Barkingside F.C.
Barkingside Football Club is a football club based in Barkingside, Greater London, England. The club are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Division One South and groundshare with Ilford at the Cricklefield Stadium.
The club was established in 1898 and joined the Ilford League.[2] They won the league (jointly) after World War I, but folded due to a lack of support during the 1922–23 season.[2] In 1925 the club was reformed as Barkingside Boys Guild, and initially played in the Ilford Minor League. They were soon renamed Barkingside Old Boys, before becoming simply Barkingside in the 1930s.[2]
After World War II the club joined the South Essex League, finishing runners-up in their first season. The following season they switched to the Walthamstow League, also joining the Amateur Football Alliance. In 1950 they joined Division Two of the London League, and after finishing as runners-up in their first season, were promoted to Division One. The club won the Ilford Festival Cup and the Romford Charity Cup in 1952, and the London League Cup in 1956. The league was reduced to a single division in 1956, and when it gained another division in 1963, Barkingside were placed in the Premier Division.[3] At the end of the season the league merged with the Aetolian League to form the Greater London League. The league had two sections, A and B, with Barkingside in the former.[3]
After finishing tenth in the 1964–65 season, they were placed in Division One for the following season.[4] The following season saw them finish second in Division One, earning promotion to the Premier Division. However, they were relegated in 1966–67 after finishing second-bottom of the division.[4] The league was reduced to a single division for the 1969–70 season, but the following season saw it enlarged to three divisions, with Barkingside placed in Premier Division Section A.[4]
In 1971 the Greater London League merged with the Metropolitan League to form the Metropolitan–London League, with Barkingside in Division Two. They remained in Division Two until the league was reduced to a single division in 1974, and at the end of the 1974–75, another league merger occurred, with the Metropolitan–London League merging with the Spartan League to form the London Spartan League; Barkingside were placed in Division Two of the new league.[5] After finishing fourth in 1976–77, they were promoted to the (renamed) Premier Division. However, the following season saw them finish bottom of the Premier Division,[5] resulting in relegation back to the Senior Division. They remained in the Senior Division until the end of the 1985–86 season, when a fifth-place finish saw them promoted to the Premier Division.[6] In 1987 the league was renamed the Spartan League. The 1996–97 season saw Barkingside win the last Spartan League title, as the league merged with the South Midlands League at the end of the season to form the Spartan South Midlands League.[3]
Barkingside were placed in the Premier Division South for the first season, and after finishing third, became members of the Premier Division for the following season, which saw them win the title. However, the club were denied promotion to the Isthmian League, and instead requested a transfer to the Essex Senior League. As a result of the FA ruling that sideways moves were not allowed within the pyramid, the club withdrew from senior football for one season and joined the Essex Senior League for the 2000–01 season. Their first season in the new league saw them win the Gordon Brastead Memorial Cup, and they went on to win the League Cup in 2008–09 and 2012–13. The latter season also saw them finish as runners-up, earning promotion to Division One North of the Isthmian League. However, after three seasons in which they finished in the bottom five on every occasion,[3] they were relegated back to the Essex Senior League at the end of the 2015–16 season.
The 2018–19 season saw Barkingside finish second-from-bottom of the Essex Senior League, resulting in relegation to Division One South of the Eastern Counties League.
Ground
