Bideford Association Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, South West England. It is the main town of the Torridge District, Torridge Districts of England, local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bi ...

, Devon, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sports Ground. The club are nicknamed "The Robins" due to their all-red strip.

History

Bideford Town was established in 1883 and spent most of their history playing in the North Devon League. In 1947 the club was reformed as Bideford A.F.C.,Club History
Bideford A.F.C. and joined Section A of the North Devon League.
Non-League Matters Although they finished bottom of the division, they remained in Section A for the 1948–49 season, which saw them finish sixth. At the end of the season they joined Division Three of the Western League, which they won at the first attempt, winning 19 of their 20 matches and drawing the other to earn promotion to Division Two. In 1951–52 they won Division Two, and were promoted to Division One. The league was reduced to a single division in 1960, and after finishing as runners-up in 1962–63, they won the league the following season. In 1964–65 the club reached the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

for the first time. They drew 3–3 with Third Division

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

at Layer Road before losing the replay 2–1. They went on to win back-to-back championships in 1970–71 and 1971–72, also winning the League Cup during 1971–72, and moved up to Division One South of the Southern League in 1972. In 1973–74 they reached the first round of the FA Cup again following four replays with Falmouth Town in the third qualifying round and three replays against Trowbridge Town in the fourth. Drawn at home to Third Division Bristol Rovers, they lost 2–0. After three seasons in the Southern League they dropped back down to the Western League. When the Western League gained a second division in 1976 Bideford were placed in the Premier Division. They finished as runners-up twice in a row in 1977–78 and 1978–79, also reaching the FA Cup first round in 1977–78, losing 3–1 at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. They won the Western League again in 1981–82, as well as reaching the first round of the FA Cup, losing 2–1 at home to Barking. The following season saw them retain the league title, and they won the League Cup for the second time in 1984–85. Bideford dominated the Western League in the 2000s, winning the Premier Division in 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2009–10, as well as the League Cup in 2001–02 and 2003–04. After continuously opting not to take promotion due to the increased travelling costs, in 2010 they were promoted to Division One South & West of the Southern League, which they went on to win in 2011–12, earning promotion to the Premier Division. After finishing second-from-bottom of the division in 2015–16 they were relegated back to the renamed Division One West. The division was renamed Division One South in 2018.

Season-by-season record

Reserve team

Bideford reserves were founder members of the South Western League in 1951 and played in the league until 1957. They joined the North Devon League in 2008. In 2015 they started playing under the name Bideford Community. The club also had an 'A' team, which played in the North Devon League from 1996 until 2002.

Ground

Bideford play their games at the Sports Ground on Kingsley Road. It has a capacity of 6,000, of which 375 is seated and 1,000 covered.

Club officials

*President: Richard Watts *Chairman: Ian Knight *First team manager: Sean Joyce *Co-Assistant manager: Clem Bennellick *Co-Assistant manager: Kevin Darch *Physiotherapist: Tony Beal *Kit man: Dave Griffiths *Reserve team manager: Conor Henderson *Ladies team manager: Roger Bonaparte

Honours

*Southern League **Division One South & West champions 2011–12 *Western League **Champions 1963–64, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1981–82, 1982–83, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10 **Division Two champions 1951–52 **Division Three champions 1949–50 **League Cup winners 1971–72, 1984–85, 2001–02, 2003–04 **Alan Young Cup winners 1964–65, 1969–70 *Devon St Lukes Bowl **Winners 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1995–96, 2009–10, 2021–22, 2024-25 *Devon Professional Cup **Winners 1960–61, 1961–62, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1973–74, 1975–76

Records

*Highest league position: 8th in the Southern League Premier Division, 2013–14 *Best

performance: First round, 1964–65, 1973–74, 1977–78, 1981–82 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

performance: Second round, 1969–70 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

performance: Semi-finals, 2003–04 *Biggest victory: 16–1 vs Soundwell, 1950–51Honours
Bideford A.F.C. **Biggest away victory: 10–0 vs

Melksham Melksham () is a town and civil parish on the Bristol Avon, River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. The parish population was 18,113 at the 2021 census. History Early history Excavations in ...

, 2003–04 *Heaviest defeat: 1–10 vs Taunton Town, 1998–99 *Most appearances: Derek May, 647 *Most goals: Tommy Robinson, 259 *Record attendance: 5,975 vs Gloucester City, FA Cup, 1949

References

External links

Official website
{{Southern League Football clubs in England Football clubs in Devon Association football clubs established in 1947 1947 establishments in England Bideford North Devon Football League Western Football League Southern Football League clubs