The first Chichester Football Club was formed in October 1873 and added the title of City to it’s name in 1948. The club's original home was in Priory Park but established it's present head quarters in Oaklands Park in the early fifties. The club was represented in the inaugural meeting of the Sussex County F.A. in September 1882 and competed in the first ever Sussex Senior Cup competition in the same year when they lost to Storrington 5-0 on 2nd November. In 1896 Chichester became members of the newly formed West Sussex League and remained there until they became founder members of the Sussex County League in 1920. The first major honour was achieved in 1926 when they won the Sussex Senior Cup for the only time. Inter-war success was limited and most of the club's achievements have been in the post-war era. However, during the 1945/46 season, the first-team competed in the West Sussex League (the County League was still very abbreviated at this time because of the war), and on 8th December 1945 they defeated Boxgrove Youth Club in a league game 21-1, which still stands as Chichester’s record score. In 1960 Chichester clinched their first Sussex County League title and the following season proved even more successful. City retained the League championship, shared the Sussex R.U.R Cup with Brighton & Hove Albion after a 2-2 draw and reached the first round proper of the F.A. Cup before losing 11-0 away to Bristol City. See Report Success returned to Oaklands Park in 1968 when City recaptured the league title and reached the 4th qualifying round of the F.A. Cup finally succumbing 3-0 to Guildford. In the 1970's Chichester's fortunes were mixed; the high point being another League Championship in 1973 and a good run in the F.A. Amateur Cup which was finally halted by cup holders Hendon. That success was only short lived though and after several seasons of struggle, City were facing relegation for the first ever time early in 1979. However, the appointment of ex-Plymouth and Portsmouth player, Ritchie Reynolds, as Club Manager sparked off an amazing revival which saw City claw their way to safety. The following season was one of City's best ever as Reynolds masterminded an outstanding League Championship win (City's fifth and last championship). A late run of nine successive victories left Chichester needing only a draw from their final match; a result that they duly achieved on a memorable May evening, with the home side missing a late penalty. A spell of mid-table security followed but the club were eventually relegated for the first time in 1983 after a dismal season. City finished sixth in their first season in Division Two but promotion and a Division Two Cup success followed in 1985. However, this time the stay in Division One was short lived and they returned to the Second Division for the 1987/88 campaign. Promotion proved elusive for two seasons despite being amongst the pacesetters each time although the Division Two Challenge Cup was won once again in 1988. Then in the summer of 1990 Steve White took over as Club Manager and the side enjoyed another promotion campaign with a third Division Two Challenge Cup success after beating Stamco. The club struggled for several seasons in the County League top flight before again being relegated to Division Two in 1994. In 1996, City finished in the promotion places behind Selsey and Saltdean United but were denied promotion by the absence of planning consent for floodlights. In the same year a financial crisis threatened the future of the club - but the club survived and Aidie Girdler was appointed club manager in July. In 1997, City returned to the top flight after finishing runners up to Littlehampton Town and permission was finally granted for floodlights at Oakland Park and they have been in the top flight of the Sussex County League ever since. Following a merger with local rivals Portfield FC in 2000 the club became known as Chichester City United FC, with the previous records of Chichester City FC being retained as the actual club's history. In 2004 Adie Girdler and his assistant Gary Brockway led Chichester to their first Sussex County League title since 1980 and the club also won the Brighton Charity Cup in 2005 and 2006 and the R.U.R Charity cup in 2007. At the start of the 2009/2010 season, following discussions with the Chichester District Council, it was agreed to revert back to the name of Chichester City FC as this more clearly reflected the club and the City.
When Chichester first merged with Portfield in 2000, the
club's home matches were played at Church Road, Portfield's
original ground, on the premise that the District Council
would eventually sell the Church Road land for housing
development and then invest some of the proceeds into the
redevelopment of Oaklands Park. Chichester City FC
eventually moved back to Oaklands Park at the start of the
2008/2009 season and a new 100 all-seated stand was erected
to the west of the ground a few months later. Work on an
£800000 clubhouse and changing facility, which will be
situated to the East of the ground, began in September 2009
with the estimated completion date is May 2010.
