Gillingham FC is an football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium. Founded as New Brompton F.C. in May 1893, the club were among the founder members of the Southern League upon its creation in 1894, and were placed in Division Two. They were champions in the first season (1894–95) going on to defeat Swindon Town in a test match to win promotion. In 1912 the directors passed a resolution to change the club's name to Gillingham F.C.  They joined the Football League in 1919 as a result of the  elevation of all Southern League Division One clubs to form the new Football League Division Three. Gillingham spent the succeeding years fighting relegation until 1938 when they were voted out of the league in favour of Ipswich Town. The club re-joined the Southern League but returned to the League in 1950 when it was decided to extend the two regional Third Divisions of the Football League. The club struggled initially to avoid relegation but in 1964 their fortunes improved when they won the Division Four title. For the following two seasons Gillingham came close to promotion to the Second Division. By the early 1970s the club was in decline and 1971 were relegated to the Fourth Division. They returned to Division Three in 1974 where they remained until 1989. In the Eighties the Gills established themselves as one of the stronger sides in the division, reaching the play-offs in 1987 only to slip back down to Division Four in 1989.  In 1996 Gillingham won automatic promotion to Division Two (previously the Third Division). Between 2000 and 2005, Gillingham were in the second tier of the English football league system for the only time in their history, achieving a club record highest league finish of eleventh place in 2002–03.  Under servere financial difficulties Gillingham slipped down the leagues and in 2008 they were relegated to League Two, the lowest tier of the Football League. They bounced back after winning the League Two play-off final in 2009. In the 2009-10  season, the club  slipped into the bottom four on the last day, and were relegated back to League Two, having failed to win a single away game in the league all season. They were League Two Champions in 2012-13 and remained in the third tier of English football until relegated at the end of the 2021-22 season.