Newbridge Town FC
The Story of Newbridge Town F.C.
The Newbridge Youth Club was one of the most progressive in the county in the 1960's. When a group of boys from the club decided they wanted to form a soccer team, they approached Joe Barry and Tony Hannigan, both of whom had organised and played in soccer matches for many years.
A meeting was held in the old supper room of Newbridge Town Hall and a turnout of over 70 interested players attended. This was clear evidence of the enthusiasm for the project and without further ado the club called Newbridge Town F.C. was formed in 1969.
They entered the Counties League Division 2 finishing 4th in the League and winning the Counties Cup in their 1st season. This set the new club off on their winning ways.
In succeeding seasons they won Division 2 and moved into Division 1, winning that League, then into Leinster Junior League in which they quickly established themselves against such famous names as Cherry Orchard, Home Farm, and Wayside etc. They moved relentlessly up through the grades and into the Leinster Senior League where they capped all previous successes by winning the Senior Division in 98/99.
While all this was happening Newbridge Town had started to develop their Youth Project and having formed 2nd and 3rd teams to handle the overspill from the first year, they also started Youth Teams to cater for the huge increase in interested potential players.
In 1973, the Committee headed by Joe Carey, Joe Barry and Tony Hannigan brought off a marvellous public relations coup when they invited world famous Wacker Munich F.C. from Germany to play against Newbridge Boys. The two matches drew crowds in excess of 2,000 to Ryan's field for each game. Both matches ended in draws. About this time two Newbridge Town boys were selected for Irish Youth teams. Tom Shaw was the first international, quickly followed by goalkeeper Alan Gough. Alan Gough went on to make his professional career in the League of Ireland, and the Irish League.
More recently, Newbridge Town was invited to join the lst Division of the League of Ireland but after much soul searching, it was decided to invite all interested football bodies to a formation meeting for a team that all of Kildare could support. It was decided to take this giant step under the name of Kildare County.
At the present time, Newbridge Town have three senior teams with the firsts playing in the senior division of the Leinster Senior League. They continue to field 2 ladies/girls teams and 28 schoolboy teams from under 9 to under 16. We also run a very successful u/6 and u/8-coaching school on Sunday morning catering for up to 30 children and, of course, the youths team, who provide new players to the senior teams every season.
The magnificent clubhouse, training facilities, new all weather pitches, showers and dressing rooms are a tribute to the dedication and hard work of successive committees through the years.
