Editing Gillingham F.C. (section)

===Early years===
[[File:Gills1913.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|The official announcement of the club's change of name in 1913|alt=A document announcing that New Brompton Football Club has changed its name to Gillingham Football Club, dated 1913]]
The local success of a junior football side, Chatham Excelsior F.C., encouraged a group of businessmen to meet with a view to creating a football club which could compete in larger competitions. New Brompton F.C. was formed at the meeting, held on 18 May 1893, New [[Brompton, Kent|Brompton]] being a settlement adjacent to Gillingham.{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=1}}  The founders also purchased the plot of land which later became [[Priestfield Stadium]].{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=8}}  The new club played its first match on 2 September 1893, losing 5–1 to [[Arsenal F.C.|Woolwich Arsenal]]'s reserve side in front of a crowd of 2,000.{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=4}}  New Brompton were among the founder members of the [[Southern Football League|Southern League]] upon its creation in 1894, and were placed in Division Two. They were named Champions in the first season ([[1894–95 in English football|1894–95]]) going on to defeat [[Swindon Town F.C.|Swindon Town]] in a [[Test match (association football)|test match]] to win promotion.{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=5}}

In the seasons that followed, the club struggled in Division One, finishing bottom in the [[1907–08 in English football|1907–08]] season,<ref name="FCHD">{{cite web
| url = https://www.fchd.info/GILLINGH.HTM
| title = Gillingham
| access-date = 3 October 2021
| publisher = The Football Club History Database
| archive-date = 9 May 2008
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080509173818/http://www.fchd.info/GILLINGH.HTM
| url-status = live
}}</ref> avoiding relegation only due to expansion of the league. Whilst the club's league performance was disappointing, the side did manage a famous cup victory over [[Football League First Division]] [[Sunderland A.F.C.|Sunderland]] and held [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]] to a draw before losing in the replay.{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=6}} In 1912 the directors passed a resolution to change the club's name to Gillingham F.C., and the team played under this name throughout the [[1912–13 in English football|1912–13]] season, although the change was not officially ratified by the shareholders until the following year.{{sfn|Elligate|2009|p=102}}  The team finished bottom of Division One in the [[1919–20 in English football|1919–20]] season but for a third time avoided relegation, due to the subsequent elevation of all Southern League Division One clubs to form the new [[Football League Division Three]].{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=10}}