A LOOK INTO HISTORY 217

A LOOK INTO HISTORY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN

AFC LYMINGTON

Although our story relates to AFC LYMINGTON it is worth reflecting on the original club. Established in 1876 as Lymington Football Club they spent virtually all of their life at various stages of the Hampshire League, being based in that County. In 1983-84 they were in the Premier Division having spent year after year either promoted or relegated even as far down as Division Three.

In 1986 they were founder members of the new Wessex League but after finishing bottom in 1987-88 merged with Wellworthy Athletic to form AFC LYMINGTON.

Our Match Programme is for an F A Vase Preliminary Round match with First Tower FC of Jersey on 6th October 1990. Inside the front cover they confirm the club was formed in 1988 and their editorial is delighted at the opposition and the presence of Channel TV cameras. There is a full history of First Tower, a fascinating article of Floodlights in Hampshire going back to 1878 when four electric lights lit the occasion of a match at Bournemouth’s Dean Court. The first competitive floodlight match was Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur on 1st October 1951 in a Football Combination Match. Probably the most famous match was the Football League’s first ever floodlight match on 22nd February 1956 between Portsmouth and Newcastle United. In January 1981 , Swindon Town came to the Lymington Sports Ground to open their lights. The usual all results, league table and scorers pages together with local adverts make for a very good programme.

In 1998, AFC Lymington merged with New Milton Town to form Lymington & New Milton based in New Milton so a new club, Lymington Town was established and joined the Hampshire League Division Three. In 2004 the Hampshire League merged into the Wessex League and our club won the Division Two at the first attempt and promoted to the newly defined Premier Division. Following the curtailed 2020-21 season they were promoted to the Division One South of the Southern League but were relegated back to the Wessex League at the end of the 2022-23 season after failing ground grading. Having then finished bottom of the Premier Division in 2023-24 were relegated to Division One.