Bromley
Formed 1892
Promoted to League Two 2024
Kit History
1892-1894 a
1895-1898 a
1898-1900 a
1900-1905 a
1906-1915 a
April 1911 a
1919-1922 a
1922-1936 a
1936-1942 a
1942-Jan 49 a
Jan 49-1957 a
1957-1963 a
1962-1963 alt a
1963-1967 a
1963-1967 alt a
1967-1973 a
1973-1974 a
1974-1976 a
1976-1978 a
1978-1979 a
1979-1980 a
1980-1981 a
1981-1982 a
1982-1983 a
1983-1985 a
1985-1988 a
1988-1989 a
1989-1990 a
1990-1991 a
1991-1993 a
1993-1994 a
1994-1995 a
1995-1996 a
1996-1997 a
1997-1998 a
1998-1999 d
1999-2000 d
2000-2001 d
2001-2003 d
2003-2004 d
2004-2006 d
2006-2007 1 d
2006-2008 d
2008-2009 d
2009-2010 d
2010-2011 d
2011-2012 b d
2012-2013 b d
2013-2014 b d
2014-2015 b d
2015-2016 d
2016-2017 c d
2017-2018 c d
2018-2019 c d
2019-2020 d
2020-2021 d
2021-2022 d
2022 FA Trophy b d
2022-2023 d
2023-March 24 b d
March 24-2025 b c d
Background
Bromley is a large town situated in the south east part of Greater London. The football team was formed in 1892, wore fetching olive and light blue shirts and played at the Queensmead Recreation Ground before moving to Glebe Road. The town was growing rapidly at the time and after seven years Glebe Road was sold for housing. The team then played at Plaistow Cricket Ground but this was also sold for housing in 1904 and the football and cricket teams moved to a site on Hayes Lane.
The club had a complicated early history that involved playing initially in the South London League, becoming founder members of the Southern League (1894) before stepping down to the London League (1896) and winning the Second Division title. After an unsuccessful season in the Kent League (1898-1899) when they adopted the white shirts that are worn to 
this day, they returned to the London League but withdrew from Division One after being suspended for a month for breaching the rules on amateurism - they had made broken time payments to three postal workers in the team. They then took over the fixtures of the reserves in the Second Division but withdrew altogether at the end of the 1900-01 season.
They played in the West Kent League and the South Suburban League before becoming founder members of the Spartan League in 1907. They won the championship at the first attempt which prompted the club to step up to the Isthmian League. After back-to-back titles, Bromley won the FA Amateur Cup in 1910-11, beating Bishop Auckland 1-0 in the final. For this match the Kent Horse was worn as a crest. They rejoined the Kent League after that and remained there until the outbreak of the First World War. The Kent League cosed down in September 1914 but Bromley played friendlies and cup matched until they suspended operations in April 1915.
When organised football resumed in 1919, Bromley joined the Athenian League and won the champioship in 1922-23. They reached the First Round of the FA Cup for the first time in 1937-38 and won the FA Amateur Cup for the second time. The following season they played Football League opponents for the first time, meeting Lincoln City in the Second Round of the FA Cup and were soundly beaten 8-1.
In 1938 Bromley moved to their present ground on Hayes Lane, located between Bromley town centre and Hayes. After the Second World War broke out Bromley continued to play although they temporarily closed down in 1940-41 during the London Blitz because of their proximity to the RAF aerodrome at Biggin Hill which was a primary target for the Luftwaffe in the early stages of the campaign. A match programme from October 1942 records Bromley's new colours as white shirts and black knickers: Mark Andrews believes the change may have been made the previous season when Charlie King took over as Honorary Secretary in order to make his mark but there is no hard evidence to support this.
Bromley won a second Athenian League title in 1948-49 as well as the FA Amateur Cup for the third time. In January, at the start of the Amateur Cup campaign, the club added a crest to the team's shirts loosely based on the arms of the town of Bromley.
They won the Athenian League for the third time in 1950-51 and in 1952 they switched back to the Isthmian League, winning the title in 1953-54 and 1960-61.
In 1957 the team adopted the new continental-style strip with red trim on the shirt. Between 1962 and 1967 the team sometimes turned out in white shorts when playing sides wearing black 
ones. Bromley followed the fashion of the time, dropping their crest and in 1967 they adopted an all-white strip.
The crest was reintroduced in 1974-75 but the following season shirts with and without the badge were worn. From 1976 it was applied directly to the shirts rather than a coloured patch for a couple of seasons when the team wore Admiral kit based on the template created for Manchester United's change strip but then it was dropped.
Their first sponsored shirt appeared in 1982 with the name of a local sportswear supplier (who provided the kit) on the front. The crest was restored in 1990-91.
During the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, the team bounced between the top two tiers of the Isthmian League.
In October 1992 the original stand, which could seat 750, burned down and the team had to play home games elsewhere while reconstruction took place. A more modest stand that could hold 320 spectators was completed a year later.
In the Nineties the team wore candy striped shirts for several seasons before reverting to plain white with black trimmings. In 2003-04 a completely new look was revealed with broad striped tops but this was dropped the following season.
When the FA introduced play-offs in the football pyramid from the end of the 2004-05 season, Bromley were one of the first beneficiaries, negotiating the play-offs to earn a place in the Isthmian Premier League. Two seasons late they finished second to qualify for the play-offs again with a place in the Conference South as the prize. After beating AFC Wimbledon, the Ravens defeated Billericay Town in a penalty shoot-out.
In 2013-14, to mark the anniversary of the club moving into their present ground the legend "75 Years at Hayes Lane" was printed above the club crest. By this time the club's trajectory was clearly upwards and they won the Conference South title and were promoted to what would now be known as the National League.
To mark the club's 75th anniversary a special crest was commissioned in 2017. This seems to have gone down well because the following season it appeared again with the anniversary text replaced with the club's name and year of formation. The dark gold 
colour that formed the ring of the new badge was picked up as an accent colour on the Macron kits over the next three seasons. The Lilywhites reached the FA Trophy final in that season but were beaten on penalties by Brackley Town.
Having flirted with all-white kits in the past, the Ravens opted for all-white once again in 2019. The crest was given a face lift in 2022.
The team reached the play-offs in 2020-21 and in May 2022 they beat Wrexham 1-0 in the FA Trophy final at 
Wembley Stadium. For unfathomable reasons, the Welsh side wore white in this match while Bromley turned out in a one-off black kit supplied by Kappa, their new technical sponsor.
In 2022-23 the team reached the play-offs again but were beaten in the semi-final. The following season hey qualified for the play-offs yet again and this time they went all the way, beating Solihull Moors 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out in the final to earn promotion to the English Football League.
Bromley ended their contract with Kappa in March 2024 for reasons that are unclear and finished the season wearing Macron kit, which would also be worn in the 2024-25 season.
Sources
- (a) The Roy Oliver Collection submitted by Mark Andrews
- (b) Football Kit Archive
- (c) Sortitoutsi
- (d) Mark Andrews
Crests are the property of Bromley FC.