Crawley Town Football Club is an English football league club founded in 1896, and based in Crawley, West Sussex. Formed in 1896, Crawley Town became founding members of the West Sussex Football League that year where they remained  for five years before transferring to the Mid-Sussex League.  They stayed at this level until they entered the Sussex County League in 1951 before switching again five years later to the Metropolitan League, which was a competition for both professional and amateur sides. Crawley turned semi-professional in 1962 and the following year they joined Division One of the Southern League. In 1969 they were promoted to Premier Division of the Southern League but the joy was short lived as the following season they were relegated back to the Dirst Division where they remained until the 1983–84 season when they were promoted as runners-up. They remained in the Southern League for the next twenty years before securing promotion to the Confence in 2004. The club became fully professional in 2005 but over-reached themselves and were only saved from liquidation in August 2006 by a last-minute rescue package. The following season Crawley just managed to retain their place despite a ten-point penalty, by securing a point in their final game. A further six-point penalty was imposed the following season for financial irregularities but they again held on to their place in the Conference. The club survived another financial crisis to win promotion to the Football League in the 2010–11 season. Crawley Town spent three seasons in League Two before relegation in 2015.  The club spent 48 years at their Town Mead home until the land was sold to developers in 1997. They then moved to the Broadfield Stadium, about two miles across town.