SEASON BY SEASON HISTORY (Since 2000)
In the FA Cup extra preliminary round Chichester managed to get past Crawley Down at the third attempt with a 3-1 home win after initially drawing 2-2 away and having the first replay abandoned due to floodlight failure. Chichester eventually lost lost 4-1 away to Cray Wanderers in the next round but had the consolation of the game highlights being shown on the ITV website. In the FA Vase, Chichester managed to reach the 2nd round proper after wins against Seaford Town and Epsom & Ewell but fellow division one side Shoreham proved too strong with a 4-0 extra-time victory at Oaklands Park in November. In the other cup competitions, Wick and Selsey knocked Chichester out of the RUR and League Cups respectively at the first attempt and after wins against Rustington and Whitehawk in the Sussex Senior Cup, Bognor Regis Town proved a hurdle too far in the third round inflicting a 3-1 defeat at Nyewood Lane. Chichester once again proved a strong force in the Brighton Charity Cup, reaching the final after wins over Rustington, East Preston, Southwick and Seaford Town. On the league front Chichester's form picked up as the season progressed and by early February they had a serious chance of challenging for the title but their ultimate downfall was the inability to field a consistent team due to numerous injuries and players being unavailable - indeed the team actually fielded 58 different players during the season of which nine were goalkeepers including manager Adie Girdler who had to play himself on 4 different occasions. The club eventually finished 7th in the league, 13 points behind winners Eastbourne United Association and Ben Vassallo was the top goalscorer with 27 goals during the campaign (21 league goals). Chichester City were rocked by a scandal at the end of the season when the Sussex County Football League found them guilty of fielding a banned player during a number of games and as a result the Brighton Charity Cup final was postponed and the final league standings, as well as Chichester's division one status, were held in the balance. The player in question, Callum Cutler, had been banned by the Hampshire FA two years previously for non-payment of an £8 booking fine whilst playing for a Sunday league side, even though the player had given the money to his manager. Chichester and the player himself were unaware of the ban imposed by the Hampshire FA but the SCFL found the club guilty and deducted 19 points from Chichester's final points total (the amount of points gained with Cutler playing) which left the club in 14th place, and fined them £550. They also wanted Chichester to start the 2009/2010 season on minus 10 points but following a successful appeal to the FA this was eventually rescinded. The development of Oaklands Park has started to take shape Nags Head main stand on the east side of the pitch completed in early January and the building of the new clubhouse will start August 2009 with likely completion in the summer 2010. Jamie
Smith and Ken Ruff took over the running of the Reserve Team
at the start of the season and they enjoyed a successful
campaign despite difficult circumstances, reaching the 4th
round of both the Sussex Intermediate Cup and Vernon
Wentworth Cup as well as the 3rd round of the Reserve Cup.
They eventually finished 7th in the Reserve Section West
just 11 points behind winners Steyning Town.
Portfield Football Club started life in 1896 as a group of local lads without a permanent pitch, a club in name only and formed, organised and supported by local business people. Meetings and team selection took place in the Wheatsheaf Inn, a local Public House. Where now stands a set of traffic lights on the A27, Arundel Park Estate and St James Square, were all in their day, home for the 'Field'. Then came a new home ground called 'Downers'. A cow pasture upon which they were permitted to site an old railway carriage for use as changing rooms, but not allowed to mow, prompted the teams nickname of the 'Field'. Long wet grass where the cows hadn't grazed, and other hazards where they had, made the old leather ball somewhat heavy and difficult to control, and to head it was risking concussion. The 2nd World war interrupted organised football of course, but 1945 saw the return of most of the lads from the armed forces, and Downers, resplendent with the ex-army camouflage nets on the goals, were to witness the winning of the Sussex Junior Cup closely followed by the West Sussex League championship. Memories of those days include the sight of Billy Hunt and Fred Bennett trundling their wooden box cart toward the ground on Saturday mornings, their mission being to ensure that the cows had been moved elsewhere, and to remove as much evidence of their presence as possible. Hanging the nets and carrying a bucket of cold water from the big house a quarter of a mile away, were also on the match day agenda. Despite being well outside the City at a time when very few people had cars, they enjoyed good support, but the biggest crowds usually occured when they played hosts to Graylingwell Mental Hospital because it was practice to walk a supervised party of patients to the match for exercise. They always made plenty of noise and seemed to enjoy themselves even if there were doubts among them as to who the competing teams were. Happy days, but they were poor relations to the likes of Chichester FC who were enjoying the luxurious facilities of one of Chichester's main recreation areas, Priory Park. In the mid fifties the ever growing need to quarry gravel from around the City's outskirts eventually claimed 'Downers', and they were forced to move to a local recreation ground, Florence Road, which itself had been a quarry some years before. Whilst closer to the City's population and the Wheatsheaf Public House, the infilling of the quarry had not had sufficient time to settle and all manner of sharp flints, metal etc. were often found on the surface. In those days there were also no changing facilities. In 1958 Portfield were given permission to use the pitch that existed in Church Road. D. Rowe and Co., the local car garage were then leasing the ground from Chichester City Council for the firm's sports club, and since their Managing Director's first love was cricket, a wicket square dominated the centre of their ground, with a football pitch running at a right angle of that of today. Three years later, Rowes gave up the lease on the ground which Portfield then acquired. The team built their first clubhouse in 1969 which housed dressing rooms for both teams and match officials, showers, toilets, clubroom and bar. Separate changing room facilities were added in 1983 followed by floodlights in 1987 and other facilities - the stand and hard standing area around the pitch - were also improved. Portfield merged with Chichester City FC in 2000 to form Chichester City United.  Club Honours
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