{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox football club | clubname = Ruislip F.C. | fullname = Ruislip Football Club | founded = 1936 | dissolved = 1990 | ground = New Pond Farm, Ruislip <br>Breakspear Road, Ruislip }}
'''Ruislip Football Club''' was a semi-professional football club based in Ruislip, West London. They played in the Southern League during the 1980s.
==History== Ruislip F.C. was formed on 16 June 1936 after a vote to create the new football club was carried following an open meeting at the Ruislip Boy's Club. Mr E. Smith of the Boys Club was elected as its first chairman.<ref name="Ruislip Boys Club meeting">{{cite news |title=Ruislip F.C. |publisher=Middlesex Advertiser and County Gazette |date=19 June 1936 |page=23}}</ref> The club was established from a successful Ruislip Boy's Club side which had been champions of the Harrow and District League Division IV in the 1934–35 season and Division III champions in the 1935–36 season.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ruislip Boys Club |publisher=The Buckinghamshire Advertiser and County Gazette |date=6 November 1936 |page=8}}</ref>
Ruislip F.C.'s first game was a friendly against Pinner Reserves at Pinner on 29 August 1936.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ruislip. Playing Membership List Full |publisher=Middlesex Advertiser and County Gazette |date=28 August 1936 |page=19}}</ref> The club's home ground was the Number 1 pitch at the New Pond Farm Playing Field in Ruislip situated approximately 400 yards north of Ruislip Gardens London Underground station.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ruislip's New Talent |publisher=Middlesex Advertiser and County Gazette |date=18 August 1939 |page=17}}</ref>
In the 1936–37 season Ruislip F.C. finished runners-up in the Harrow and District League Division One gaining promotion to the Premier Division.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ruislip Go Up |publisher=The Buckinghamshire Advertiser and County Gazette |date=30 April 1937 |page=22}}</ref> The club were champions of the Premier Division in the 1937–38 season.<ref>{{cite news |title=Final League Tables. Harrow Premier Division |publisher=The Buckinghamshire Advertiser and County Gazette |date=13 May 1938 |page=23}}</ref> Ruislip were intending to play in both the Premier Division of the Harrow League and the Middlesex County League for the 1939–40 season.<ref>{{cite news |title=How Ruislip Is Preparing For Next Season |publisher=Middlesex Advertiser and County Gazette |date=28 July 1939 |page=19}}</ref> However, with the coming of the war in September 1939 the club did not compete again until 1946.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ruislip In Action Again |publisher=Middlesex Advertiser and County Gazette |date=9 August 1946 |page=3}}</ref>
After the war the club joined the Great Western Combination League for the start of the 1946–47 season.<ref>{{cite web |title=Great Western Combination 1939-1964 |url=https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/nlmnet/Regions_2/gwc39.html |website=www.nonleaguematters.co.uk}}</ref> They opened the season at their new ground at Breakspear Road against Chesham United on 14 September 1946, winning 4–1.<ref>{{cite news |title=G. Ive Gets Three. Ruislip 4 Chesham 1 |publisher=The Buckinghamshire Advertiser and County Gazette |date=20 September 1946 |page=7}}</ref>
In May 1949 the Middlesex F.A. granted permission for Ruislip Football Club to change their name to Ruislip Town.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ruislip Town F.C. |publisher=Middlesex Advertiser and County Gazette |date=20 May 1949 |page=7}}</ref> In June 1949 the club were re-elected to Division One of the Great Western Combination for the 1949–50 season after finishing bottom of the league in the previous season.<ref>{{cite news |title=Great Western Combination. The Clubs For Next Season |publisher=Harrow Observer and Gazette |date=9 June 1949 |page=6}}</ref> They remained in the league until the 1951–52 season. From 1952 to 1954, the club competed in the Parthenon League.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/nlmnet/Regions_2_SE/PL51.html|title=Parthenon League 1951–1966|website=Non-League Matters|accessdate=28 March 2021}}</ref> They returned to the Great Western Combination for the 1954–55 and 1955–56 seasons. In 1956 Ruislip Town joined the Hellenic League, becoming founder members of the newly formed Division One. In 1961 Ruislip Town left the Hellenic League and again rejoined the Great Western Combination League for the league's remaining three seasons.
