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| GENERAL CLUB INFORMATION
A
Brief History Of…….Yaxley Football Club
(The Cuckoos) The
club was formed in 1900 with the forerunner of today’s club, Yaxley Rovers,
being members of the first Peterborough League campaign contested during the
1902/03 season.
History
up until the Second World War is not well documented and the first instance of a
post-war championship came about in 1950/51 when the club won the Peterborough
League Division Two. Relegation was
just around the corner though, and it was back in Division Three by the end of
the 1950’s. The
Club has always played either in or on the fringes of the highest levels of
local leagues which, over the years have been sponsored and known by many names
such as Eastern Counties, Jewson, and Peterborough League. The Cuckoo’s
finished as runners-up three seasons in a row, the last of these being enough to
see the club promoted to the Premier Division of the Peterborough League.
The club’s first taste of Premier Division football came at the start
of the 1975/76 season and once again they finished runners-up.
The following season they went one better and won the Premier Division
title. The
1983/84 season was a superb one with the first team winning the treble, the
Peterborough Premier Division, the Peterborough Senior Cup and the Hunts Senior
Cup, and the Reserves winning the Peterborough Division One Championship. The
Cuckoos left the Peterborough League at the end of the 1987/88 season and made
the step up to the Eastern League at the start of the following season. 1993/94
saw the purchase of the new ground and the facilities to step up to the United
Counties League and the 1994/95 season was at that time, probably the most
successful in its history. This was
the debut season of the ill-fated West Anglian League (amalgamation of the Hunts
& East Northants Leagues) and the first team won promotion to the United
Counties League after winning the championship.
The Reserves also won Division One of the same competition thus emulating
the feat of 1984/85. During the
close season floodlights were erected and a stand was put up at the Leading
Drove ground. The following season
saw the Division One championship come to Leading Drove. The
‘02/03 season saw the Reserve and Youth teams win the lion’s share of league
and cup silverware whilst Jim Watson took over the management of the First Team
making a magnificent charge from the relegation zone of the United Counties
League Premiership to finish seventh with 67 points – the club’s highest
ever finishing position. The same season saw plans unveiled for new facilities
that are part of a five year objective to take the club into the Dr. Martens (or
equivalent) league. Plans were also
made to incorporate Yaxley Juniors and establish a new Ladies team to assist in
creating a community orientated football club. The ‘03/04, 04/05 and 05/06
seasons have undoubtedly been the clubs most successful ever with the 1st,
Reserve, Youth, Ladies and Junior teams all bringing home trophies including at
senior level, the prestigious Hinchingbrooke Cup and the UCL League Cup in May
06. The
club has achieved FA Charter Club status and was granted planning permission to
redevelop the site, improving the facilities (e.g. new clubhouse and additional
playing areas) to FA community standard. The project was severely delayed in
2005 resulting in significant commercial loses due to an access dispute halting
the club’s entire development plan. The dispute was finally settled and the
project restarted in August ’06. Season
2008-09 saw the move to more temporary accommodation, where we are still at. The
09/10 season was one of the toughest in the clubs history as against the
pundit’s opinions, Clippo and the lads pulled survival from the jaws of
relegation. Developments through the 2010 summer mean that subject to
commercial funding being successful, it is scheduled that we will complete the
build of the our new facilities before the start of the next season (2011-12) at
long last ! |
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