RMLI Gosport F.C. were a successful army football club based in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

History

The club were formed in the early 1900s as the football team of the Royal Marine Light Infantry - based at Forton Army Barracks in

. During this time there were a number of short-lived regimental sides from the military playing in the

Hampshire League The Hampshire League was a football league in Hampshire, England. During its heyday its constitution consisted of four divisions with over 60 clubs taking part - this included a vast number of semi-professional teams and Reserve/’A’ sides o ...

and various cup competitions, but this long running outfit were by far the most successful. RMLI Gosport soon developed a fine cup pedigree - in 1908 they reached the

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, with the exception of 1914 to 1919 when it wa ...

Final but narrowly lost 0–1 against Southampton Reserves - in a game played at Fratton Park, Portsmouth. Their most successful season was in 1909/10 when they won the Army Cup - to the joy of the Commander, who organized a bicycle ride to rally Bandsmen living in the area so that the returning team might be properly greeted on its arrival back at

Railway Station. Success followed success, for within weeks the RMLI (affiliated to the

Hampshire FA The Hampshire Football Association, also known as ''Hampshire FA'', is the governing body of football in the county of Hampshire, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its ...

), made the long journey to the North East to Bishop Auckland where they famously defeated South Bank 2–1 to win the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an England, English football (soccer), football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of p ...

, this without actually playing a single home game en route. Crowds gathered in the streets to again welcome the victorious team home. After the Great War, the team reformed and there was another triumph in 1922 when they won the

- beating Bournemouth Poppies in the final (the score is not known). However, they were not members of any leagues until they joined the

for the 1922–23 season when they finished 6th in the County Division (later to be renamed Division 1). That season they again enjoyed a good county cup run, but narrowly lost a hard-fought semi-final 0–2 against Thornycrofts (Woolston). In 1923 the club was renamed Royal Marines Portsmouth and continued to be a strong force in the league before departing from the competition in 1928. They continued to enter Army competitions and returned to the county league for the 1938/39 season when they finished Runners-up in Division 2 before the outbreak of War in 1939 during which the team disbanded.

Honours

**Winners 1909/10 *Army Cup **Winners 1909/10 *

**Winners 1921/22 **Finalists 1907/08 *

Division 2 **Runners-up 1938/39

Records

League

References

* * https://historicgosport.uk/forton-barracks/ Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs disestablished in 1939 Defunct football clubs in Hampshire 1939 disestablishments in England Association football clubs established in the 20th century

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