 | |||
| Full name | Bicester Town Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Foxhunters | ||
| Founded | 1873 | ||
| Ground | Bicester Sports Association | ||
| League | Oxfordshire Senior League | ||
Bicester Town Football Club is a football club based in Bicester, Oxfordshire, England.
| | |||
| Full name | Bicester Town Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Foxhunters | ||
| Founded | 1873 | ||
| Ground | Bicester Sports Association | ||
| League | Oxfordshire Senior League | ||
Bicester Town Football Club is a football club based in Bicester, Oxfordshire, England.
The club was established in 1873, [1] a merger of Bicester Rovers and Bicester Harriers. [2] They joined the Oxfordshire Senior League after winning the County Shield in 1903. They won the Oxfordshire Senior Cup in 1930 and again in 1939. [2] In 1953 they were founder members of the Hellenic League, finishing as runners-up in its second season. [3] They were placed in the Premier Division when the league gained a second division in 1956, and won the league title in 1960–61. [3]
The club were relegated to Division One after finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 1975–76, but returned to the Premier Division after winning Division One in 1977–78. [3] They went on to win the Premier Division in 1979–80. [3] The 2004–05 season saw the club relegated to Division One East. However, they finished as runners-up the following season, earning promotion back to the Premier Division. [3] They were relegated again at the end of the 2009–10, and despite finishing second in Division One West the following season, [3] folded after a dispute with their landlords. [4]
The club was reformed in 2015, [4] and rejoined the Hellenic League Division One East for the 2015–16 season. They were Division One East runners-up in 2017–18, after which the club were transferred to Division One West. The club resigned from the league shortly after the start of the 2018–19 season. [5] but reformed in 2020 when Bicester United changed their name to Bicester Town Colts and playing in the Oxfordshire Senior League.
Until World War I the club played at several different grounds; starting at the Cricket Field in 1896 before moving to Banbury Road, then Station Road and London Road. [6] Following the war the club returned to the Cricket Field, before moving to a new ground on Oxford Road that had formerly been used as a golf course. [6] A stand was built in the early 1930s and later extended, with a clubhouse and changing rooms built in 1960s. [6] By 2004 the ground had a capacity of 2,000, with 250 seated; [6] the record attendance was 955, set for a game against Portsmouth in 1994. [2]
A dispute with Bicester Sports Association, the ground's owners, forced the club to fold in 2011. [4] When they reformed in 2015, the club started playing at Ardley United's Playing Fields ground. [2]