Bungay Town Football Club is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

football club based in

Bungay Bungay () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . It lies in the Waveney Valley, west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at the neck of a mean ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

. The club are currently members of

Anglian Combination The Anglian Combination (known as the Hadley & Ottaway Anglian Combination under the terms of a sponsorship deal) is an English football league that operates in the East Anglia area. The league specifically covers Norfolk and northern Suffolk w ...

Division One and play at the Maltings Meadow Sports Ground.

History

The club was founded following a public meeting on 9 July 1925 following a poor season for both Bungay United and Bungay Harriers in the South Norfolk League.Blakeman, M (2010) ''The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935-2010, Volume II'' The new club entered both the Lowestoft & District League and the North Suffolk League, and after doing well in both, moved up to the

East Anglian League The East Anglian League was a football league in the East Anglia region of England. History The league was established in 1903 as the South East Anglian League. The founder member clubs were Chelmsford City, Colchester Crown, Colchester Town, H ...

in 1926. In 1933 they switched to the Norwich & District League, before joining the

Norfolk & Suffolk League The Norfolk & Suffolk League was a football league covering the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk in England. History The league was established in 1897, starting with six clubs, Beccles Caxton, Great Yarmouth Town, Kirkley, Lowestoft Town, Lynn ...

in 1935. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

they won the league three years in succession between 1946–47 and 1948–49 and again in 1951–52, after which they applied to join the

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffol ...

, but were unsuccessful. They also won the League Cup three years in a row from 1948 to 1950 and again in 1956, as well as the

Suffolk Senior Cup The Suffolk Senior Cup is the second level football cup competition organised by the Suffolk FA after the Suffolk Premier Cup. It is currently open to Suffolk–based clubs competing in Eastern Counties League Division One and the top divisions o ...

, which they picked up in 1950 and 1961. They also began entering the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

in 1950, which they continued to do until 1963. During their period of success, crowds reached four figures. In 1963 the club entered the

. However, they finished bottom in their first season, and withdrew at its end to become founder members of the Anglian Combination, which had been formed by a merger of the Norfolk & Suffolk League and the East Anglian League. They were placed in Division One, and were promoted to the Premier Division at the end of the 1968–69 season. Following relegation back to Division One in 1972–73 they went on to become somewhat of a

yo-yo club A yo-yo club is a sporting side that is regularly promoted and relegated. The phrase is most typically used in association football in the United Kingdom, especially in reference to promotion to and relegation from the Premier League. The name ...

, as they were promoted in 1974–75, relegated in 1978–79, promoted in 1980–81, relegated in 1983–84, promoted in 1987–88 and relegated again in 1989–90. In 1992 they were relegated to Division Two, before returning to Division One in 1998. They were demoted back to Division Two in 2002, before returning to Division One in 2008. They were relegated back to Division Two after finishing bottom of the table in 2010–11. In 2013–14 the club won the Cyril Ballyn League Cup. They retained the trophy the following season, also winning the Division Two title to earn promotion back to Division One. The club entered the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footb ...

between 1974 and 1983, but have not done so since.

Ground

The club initially played at the Recreation Ground. A grandstand was built in 1934, but it was destroyed by a bomb during

and was not rebuilt. The ground was in a flood plain, resulting in the pitch being described as "frequently reduced to a quagmire".Bungay Town FC
Pyramid Passion Matches were sometimes moved to Outney Common or Honeypot Meadow on Bardolph Lane (now a police station). In 1953 they moved to their current ground at Maltings Meadow, a move which had first been suggested in 1947. The new ground was opened with a match against

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and so ...

club Eastern Coachworks on 27 August 1953 attended by 300. Although Bungay is in Suffolk, both the club's main grounds have been across the border in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

, and the only times they have played home matches in Suffolk were the temporary arrangements at Outney Common and Honeypot Meadow.

Honours

*Norfolk & Suffolk League **Champions 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1951–52 **League cup winners 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1955–56 *Anglian Combination **Division One champions 1974–75, 1980–81, 1987–88 **Division Two champions 2014–15 **Cyril Ballyn Cup winners 2013–14, 2014–15 *Suffolk Senior Cup **Winners 1949–50, 1960–61

Records

*Best

performance: Third qualifying round, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1960–61 *Best

performance: First round, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1981–82 *Record attendance: **2,498 vs

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

, FA Amateur Cup first round, January 1950 (at the Recreation Ground) **1,618 vs Great Yarmouth Town, FA Cup third qualifying round, 20 October 1956 (at Maltings Meadow)

References

External links