RMLI Gosport F.C.

RMLI Gosport

Full name	RMLI Gosport Football Club
Nickname(s)	Lillywhites
Founded	?
Dissolved	1939
Ground	Forton Army Barracks, Gosport
Home colours Away colours

RMLI Gosport F.C. were a successful army football club based in Gosport, Hampshire.

The club were formed in the early 1900s as the football team of the Royal Marine Light Infantry - based at Forton Army Barracks in Gosport. During this time there were a number of short-lived regimental sides from the military playing in the Hampshire League and various cup competitions, but this long running outfit were by far the most successful.

RMLI Gosport soon developed a fine cup pedigree - in 1908 they reached the Hampshire Senior Cup Final but narrowly lost 0–1 against Southampton Reserves - in a game played at Fratton Park, Portsmouth.

Their most successful season was in 1909/10 when they won the Army Cup - to the joy of the Commander, who organized a bicycle ride to rally Bandsmen living in the area so that the returning team might be properly greeted on its arrival back at Gosport Railway Station. Success followed success, for within weeks the RMLI (affiliated to the Hampshire FA), made the long journey to the North East to Bishop Auckland where they famously defeated South Bank 2–1 to win the FA Amateur Cup, this without actually playing a single home game en route. Crowds gathered in the streets to again welcome the victorious team home.

After the Great War, the team reformed and there was another triumph in 1922 when they won the Hampshire Senior Cup - beating Bournemouth Poppies in the final (the score is not known). However, they were not members of any leagues until they joined the Hampshire League for the 1922–23 season when they finished 6th in the County Division (later to be renamed Division 1). That season they again enjoyed a good county cup run, but narrowly lost a hard-fought semi-final 0–2 against Thornycrofts (Woolston).

In 1923 the club was renamed Royal Marines Portsmouth and continued to be a strong force in the league before departing from the competition in 1928. They continued to enter Army competitions and returned to the county league for the 1938/39 season when they finished Runners-up in Division 2 before the outbreak of War in 1939 during which the team disbanded.

• FA Amateur Cup
  • Winners 1909/10
• Army Cup
  • Winners 1909/10
• Hampshire Senior Cup
  • Winners 1921/22
  • Finalists 1907/08
• Hampshire League Division 2
  • Runners-up 1938/39

• RMLI Gosport at the Football Club History Database
• Royal Marines Portsmouth at the Football Club History Database

https://historicgosport.uk/forton-barracks/

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