Team Bath F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Team Bath


fullname = Team Bath Football Club
nickname = The Crescents, The Scholars
founded = 1999
ground = Twerton Park
Bath
capacity = 8,800
chairman = Ivor Powell "(officially president)"
manager = Ged Roddy
league = Conference South
season = 2007-08
position = Southern League Premier Division, 2nd
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=0000FF|body1=F1EF00|rightarm1=0000FF|shorts1=0000FF|socks1=F1EF00
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

Team Bath is a football club affiliated with the University of Bath in the city of Bath, Somerset, England. After winning promotion in a successful first season in the Southern League Division One West, and playing in the Southern League Premier Division, they won promotion to the Conference South in May 2008.

Team Bath share a ground with rivals Bath City at their Twerton Park ground, but also train at TeamBath's home in the University of Bath Sports Training Village. Team Bath's nickname is "The Crescents", after the famous Royal Crescent, or "The Scholars". Many purists mock the name "Team Bath" as sounding too American, opting for a more traditional name of Bath University F.C, however this would cause confusion with the other student football teams at the university, who play in BUCS competitions as the "University of Bath". Supporters of rival non-league teams often refer to Team Bath as "Team Tax", based on the theory that the university based club is partially funded by public money.Fact|date=April 2008

History

Team Bath FC was founded in 1999 with the stated aim of being a fully-fledged football club within the environment of the University, allowing players to combine full-time training with a university course, something which the club describes as unique in British football. Team Bath state that they have to date recruited over 50 young former professionals, most of whom have graduated, and many of whom have subsequently returned to the professional game.

The club joined the Western Football League in 2000 and were Division One champions at the first attempt. They followed this up two years later by winning the Premier Division title to gain promotion to the Southern League. A sixth-place finish in the Western Division enabled them to step up when the league was reorganised following the formation of Conference South and they are now in their third season in the Premier Division.

In the team's FA Cup run in the 2002-03 season, it became the first university team to enter the competition since Gonville & Caius in 1881. Team Bath entered in the preliminary round and advanced through four further qualifying rounds to the first round proper, before losing to Mansfield Town.

The top scorer ever for the team is Aled Mainwaring who notched up 126 league goals from 2000-2005, beating second placed Moustapha Borrouhou who has scored 102. Fact|date=March 2007

The 2006/2007 season brought success to both Bath City and Team Bath. Whilst the former were division champions, Team Bath finished in second place. However, after beating Hemel Hempstead in the play-off semi-finals, they lost 1-0 to Maidenhead United in the Southern League play-off final, leaving them in the lower division.

Notwithstanding this, Team Bath were successful a year later, beating Halesowen Town in the play-off final, and were promoted to the Conference South, in May 2008.

Team Bath controversially took over backing of the former Bristol City women's football team, which competes in the Women's Southern Championship at the start of the 2007/08 season. Team Bath had competed in the South West Region Women's Football League Premier Division (a step 4 league) and were controversially allowed to resign from this league and take over the (much higher) league position of Bristol City. In effect Team Bath were promoted 2 leagues without even kicking a ball.

quad

Squad for the 2006-07 season [ [http://www.teambath.com/?page_id=409 The Players] teambath.com. Retrieved 9 February 2007]

Coaching staff

The coaching staff at Team Bath F.C. [ [http://www.teambath.com/?page_id=411 Coaching] teambath.com. Retrieved 9 February 2007]

References

ources

*fchd|name=Team Bath|id=TEAMBATH

External links

* [http://www.teambath.com/?page_id=79 Official website]