In the 1966–67 season Ruislip Town joined the inaugural Middlesex League Premier Division and played in the league until the end of the 1976–77 season.<ref name="Middlesex League 1966-84">{{cite web |title=Middlesex League 1966-84 |url=https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/nlmnet/Aarg3ED/Msex66.html |website=www.nonleaguematters.co.uk}}</ref> They rejoined the Hellenic League for the 1977–78 season. At the end of the 1979–80 the club once against left the Hellenic League and rejoined the Middlesex League.<ref name="Ruislip Town">{{cite web |url=https://fchd.info/RUISLIPT.HTM|title=Ruislip Town|website=Football Club History Database|accessdate=28 March 2021}}</ref> However, the 1980–81 season saw the club lose all but one of their twenty-six league games and they left the league.<ref name="Middlesex League 1966-84" /><ref name="Ruislip Town"/>
In October 1981 the club merged with junior club Coteford F.C. with Coteford completing their 1981–82 season in the West Middlesex Combination League.<ref>{{cite news |title=RUISLIP F.C......THE GRASSROOTS |publisher=Thanet United F.C. Official Programme |date=20 February 1988 |page=9}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Southall, Viking hope. In the West Middlesex Combination |publisher=Ealing Gazette |date=23 April 1982 |page=23}}</ref> The club was renamed back to Ruislip Football Club, after which they returned to the Middlesex League Premier Division for the 1982–83 season.<ref name="Middlesex League 1966-84" /> They finished second-from-bottom of the Premier Division in their first season and ended the 1983–84 season in last place.<ref name=NLM1>[http://nonleaguematters.co.uk/nlmnet/Aarg3ED/Msex66.html Middlesex League history 1966–1984] Non-League Matters</ref> The league then became the Middlesex County League. Despite only finishing eleventh in the league's inaugural season,<ref>[http://nonleaguematters.co.uk/nlmnet/Regs_2_M/Midx84.html Middlesex County League 1984–2000] Non-League Matters</ref> Ruislip moved up to the Southern Division of the Southern League.<ref name=FCHD>{{fchd|id=RUISLIP|name=Ruislip}}</ref> In the 1985–6 season Ruislip achieved their highest league position finishing eighth.<ref>{{cite web |title=Southern League Southern Division 1985-1986 |url=https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/nonleaguetables/lt1985-1986.html#SLS |website=www.nonleaguematters.co.uk}}</ref> However, they finished bottom of the Southern Division in the 1988–89 season and left the league.<ref name="FCHD" />
Merger talks began with Bromley Park Rangers, a founder member of the Chiltonian League who were based in Hillingdon in May 1989.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ruislip in Merger Talks |publisher=Ruislip and Northwood Gazette |date=17 May 1989 |page=77}}</ref> The two clubs were amalgamated in June 1989 to form Ruislip Park.<ref>{{cite news |title=League Reshuffle |publisher=Wokingham Times |date=15 June 1989 |page=30}}</ref> The new club joined the Premier Division of the Hellenic League for the 1989–90 season.<ref>{{fchd|id=RUISLIPP|name=Ruislip Park}}</ref> The club was disbanded at the end of the season.<ref name="Board">{{cite news |title=Borough back |publisher=Hayes & Harlington Gazette |date=11 April 1990 |page=71}}</ref> The club's ground was taken over by a refounded Hillingdon Borough, which joined the Premier Division of the Spartan League for the 1990–91 season.<ref>{{cite news |title=Borough start away |publisher=Hayes & Harlington Gazette |date=1 August 1990 |page=59}}</ref>
==Ground== The club played at New Pond Farm playing fields from 1936 to 1939 and at Breakspear Road from 1946, which was renamed the Middlesex Stadium in 1990.
==Honours== *'''Harrow and District League''' **Premier Division champions 1937–38
==Records== *Best FA Cup performance: First qualifying round, 1988–89<ref name=FCHD/> *Best FA Vase performance: First round, 1988–89<ref name=FCHD/>
==See also== *Ruislip F.C. players
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Defunct football clubs in England Category:Great Western Combination Category:Middlesex County Football League Category:Southern Football League clubs Category:Defunct football clubs in London Category:1981 establishments in England Category:Association football clubs established in 1981 Category:1989 disestablishments in England Category:Association football clubs disestablished in 1989 Category:Sport in the London Borough of Hillingdon