History of Bashley Football Club
Bashley Football Club was founded in 1947 and joined the Bournemouth League in 1950, progressing through the ranks before leaving in 1983 to join the Hampshire League. In 1986 they became founder members of the Wessex League and won the title for the first three years they took part, 1986/87, 1987/88 and 1988/89. In the 1987/88 season, Bashley came to national prominence after an incredible run in the FA Vase, which came to an end they reached the semi-finals, losing 2-0 to Emley in the second leg of the semi-final after a 0-0 draw at the Recreation Ground.
Following their third Wessex League title, the club were accepted into the Southern League Southern Division and amazingly won the title in their first season, gaining promotion to the Premier Division. Things almost got even better the following season as Bash led the table for a long period of time and were in contention for promotion to the Conference, but fell away towards the end to finish in fourth place.
Sadly the meteoric rise of the club came to an end as a result of relegation
two years later back to the Southern Division.
In the 1994/95 season, Bashley reached the First Round proper of the FA Cup
for the first time, and won 1-0 at Chesham to set up a Second Round tie with
Swansea at the Recreation Ground. Despite losing 1-0, Lee Walker hit the
post in injury time and Richie Paskins had a clear chance which wasn't taken
as Bash almost caused a huge upset.
More recently, Bash had established themselves as a mid-table Southern
Division side until August 1997 when ex-European Cup winner Jimmy Case was appointed as manager and Bash were promotion challengers during the 1997-98 season, eventually finishing third and just missing out on a return to the Premier Division, as well as having our record FA Trophy run in this season to the last sixteen, losing narrowly at Conference side Hayes.
Bash came to prominence again when their excellent young midfielder Wade Elliott signed for AFC Bournemouth in January 2000 for £5,000, with Bash receiving further money based on appearances.. Wade has now progressed to the Championship with Burnley after a fine spell with the Cherries.
The 2001/2002 season was notable for a superb FA Trophy run, ended only by finalists, Stevenage Borough of the Conference, with an unfortunate 1-0
defeat. A top six place was achieved in the 2002/03 season, although Bashley were top of the table for a spell in January and February and but for a five game spell in February and March from which they took only one point, would have been challenging strongly for promotion. The season was capped by a first ever Hampshire Senior Cup final, secured by two memorable victories over then Dr Martens Premier Division side Havant & Waterlooville in the two-legged semi-final. The night of the final at Southampton’s St Mary's Stadium was another superb occasion for the club despite an eventual 2-1 defeat to Conference bound Aldershot Town after taking a first half lead, and no-one who was there will how close Bash came to defeating their illustrious opponents.
The 2003/2004 season was a relative disappointment after the heights of the previous
campaign, with Barry Blankley resigning early on in the season and leading
players Paul Sales, Craig Davis and Aaron Cook departing for substantial
transfer fees. Bashley narrowly missed out on promotion to the Isthmian
Premier Division under new manager John Robson and had to settle for a place in Isthmian Division One, as a result of FA restructuring.
Robson departed as manager at the end of the season, and Geoff Butler
was appointed in the summer with Ricky Haysom remaining as his assistant.
Bash recovered from losing a number of players in the close-season and made an encouraging start to the new season, chasing a play off spot and playing some attractive football, but lost key players during the season and had to settle for a mid table finish.
Butler and Haysom departed during the summer of 2005 and Dave Wakefield took charge as player/manager for the new season. However, after a poor start to the season, both Wakefield and player/coach Andy Darnton were relieved of their responsibilities with Steve Riley taking over as player/manager, following a short spell as caretaker manager, with Eddie Harper as his assistant. An excellent run in the second half of the season took Bash to just outside the play off places, and gave hope that the 2006-7 season would be successful. A number of close season signings gave the Bashley faithful renewed cause for optimism. They were not to be disappointed!
As a result of further FA restructuring, Bash found themselves transferred back into the Southern League South and West Division, and enjoyed an unforgettable record-breaking season, winning the league by an incredible 28 points and achieving a rare double century of 102 points and 111 goals, including a spell of 27 League matches unbeaten from October 27th 2006 to March 31st 2007, which was broken only after the league title had been secured. Promotion was an all round team effort, Bash having the most prolific attack and the meanest defence in the league. Richard Gillespie finished up with 41 goals, the highest total in any of the Southern League divisions, and along the way broke the club all time goal scoring record held by Colin Cummings, which had stood for over thirty years.
Bashley acquitted themselves very well in the Southern League Premier Division the following season, and finished in fifth place at the higher level, despite long term injuries to key players. The 2007-08 season unfortunately ended in disappointment with a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Team Bath in the play-off semi-final, a result that was particularly harsh on Bashley. Again, Bashley's defence was one of the best in the league, whilst Richard Gillespie and Ryan Moss both finished in the top 10 goalscorers in the division.
Bashley’s Under 18 side was re-formed for the 2007/2008 season, playing in the City of Southampton Youth Football League. They had a very successful first season, finishing runners up to Hamble United in Division 3 and losing narrowly in the final of the Salvage Cup to first division Tadley Calleva. The 2008/2009 season sees Bashley Under 18s promoted two divisions to Division 1 of the CSYFL.
