By Bill Turianski 26 September 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2019-20 National League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Official site…thenationalleague.org.uk.
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats…SUMMARY – National League [2019-20] (us.soccerway.com).
-5th division/National League page at BBC.com…bbc.com/sport/football/national-league.
…
A brief re-cap of the 2018-19 5th division…
Promoted, automatically, to the 4th division (of the Football League)…
-Leyton Orient (who won the league by 3 points over Solihull Moors [Leyton Orient thus returned to the Football League after an absence of 2 seasons]).
Promoted, via the play-offs, to the 4th division (of the Football League)…
-Salford City (who finished in 4th place, 4 points behind the leaders, then won the play-offs by beating Eastleigh in the semifinals and then beating AFC Fylde 3-0 in the final at Wembley).
Clubs relegated out of the Football League (4th division), into the 5th division (National League)…
Notts County, Yeovil Town.
Clubs promoted from the 6th level to the 5th division…
Promoted, automatically, to the 5th division (the National League)…
-2018-19 National League North: Stockport County (who won the NL-N by 1 point over Chorley).
-2018-19 National League South: Torquay United (who won the NL-S by 10 points over Woking).
Promoted, via the play-offs, to the 5th division (the National League)…
-2018-19 National League North: Chorley (beating Spennymoor Town, in the final, 1-1/aet/4-3 on penalties).
-2018-19 National League South: Woking (beating Welling Utd, in the final, 1-0).
Clubs relegated out of the 5th division, into the 6th level…
Braintree Town, Gateshead, Havant & Waterlooville, Maidstone United.
…
- The 5th division’s 1st-place team, as of 26 September 2019 (with 13 games played)
…link for league table: us.soccerway.com/[National League].
Bromley FC.
Bromley FC are from Bromley, Greater London, located in southeast London, 9 miles from central London. The 5 wards that comprise the town of Bromley have a population of around 71,000 {2011 figure}. Before the institution of Greater London, in 1965, the town of Bromley was part of the county of Kent. And to this day, Bromley has the appearance of the leafy home counties, rather than the big city. Here is a goundhopping article on Bromley FC from 2018, by Shaun E. Smith at the 100 Grounds Club site, 100groundsclub.blogspot.com/2018/04/hayes-lane
Bromley FC have traditionally worn White jerseys and Black pants, but they currently wear All-White with Gold-&-Black trim. Bromley have two nicknames: the Ravens, and the Lilywhites. Bromley were formed in 1892. They briefly played in the Southern League before falling out in 1896. Bromley spent the next 12 seasons in 3 different leagues, the London League, the Kent League, and the Spartan League. In 1908, Bromley joined the Isthmian League, and were champions in their first season there; they repeated as Isthmian champions in 1909-10. Then in the following season of 1910–11, Bromley won the FA Amateur Cup, beating Bishop Auckland 1–0 in the final. Bromley returned to the Kent League for a few seasons before the War (from 1911 to 1914). After WW I, in 1919, Bromley returned to the Athenian League. Bromley were Athenian League champions for the first time in 1922-23. In 1937–38, Bromley reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, beating King’s Lynn in the first round, before falling to Scarborough in the 2nd round. Also in 1937-38, Bromley were FA Amateur Cup winners for the second time, beating Erith & Belvedere 1–0. In September 1938, Bromley moved into their current ground, Hayes Lane.
In 1948-49, Bromley achieved a non-League Double: they were Athenian League Champions (for the 2nd time), and were FA Amateur Cup winners (Bromley beat Romford and were FA Amateur Cup winners for the 3rd time). Then 2 seasons later, in 1950-51, Bromley were Athenian League Champions for the 3rd time. And looking for new challenges, in 1952-53 Bromley re-joined the Isthmian League (after a 42-year absence). In their second season back in the Isthmian League, Bromley were champions (in 1952-53). Bromley won their fourth Isthmian championship in 1960-61.
