of Ireland.

Club honours

*Western League Champions - 1963-64, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1981-82, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06
*Western League Division Two Champions - 1951-52
*Western League Division Three Champions - 1949-50
*Devon St Lukes Bowl Winners - 1981-82, 1983-84, 1985-86, 1995-96
*Devon Professional Cup Winners - 1960-61, 1961-62, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1973-74
*Western League Cup Winners - 1971-72, 1984-85, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05

FA competitions

Best performances in the FA competitions are :
*FA Cup - 1st Round proper 4 times (1964-65, 1973-74, 1977-78 and 1981-82)
*FA Trophy - 2nd Round 1969-70
*FA Vase - Semi-finals 2003-04

eason-by-season record since 1949

External links

* [http://www.bidefordafc.co.uk Official club site]
* [http://uk.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=51.0224&lon=-4.209&scale=10000&icon=xm multimap.com map of ground location]