Gorleston Football Club is a football club based in Gorleston,

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 ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at Crown Meadow in

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 ...

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 ...

History

The club was established on 27 September 1887 by members of Gorleston Cricket Club looking for a winter pastime, and were initially nicknamed the "Cards", playing in crimson shirts and blue shorts.History
Gorleston F.C. Their first competitive match was a game against Beccles Caxton in the Suffolk Senior Cup (at the time, Gorleston was still in

), losing 1–0. In 1900 they joined the Aldred League.League Record
Gorleston F.C. In 1903 the club began playing in green shirts and white shorts, and in 1905–06 they were Aldred League champions, winning 15 of their 16 matches and drawing the other. In 1906–07 they won the Norfolk Junior Cup. At the end of the season the Aldred League became the Yamouth & District League; the club went on to win the league in its first season under the new name, winning all fourteen matches. At the end of the season they joined the Norfolk & Suffolk League.Norfolk & Suffolk League 1897–1939
Non-League Matters In 1909–10 they also entered a team into Division One North of the East Anglian League, but withdrew after one season. Gorleston won the Norfolk & Suffolk League in 1920–21. They also entered a team into the East Anglian League again, although the reserves replaced them the following season. They were runners-up in the next three seasons, also winning the Norfolk Senior Cup in 1921–22 and 1922–23. In 1925–26 they did the double, winning the league and the Senior Cup. After finishing as runners-up in 1927–28 and 1928–29 and winning the Senior Cup again in 1927–28, they won the league for a third time in 1929–30. They were runners-up and Senior Cup winners in 1930–31, and went on to win four consecutive league titles between 1931–32 and 1934–35. They also won the East Anglian Cup in 1931–32 and the Senior Cup in 1932–33. In 1935 Gorleston were founder members 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, Suffol ...

. Their final trophy before

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 ...

was the Senior Cup in 1937–38, beating local rivals Great Yarmouth Town 3–0. After the war, the club won the Senior Cup again in 1951. In 1951–52 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 knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

for the first time, and were drawn against Leyton Orient. After a 2–2 draw at

Brisbane Road Brisbane Road, originally known as Osborne Road, is a football stadium in Brisbane Road, Leyton, East London, England. It has been the home ground of Leyton Orient since 1937, before which it was the home of amateur football team Leyton F.C., ...

and a 0–0 draw at the Recreation Ground (at which the club's record attendance of 4,473 was set), a second replay was held at Arsenal's

Highbury Stadium Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" due to its location and was given the affectionate nickna ...

, resulting in a 5–4 win for Leyton Orient, with Gorleston having been 4–1 down at one point in the match. In 1952–53 Gorleston won both the league and Senior Cup. In 1955–56 they won the League Cup, beating Tottenham 'A' 2–1 in the final. They reached the first round of the FA Cup again in 1957–58, but lost 10–1 at Gillingham. The late 1950s saw a decline in the club's fortunes; they finished bottom of the league in 1956–57, and after finishing second-from-bottom in 1959–60, financial problems forced them to drop back into the Norfolk & Suffolk League. In 1964 the league merged with the East Anglian League to form the

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 ...

, with the club placed in Section A. After winning both the Anglian Combination and the Senior Cup in 1968–69, the club returned to the Eastern Counties League. Gorleston won the Eastern Counties League for a second time in 1972–73. A twelfth Senior Cup victory was achieved in 1977–78, and the club won back-to-back league titles in 1979–80 and 1980–81. In 1982–83 the club won another East Anglian Cup with a victory over

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated popu ...

. The following year they won the Senior Cup again. In 1988 the Eastern Counties League gained a second division, with Gorleston becoming members of the Premier Division. They were relegated to Division One at the end of the 1993–94 season, but club returned to the Premier Division as Division One champions in 1995–96. Gorleston won the Senior Cup for a fourteenth time in 2000–01 with a 4–0 win over Great Yarmouth Town, before the club was relegated again at the end of the 2004–05 season. In

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

they won the Division One Knockout Cup and the Division One title, earning promotion back to the Premier Division. The club won the Senior Cup in 2012, beating Thetford Town 2–0 in the final, and again in 2014 with a 1–0 win over

Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 househol ...

Ground

The club moved to the Recreation Ground in 1889, with the first match at the new ground played on 9 November, a 2–0 win over Yarmouth St Pauls. The record attendance of 4,473 was set in 1951 for an FA Cup first round replay against Orient. In 1982 the club left the Recreation Ground to move to Emerald Park. In November 2019 they announced plans to move to a new ground on the site of East Norfolk Sixth Form College on Church Lane. In July 2022 the club announced an agreement with

Lowestoft Town Lowestoft Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. They are currently members of the and play at Crown Meadow. History The club was established in 1887 as Lowestoft F.C. by a merger of East Suf ...

to play their home games at Lowestoft's Crown Meadow ground for the 2022–23 season. On 13 November 2022 Emerald Park was destroyed by an arson attack.Fire at Gorleston FC's former Emerald Park
BBC News, 14 November 2022

Current squad

''The

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

does not use a squad numbering system.''

Honours

*Eastern Counties League **Champions 1952–53, 1972–73, 1979–80, 1980–81, 2021–22 **Division One champions 1995–96, 2010–11 **League Cup winners 1955–56 **Division One Knockout Cup winners 2010–11 *East Anglian Cup **Winners 1931–32, 1982–83 *Norfolk Senior Cup **Winners 1921–22, 1922–23, 1925–26, 1927–28, 1930–31, 1932–33, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1968–69, 1977–78, 1983–84, 2000–01, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2020–21 *Anglian Combination **Premier Division Champions 1968–69 *Norfolk & Suffolk League **Champions 1920–21, 1925–26, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35 *Norfolk Junior Cup **Winners 1906–07 *Yarmouth & District League **Champions 1905–06, 1907–08

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 1951–52, 1957–58 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

performance: First qualifying round, 1976–77, 1977–78 *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 footb ...

performance: Fifth round, 2002–03 *Record attendance: 4,473 vs

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of '' Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

, FA Cup first round, 29 November 1951Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', pp564, 647 *Most goals: Eddie Woods, 437Alltime Records And High Scorers
Gorleston F.C.

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 52, 33, 57.34, N, 1, 42, 29.86, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Norfolk Association football clubs established in 1887 1887 establishments in England Gorleston-on-Sea Great Yarmouth and District Football League Norfolk & Suffolk League East Anglian League Eastern Counties Football League Anglian Combination