Saturday 5 October 2013

Brightlingsea Regent FC

Saturday 5th October 2013 Kick Off 18:00 hours                                       


Eastern Counties Premier League
Brightlingsea Regent FC 2 v Stanway Rovers 1
North Rd,
Brightlingsea, Essex
CO70PL

FootballFans.eu

Admission : £6 including programme.
Club badges : £3
Tea : Free - yes free.
Attendance : 250
Game number : 51 New ground number : 41
Weather : Fine




Club History



Brightlingsea United were founded in 1928 by a merger of Brightlingsea Athletic (originally established as Wesley Guild in 1908, before being reformed in 1921) and Brightlingsea Town (established as Brightlingsea Juniors in 1919). The new club played in Division One the Essex & Suffolk Border League, and in 1929 moved to the North Road ground. In 1931 they were promoted to the Premier Division. In 1946–47 they won Division One and were promoted back to the Premier Division. They were relegated back to Division One in 1954 and returned to the Premier Division as Division One champions in 1961. However, they were relegated back to Division One after a single season and did not return to the Premier Division until 1968.

In 1972 they joined the Essex Senior League. They won the title in 1988–89 and 1989–90, before joining the Division One of the Eastern Counties League in 1990. They finished as runners-up in their first season, and were promoted to the Premier Division. However, they returned to Division One after finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 1992–93. The club resigned from the league shortly before the start of the 2002–03 season after the manager and most of the players left, complaining about a lack of proper changing facilities. The first team replaced their reserves in Division Two of the Essex & Suffolk Border League and were relegated to Division Three at the end of the season.

When Division Three was disbanded in 2005, the club was moved back to Division Two. That year the club merged with youth club Regent Park Rangers to form Brightlingsea Regent. The newly-merged club won Division Two at the first attempt, and were promoted again the following season after finishing second. In 2010–11 the club won the Premier Division and were promoted to Division One of the Eastern Counties League.

The 2012–13 season saw the club finish third in Division One, earning promotion to the Premier Division. They also won the First Division Knock-Out Cup, beating Great Yarmouth Town 1–0 in the final.
 
"Thou' shall not pass without hop ticket" - Says Sgt Bash. Nice shirt by the way, fits like a glove.
 
 
Not even you Captain Birds Eye! 
 
 
Despite there being only one stand at Brightlingsea they are a progressive club, and intend to apply for promotion to the Ryman League next year (Step 4 of the Football pyramid). One of the criteria, is that they must have a 100 seater stand. To help Brightlingsea comply with this requirement a supporter has spotted a mobile stand on eBay for £4k. Apparently it's only been used once for a Tennis tournament on the Isle of Wight  - Anything to do with you Oaks? 


 
By the size of matey the catering looks good.


 
They're a very social bunch at Brightlingsea.


 
In the clubhouse - funny how everything always looks blurred after a few beers - sometimes for the better - is that Marilyn Moore or Robbie Savage on the TV?
 


Left over from a Legends game on Saturday 30th July 2011 - anybody know the score? 


 
The teams join the pitch for the final game of the hop.


 
Here comes Dave English and his merry band of men - Do you remember him from the Stanway Rovers blog readers?  


 
I don't remember much about this game, maybe because it was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do remember the sending off Stanway's number nine which took an age to resolve. At one point, I was worried that I might miss MoTD that evening.


 
Ground hopping is thirsty work so it was right and "proper" to pay a visit to Dave's boozer the Railway Arms. It is a pleasure to inform you the pub hosts a fine range of real ales. Most impressive was the aptly named "Grasshopper ABV 4.4%" by the Colchester brewer - Nethergate.  
 
 
We also found fellow hopper "Grumpy Dwarf" sitting comfortable in the pub - can you spot him?


 
You know you are in a very special pub when the barman is wearing a Sex Pistols t - shirt. Apparently anarchy is coming to Brightlingsea sometime maybe ??
 
It's coming sometime and maybe
                                                     I give a wrong time stop a traffic line.
                                                   Your future dream is a shopping scheme
                                                            Cause I wanna be anarchy,
                                                             Anarchy in Brightlingsea.
 
 
If you don't believe how good this boozer is, why not have a read of this newspaper article?

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