Eastleigh F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|||
| Full name | Eastleigh Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Spitfires | ||
| Founded | 1949 (as Swaythling Athletic) | ||
| Ground | Silverlake Stadium, Eastleigh (Capacity: 3,000 (380 seated)) |
||
| Chairman |  Paul Murray |
||
| Manager | Ian Baird |
||
| League | Conference South | ||
| 2008-09 | Conference South, 3rd | ||
|
|||
Eastleigh Football Club is a football club based in Eastleigh, Hampshire, England. The team play their home games at Silverlake Stadium, Eastleigh, and play in the Conference South.
Contents |
[edit] History
Formerly known as Swaythling Athletic, and then just Swaythling, they were members of the Hampshire League from 1950. The club changed its name to Eastleigh F.C. in 1980, and were accepted as one of the founding members of the Wessex League in 1986. During a seventeen year spell in the Wessex League, they only finished in the top three once, but that was a title-winning season in 2002-03 that earned them promotion to the Southern League.
After a re-organisation of the National League System, Eastleigh transferred to the Isthmian League for the 2004-05 season. A new stand incorporating dressing rooms and a directors lounge was built and opened by Rupert Lowe, then chairman of Southampton, prior to the start of the season which proved to be very successful one. A run of fourteen unbeaten matches at the end of the season gained them 3rd place in the league and a place in the play-offs, where 2-0 and 2-1 wins meant that the club were promoted to the Conference South, while the reserve team also won the Sydenhams Wessex Combination League without losing a match. In their first Conference season, they finished in a respectable 8th place. The Spitfires spent much of the 2007-2008 season in the play-off zone, but a poor run of form in the last six matches saw them finish in 6th place. Many Ex-Saint players have played for Eastleigh such as Matthew Le Tissier, Jason Dodd, Francis Benali and David Hughes.
During their rise up the pyramid, they have not yet had the same level of success in the F.A. competitions. Their best seasons in the FA Cup have entailed reaching the fourth qualifying round in 2007-08, they reached the Fourth Round (last 32) of the FA Vase on three occasions, while in their first three seasons in the FA Trophy the club have only won two matches.
The club's current manager is former Leeds United and Southampton player Ian Baird, assisted by Matt Gray.
Eastleigh FC are established as one of the best non league teams in Hampshire and are actively pursuing promotion to the National Conference. With all the financial uncertainty that many conference national clubs are facing there is a possibility that next season could see the Spitfires competing in a restructured top tier of the non league pyramid.
In recent seasons they have beaten Southampton FC in a regular pre season fixture as well as having similar success against Saints local rivals Portsmouth.
In 2004, during a match against Cowes Sports F.C., Cowes player Marc Burrows scored the sport's fastest ever goal, timed at 2.0 seconds.[1]
[edit] Ground
Their ground, in Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh was renamed in 2006 as Silverlake Stadium after a sponsorship deal. It had previously been sponsored as Sparshatts Stadium, while its original name was Ten Acres.