The club then began a long period without winning titles (or qualifying for the FA Cup), and suffered relegation to the Isthmian Division Two in 1975. Bromley made it to the FA Cup first round for the first time in 21 years, in 1976-77, but lost to Swindon Town 7-0. Bromley regained Isthmian Premier status in 1980, only to be relegated to the Isthmian D1 in 1984. They bounced back up two years later in 1986. In 1988, Bromley came close to their first Isthmian Premier title since 1961, finishing in 2nd place. But two seasons after that, Bromley confirmed their yo-yo status by being relegated for the 2nd time in 6 years. Bromley bounced straight back to the Isthmian Premier in 1991; they remained there for 8 seasons, being relegated once again in 1999.
Non-League re-organisation in 2002-03 saw Bromley moved to the Isthmian Division One South; two seasons later Bromley won promotion to the Isthmian Premier yet again. Two years later, Bromley were runners-up in the Isthmian (in 2006-07). And then in the following year of 2006-07, Bromley won promotion to the Conference South (which had been established 3 years earlier). Bromley achieved this by beating AFC Wimbledon 1-0 in the semifinals and then beating Billericay Town on penalties in the ’07 Isthmian play-off final. 2006-07 had also seen Bromley reach the FA Cup 1st round again. (As for recently, in the last 10 seasons (2009-10 to 2018-19), Bromley have qualified for the FA Cup 1st round 6 times: in 2009–10, in 2011–12, in 2012–13, in 2014–15, in 2017-18, and in 2018-19, but they were beaten on each occasion.)
2014-15 turned out to be a very good season for Bromley: they were Conference South champions, beating Boreham Wood by 2 points. As Bromley were moving towards their first significant title in over 50 years, their crowds started increasing…In 2011-12, Bromley drew just 483 per game (finishing in 17th place). In 2012-13, Bromley drew 509 per game (finishing in 15th place). In 2013-14, Bromley drew 669 per game (improving 12 places, to 3rd place and the play-offs). And then in their Conference South championship season of 2014-15, Bromley drew 1,082 per game. Which is an amazing feat when you consider that, 3 seasons earlier, they were drawing less than half of that (599 less per game just three years earlier). Since 14/15, Bromley have been drawing over 1 thousand per game, and Bromley drew 1.4 K in 2018-19, when they finished in 11th in the National League.
Now in their 5th season of 5th division football, Bromley have become contenders. They had been drawing 1.4 K (as they averaged last season) for ‘regular’ home games early this season. Then a couple ex-Football League clubs came to town, and their crowds at Hayes Lane swelled…Bromley drew 2.2 K when they hosted Chesterfield, winning 2-1 [on 7 Sept]. Then a fortnight later, Bromley hosted the biggest non-League club currently – Notts County – and beat the Magpies 2-1 in front of 3.1 K. By this time, Bromley were in first place, albeit by just one point over Woking and Halifax. And then on Tuesday the 24th of September, Bromley hosted third-placed Woking, at Hayes Lane, and won 1-0, on a goal by their top-scorer, Michael Cheek, in the 38th minute (see photo below). And Bromley drew a solid 2,358. After 13 games, Bromley remain unbeaten, and lead the National League by 4 points {link for league table: us.soccerway.com/[National League]}.
Bromley FC: 1st place in the 2019-20 National League, after a quarter of the season has been played…
Photo and Image credits above – Aerial shot of Hayes Lane, screenshot of satellite image from bing.com/maps. View from the terraces at Hayes Lane, photo by WB Tukker at extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Photo from behind goal with Main Stand in background, photo by Richard Tester at instagram.com/richardtester via pictame.com. Michael Cheek (and fans behind goal) celebrate goal v Woking [24th of Sept 2019], image by Bromley FC at twitter.com/[@bromleyfc].
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-Thanks to all at the following…
-Football Club History Database, fchd.info/BROMLEY.
-National League (English football) (en.wikipedia.org).
-2019-20 National League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Thanks to Nilfanion…Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org). Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
Attendance figures…
-Non-League Matters.
-European Football Statistics.
