Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club

Brighton & Hove Albion FC: Premier League History

Brighton & Hove Albion FC History and Highlights

Brighton & Hove Albion FC, also known as the Seagulls, is a football club that plays in the English Premier League. The football club originated in 1901 and is based in the city of Brighton & Hove on the south coast of England.

Brighton has two alternative names: ‘Albion’ and the ‘Seagulls’ Albion is an alternative name for ‘Great Britain’ which describes the white cliffs in the south of England, and, with the club having originated in the same area, its name makes sense.

Nickname Origins

While Albion is a geographic and historical name, the ‘Seagulls’ originated from the rivalry with Crystal Palace. Prior to 1976, Brighton & Hove were called the Dolphins. The club only changed its name to the Seagulls to counter against Crystal Palace or the Eagles. The crest also has a seagull on it represent this.

Founding and Origins

The club was founded in 1901, and it has an interesting story behind that as well. It all started in 1897 when the first professional club of Brighton and Hove, called Brighton United, was founded and played in the Southern League. However, due to infrastructure issues, the club could not sustain itself even until the second season of its existence.

Following this came The Brighton & Hove Rangers, who had a good run but broke up in 1900. A third club named Brighton & Hove United rose up to take the place of the Rangers, but due to protests from the locals, changed their name to Brighton & Hove Albion, the name we all know today.

Slow Start Until The 1960’s

In the first 70 years of their existence, until 1972, Brighton only managed to win FA Charity Shield by beating Aston Villa in 1910. They switched from the southern league to Football League in 1920, and it took them 38 years to climb up to the second division before slipping two divisions down to the fourth division in 1963. Finally, however, they managed to climb up to the third division in 1965.

The 1970’s

The fortunes took an unpredictable turn in 1972 when Mike Bamber became the chairman. Alan Mullery was appointed the coach, and he helped them to the first division in 1979, which most of the Brightonians cherish to this day.

1980’s Relegation

After some inconsistency in their top-flight journey, they were relegated back to the second division in 1983. Despite the relegation, they reached the FA Cup final and held Manchester United to a two-all draw in the first game. It was their first and only FA Cup final to this day.

Unfortunately for the seagulls, they were relegated to the third division in 1987. However, they were promoted back up the next season. The Seagulls also survived relegation in 1997 on the very last day of the season despite being 13 points from safety at one point in the season.

Promotion Back to the Premier League

The recent history of Brighton has been of less turbulence. They have only gone up from getting into the first division in 2011 to getting the ticket to Premier League in 2017. Since then, they have been an integral part of the premier league and have completed five years in the competition. The Albions donned blue and white with stripes throughout their history. It also signifies the color they wore in their most prolific period in history, the 1980s.

Unfortunately, while the Seagulls have been able to stay in the Premier League for the past 5 seasons, their results have been less than ideal, their best accomplishment being a 9th placement in the 21/22 season, with an average placement of 16th in the past 4 leagues before that.