Eastbourne Town is the oldest senior football club in Sussex having been founded on 29 October 1880 when two existing clubs in Eastbourne, Eastbourne FC and Eastbourne Rovers both merged to become Eastbourne United. The club briefly changed its name to Eastbourne Football Club at a meeting on 5 October 1881. Having failed to secure the use of a ground in South Fields, near to Gildredge Park, permission was sought to play on the grounds of Devonshire Park. Part of the deal was to change the name to Devonshire Park in return the Park Company would supply all match materials and pay travelling expenses to away games. At a meeting on the 19 October 1881, it was agreed that the club would be known as Devonshire Park F.C.
Being named after it’s first home ground – A venue now know for staging one of the pre-Wimbledon tennis tournaments. In fact, it was the arrival of the tennis at the ground which ultimately was to lead it becoming the predominant sport and the subsequent relocation of both cricket and football. After five years of playing at the Park, the club moved to the newly opened “Saffrons Field” colourfully named after the variety of crocus which had been cultivated on the site for use in the preparation of medicines.
In 1889 the club changed its name to Eastbourne FC and fielding a side of ‘gentlemen amateurs’ began to play a dominant role in county football winning the Sussex Senior Cup eight times, and being runners-up on a further three occasions, up to 1907. In 1904 the club won it’s first international trophy, The Paris New Years Tournament (Tournoi du Nouvel An Paris). In 1905 the club joined the South Eastern League. Originally entered by Eastbourne Swifts, it was a agreed with the league that Eastbourne would take their place in the league after they withdrew after playing and losing 7 games. Eastbourne played mostly reserve teams of Woolwich Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in Division 1. Eastbourne played out the remaining season, winning just one game and were relegated into Division 2 for the 1906/07 season.
In 1907 the club aligned itself with the then Amateur Football Alliance and split from the Football Association becoming founder members of the Southern Amateur League where they remained until just after World War II. In 1909 Eastbourne won another international trophy, The “Challenge International du Nord”, was a competition played predominantly between French and Belgian amateur teams it was later opened up to Dutch, Swiss and English amateur teams. Eastbourne won the final 5-1 against Racing Club du Roubaix.
During the 1920’s the club won two League Championships, reached the final of the national AFA Senior Cup in for consecutive seasons, winning on two occasions, and made five further Sussex Senior Cup Final appearances albeit with only one success. The following decade did see a further two Senior Cup victories and a success at the first attempt in the RUR Charity Cup. Good attendances saw the ‘popular’ Town Hall side of the ground asphalted and a new wooden grandstand erected behind the goal at the Larkins Field end.
The ground survived World War II intact with friendly matches regularly being played there. In the summer of 1946 the pitch was moved closer to the cricket ground to facilitate the Town Hall side being terraced, the Meads Road end section being covered in 1962. Following one post-war season in the Southern Amateur League, the club joined the Corinthian League in 1946 where they remained until the competition merged with the Athenian League in 1963. In the immediate post-war years the Saffrons attendances averaged 3,000 with the ground record of 7,378 being set when the Southern League side Hastings United visited in an F.A. Cup tie on the 10th October, 1953. During this era there were further Charity Cup successes, a Sussex Senior Cup win in 1953 and an AFA Invitation Cup success in 1970. Two years later, after more than eighty years of being known as the “Town Club”, the clubs name was changed to its present form, Eastbourne Town FC. In March 1969 the wooden grandstand was destroyed by an arsonist and although temporary cover was provided, it was twenty-five years before a replacement was opened; the stand being named of the club stalwarts Sid Myall and Taffy Jones.
Failing attendances made it uneconomic to continue in the Athenian League and in 1976 Town resigned, their final match being in the League’s Cup Final where they lost 1-2 away to Cheshunt. Accepted into the Sussex County League the newcomers lifted the Championship at the first attempt and in the following year reached the final of the Sussex Senior Cup. Thereafter the first team’s best finishing position was third on two occasions but generally the trend was downwards. The installation of floodlights for the 1994/95 season saw a resurgence of results, therefore, it was a shock when after finishing ninth in 2000, a year later they found themselves relegated after dropping ten places and finishing next to bottom. An immediate return to Division One was almost achieved in 2002; however, promotion was won in 2003.
On their return to Division One, Town were fifth in 2004 and, after two further seasons of consolation, the League Championship was again secured in 2007 and with it came promotion into Division One (South) of the Ryman Isthmian League, the club having to complete minor works having pursued a programme of ground developments. The club, who hold the prestigious F.A. Community Club status, received a reprieve from relegation in 2010. Subsequently, the club strived to retain its place in the Ryman League but despite finishing eleventh place in 2013 a bottom place finish in 2014 saw them relegated back to the County League. A spirited attempt to make an immediate return was thwarted when the side failed to reproduce their good early form after a long mid-season lay-off and they eventually finished fourth but did have the satisfaction of lifting the Sussex RUR Charity Cup for the sixth time moving them to within one victory of being the fourth most successful club in the competition.
Good starts were made in the past few Senior Cup competitions but had no success until reaching the quarter finals in 2019, losing to a strong Brighton and Hove Albion under-23 side. Town have finished in the top five of the league since leaving the Isthmian League. In 2022 a change of management saw John Lambert stepping down after 8 years and being replaced by former Whitehawk manager, Jude Macdonald.