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Although there are football
reports some years before, it wasn't until 1901 that Bude were
officially founded and the first club secretary was a local hairdresser
called Jack Slocombe. The above picture is possibly the first
known picture of the Bude team with their first trophy in the 1902/03 season
when they beat Bodmin 3-0 in the East section of the Cornwall Junior Cup. The home of the club has always been Broadclose and in 1926 the football club bought the ground by public
subscription from Bude golf club for a sum of £ 600. The large wooden
grandstand was erected in 1905 and lasted for 83 years before finally being
taken down and replaced by the current clubhouse. The team played in
blue and white, the same as they do today and the largest gate at Broadclose
was 2000 people for the final of the East Mid-Devon Midweek Cup played in
1928 although there were newspaper reports of much larger gates than this
during the century. The early league included teams from Camelford,
Launceston and Delabole although how they travelled to these games were
unknown but they must have been a determined bunch. The earliest known team
included players such as Bill Chopey, Bill Pickard, Archie Cann, Jack
Abbott, Finlay Heard, and Jack (Puffin) Polkinghorne. After falling in
to financial difficulty in 1932, Mr N.Keat bailed them out by raising
£ 200 which in turn handed the ground over to the trustees, a new committee
was elected and the club started to grow from strength to strength.
This has been shown in the number of league titles and cups which have been
won with mens, youth and ladies teams all playing throughout the century.
The current clubhouse was officially opened on 22nd Aug 1988 by the now
footie pundit Trevor Brooking who also played in a friendly match between
Bude and Holsworthy which finished in a 4-4 draw. The club are today in an
advanced stage to redevelop the whole ground to include brand new changing
facilities, grandstand, social club, an increase to two full size pitches,
(hopefully level) with the main pitch being floodlit. This will in turn
provide the club with one of the most modern grounds in the south west and
provide the youth of the area a sports facility which will help develop
their football skills to a higher level with the help of the 20 F.A
qualified coaches currently provided by the club. Recently attaining
Community Club Status and Charter Standard Award, and with 8 youth teams and
3 senior teams, the club are very excited about the future, but don't forget
the past, the hard work put in over the last century is whats made the club
we see today. |
