The History
Where the town of Newbridge currently stands was just green fields before the British Army Barracks was built in the 1850s and the Town steadily grew up around them until by the turn of the 19th century Newbridge had become a recognized “Garrison” town. There have been soccer played in Newbridge for over 120 years the first recorded team was Newbridge Rovers in 1900 – this team played many games in front of huge crowds on Newbridge College fields during the following decade. In the first half of the 20th-century teams came and went in the town but there was always a strong interest in the community for an ambitious club. Finally, in 1969 at a meeting in the Town Hall,a group of locals (including Jimmy Dowling, Joe Carey, Tony Hannigan and Joe Barry) got together and agreed to form the club we now know as Newbridge Town F.C.
The first six years of Newbridge Town F.C. ‘s existence (1969 – 1975) was spent in the Leinster Junior League starting at the bottom winning the Counties Cup in our first season and progressing to the Premier Dublin in 1975 finishing 2nd and reaching the final of The Leinster Junior Cup that year. This period saw the club producing it’s first underage international in Tom Shaw (followed in the 80’s by goalkeeper Alan Gough).
The following seven years (1975 – 1982) saw the club switch to the Athletic Union League in Dublin with some success. Now the club turned its attention to the purchase of a permanent home having had to move out of Ryans Field – the traditional home of soccer in the town. The club were given the use of a pitch by Newbridge College and in 1980 purchased this land from them (where our clubhouse and main pitch now stand).
Next (1982 to 1989) saw the club back in the Leinster Junior League and this coincided with the opening of our Grounds, Clubhouse and Bar by Alan Dukes T.D. in 1985 and in 1989 our First Team went on to win a senior Treble of the of Premier Division, Sheeran Cup and Dalton Cup which resulted in Newbridge Town being voted Leinster Junior Team of year for 1989.
After the achievements of 1989, the club switched to the Leinster Senior League to test ourselves against the big boys gaining promotion and winning the Moore Cup in our first season and in 1999, after 10 years in League we saw the club win the Leinster Senior League Senior Divison. In recognition of this, the club were invited to join the Eircom League in 2002 but it was decided that in order to gather the support of surrounding areas that a club called Kildare County would be entered in the National League and this club was formed and run parallel to Newbridge Town F.C. and played out of Station Road until the end of the 2009 season.
Newbridge Town F.C.’s first team continued to play in the Leinster Senior League and the most notable achievement, while enjoying several promotions (along with relegations) came in May 2018 when defeating Greystones United 1-0 in the final of the Metropolitan Cup.
The club has made huge strides to improve both coaching and playing standards at the underage level and the introduction of our Academy for 5-8 year olds every Sunday morning and Friday evening has been of great benefit to our young players starting out under the guidance of our Academy Director Paul Roberts. The club returned to entering all boys’ teams into the Dublin & District Schoolboy League in 2017 and this has helped in driving up the standards in all teams with 24 Newbridge Town Boys’ teams currently playing in the D.D.S.L from Under 9 to Under 17 age groups.
The last decade has seen a huge increase in participation on the girl’s side of the club and the number of teams entered in the Metropolitan Girls League has risen from a single team six years ago to currently 7 teams in the M.G.L. along with 2 girls’ teams in the D.D.S.L.
At present, between Academy and Underage Teams, we have over 100 volunteer coaches who are Garda Vetted, have completed Safeguarding Courses and achieved the relevant qualification on the F.A.I. Coach Education Pathway.
Along with this the club have a Saturday team playing in The L.S.L. Major 1 D, an Over 35’s team who are current champions of the K.D.F.L. Masters Division 1 and commencing in the 2023 season will have a Ladies Senior Team entered in the Eastern Women’s Football League playing home games every Saturday evening.
The majority of the Senior team for the 2022/2023 season is made up of players who progressed through our underage teams and at the start of the season, we were delighted to appoint one of the top coaches in the country, Martin Russell as Manager of the team. Martin has an excellent record in developing young players in his previous roles with U.C.D. and Limerick in the L.O.I. We can already see Premier and First Divisions continuing through the performances of the young players in his squad. The culture promoted in Newbridge Town F.C. is to provide a pathway for boys and girls entering into the Academy as four-year-olds all the way to playing at the highest level as adults while enjoying the highest possible standards of coaching and facilities along their journey.