Cornard United Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Great Cornard Great Cornard is a large village and civil parish that is part of the town of Sudbury, in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. History The area now called Great Cornard has been occupied since pre-history, with evidence of ...

, near

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

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 Lowes ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at Blackhouse Lane.

History

The club was established in 1964, and initially played in the Sudbury Sunday League, before joining Division Three of the Bury and District League in 1966.Blakeman, M (2010) ''The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935-2010, Volume II'' They were promoted to Division Two at the end of their first season, and were promoted again the next. In 1970 they transferred to Division Six of the Colchester & East Essex League. In 1971–72 they won the division, and were promoted to Division Five. The following season they won all 26 matches and were promoted again. The next two seasons also saw the club promoted as champions, reaching Division Two in 1975. In 1976 the club switched leagues again, this time to Division One of the

Essex and Suffolk Border League The Essex and Suffolk Border Football League is a football competition based in England. The league has a total of four divisions headed by the Premier Division which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club may ...

. Although they were placed in Division Two after restructuring in 1978, they were promoted to Division One in 1982–83 after finishing as Division Two runners-up.2016-2017 Official Handbook
Essex & Suffolk Border League In 1985–86 they were promoted to the Premier Division, and in the 1988–89 season they won the league, the league cup (beating Tiptree United Reserves on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the final) and 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 of ...

with a 1–0 win against Sudbury Wanderers in the final. At the end of the season they were promoted to Division One of 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, Suff ...

. They won the division at the first attempt, and were promoted to the Premier Division, where they remained until 1996, when they finished bottom and were relegated. In 2001 the club attempted to change their name to Sudbury Borough, but it was rejected by the parish council. They reached the final of the Suffolk Senior Cup in 2018–19, losing 4–3 to

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

. Following league restructuring, Cornard were placed in Division One North in 2018. They were transferred to Division One South in 2021, and back to Division One North the following year. In 2023–24 the club finished fifth in the division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Framlingham Town 2–1 in the semi-finals, they defeated

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

3–1 in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division.

Ground

The club initially played at the Great Cornard Recreation Ground, before moving to Great Cornard Upper School in 1975. In 1982 they moved to their current ground on Blackhouse Lane, although they continued to use the changing facilities at the school until the start of the 1983–84 season. When the club joined the ECL in 1990 the pitch was moved to the top end of Blackhouse Lane.

Honours

*Eastern Counties League **Division One champions 1989–90 *Essex & Suffolk Border League **Premier Division champions 1988–89 **League Cup Winners 1988–89 *Colchester & East Essex League **Division Three champions 1974–75 **Division Four champions 1973–74 **Division Five champions 1972–73 **Division Six champions 1971–72 *Eastern Floodlight Cup **Winners 2002 *Suffolk Senior Cup **Winners 1988–89

Records

*Best

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 competi ...

performance: First qualifying round, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2004–05, 2008–09 *Best

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 footbal ...

performance: Second round, 2008–09 *Record attendance: 400 vs West Ham United, friendly match, 2001–02 *Most appearances: Keith Featherstone *Most goals: Andy SmilesMike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p650

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 52, 01, 18.73, N, 0, 45, 13.14, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Suffolk Association football clubs established in 1964 1964 establishments in England Sudbury, Suffolk St. Edmundsbury Football League Colchester and East Essex Football League Essex and Suffolk Border Football League Eastern Counties Football League