UNITED SERVICES PORTSMOUTH FC - HISTORY
The city of Portsmouth is well known for its naval operations. In football the Royal Navy had boasted some fine teams over many years, such as the Naval Depot and HMS Excellent to name just two.
The present-day UNITED SERVICES PORTSMOUTH team was formed in 1962 as Portsmouth Royal Navy FC by Dennis Probee with the intention of providing competitive soccer for all serving navy players. The aim was to bridge the gap between the standard services football and that of the Royal Navy representative side.
The historic Victory Stadium at Pitt Street was the home ground until a move to a new facility at Burnaby Road occurred in 1984. The club had been Hampshire League members and were one of the Wessex founders in 1986.
The club remained until relegation in 2001 and they returned in 2004 having changed their title to the present one at that time. They have remained in the second tier of the Wessex League since.
United Services Portsmouth FC began their life as Portsmouth Royal Navy, formed in 1962 to bring competitive football to naval services.
Royal Navy sides have played a part in Hampshire football since early 1900’s. The Hampshire FA records are sprinkled with famous names such as HMS Victory, Royal Navy Depot, and HMS Fisgard.
Dennis Probee formed Portsmouth Royal Navy FC in 1962 with the intention of providing competitive soccer at the highest level possible for all serving Navy players to bridge the gap between the United Services Football League and the Royal Navy Representative Side. The club played in the Hampshire League from its formation until 1985/86 before becoming one of the seventeen founder members of the inaugural Wessex League.
In 1981, the youth side won the Dallas Cup in the USA as a Royal Navy side. At that time Victory Stadium at nearby Pitt Street was closed and the club relocated to the present Victory Stadium at Burnaby Road.
The Burnaby Road Sports Complex has evolved with Victory Stadium the centre piece, boasting a 500 seated covered stand and a top drawer playing surface adjacent to Victory Stadium are two 4G Astro pitches for Football and Rugby with our clubhouse the Sportsmans Arms close by!
The club’s most successful season in the Wessex League was 1996/97 finishing tenth, and the club have reached the semi-final stage of the League Cup, 1994/95 and again in 1995/96.
In 2002 a Youth Section was introduced, this has now evolved into one of the strongest Youth Club’s in Hampshire with teams playing in the Hampshire County, South Hants Glass & Mid-Solent Youth Leagues, also achieving the FA Charted Standard. The club was relegated in 2002 to the Hampshire Premier League, in season 2003/04 finishing sixth and reaching the Quarter-Final in the Hampshire Senior Cup.
Season 2004/05 saw re-election to the Wessex League and being renamed United Services Portsmouth. Season 2006/07 saw the introduction of Mini-Soccer to the Youth section.
The first success as United Services Portsmouth came in 2012 when the first team won the Portsmouth Senior Cup at Fratton Park in front of nearly 500 people, beating Moneyfields 4-3. In recent years the youth set up has enjoyed success. Most notably the Hampshire Youth Cup U18 win in 2014 and at U16 level in 2012.
In the 2017/18 season the first team missed out on promotion by one place.
The outcome of season 2019/20 from a club perspective was very disappointing, all teams were top of their respective leagues, all statistics for all teams were looking to be new club records with the first XI at the top of the Points-Per Game (PPG) table for all teams at Step 6 in Hampshire, but the season was curtailed.
2020/21 did however see a mesmeric run for the club in the FA Vase, winning seven ties to reach the semi-final stage, where only a penalty shoot out defeat to eventual runners-up, Binfield denying the club a coveted spot at Wembley.
The club were awarded a place in the Premier Division in 2021/22, looking to build on retaining their status having finished above the relegation places in each of the seasons since.
