History
Organised football first began to be played in Bristol in the 1880s and football started on the Downs around the same time, helped by the introduction of a tram route from the city centre to the top of Blackboy Hill. The Downs League was formed in 1905 with 30 founder members, all of them teams who were already playing in the city and on the Downs' many pitches. Two of the founder member clubs, St Andrews and Sneyd Park, remain in the league to this day, with Sneyd Park having played in the top division of the league in every season since its foundation. Clifton St Vincents joined the league in its second season and have also clocked up 100 years of membership.
In the 1920s the league's top side was Union Jack FC, who won the league nine times in ten seasons and even managed to beat the much higher-ranked Cheltenham Town 6-3 away in the FA Cup in 1925. Future Arsenal star Eddie Hapgood turned out for Union Jack before going on to Football League and international stardom. Another player with Union Jack was Wally Hammond, a future England cricket captain.
In the 1930s Dockland Settlement won six championships in seven seasons. The years after the Second World War was probably when the league was at its strongest, with many players leaving the league to turn professional.
In the 1950s Clifton St. Vincents won six league titles, but St. Gabriels equalled Union Jack's record of seven successive titles between 1969 and 1975. In recent years Clifton St. Vincents and Sneyd Park have been the dominant sides in the league.
Today the league boasts over 50 teams in four divisions. There are also two knockout cup competitions - the Norman Hardy Cup (for teams from Divisions One and Two) and the All Saints Cup (for teams from Divisions Three and Four). BBC Bristol maintains a keen interest in the league, with news, features and even video highlights (highly unusual for a league at this level).
Read more about this topic: Bristol Downs Football League
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