AFC Bournemouth 1 Fulham 0

Premier League

Monday 14 April 2025

Cherries chapter

The context

Our long-awaited 92^nd League ground. It seemed hard to believe we were finally here. Dean Court’s modest size made tickets almost impossibly scarce, so John and I – after years of frustration – eventually gave in and trekked here last November for a women’s game. This secured the precious loyalty points that qualified us for tonight’s basic hospitality package.  

The history

Bournemouth didn’t exist as such until Victorian times. This area had been open heathland, frequented only by grazing cattle and an occasional farmer or smuggler. But many such isolated communities became thriving resorts during the late nineteenth century. Before long Thomas Hardy commented on its “glittering novelty” in Tess of the D’Urbervilles as royalty, politicians and well-off thrill-seekers came here to sample the sea air.

Railways helped make the seaside popular. Bournemouth soon had two principal stops, East – for services towards Bath – and West, which connected with the main Waterloo line at Christchurch. Population rose from 600 to 60,000, while neighbouring villages such as Boscombe, Westbourne and Pokesdown grew equally rapidly and became part of a new municipal borough.   

West station became Bournemouth Central in 1899. Most services terminated at East until Beeching closed it; the Pines Express ran daily between there and Manchester Mayfield, while dozens of long-distance trains arrived from Northern towns on summer Saturdays. Enthusiasts flocked to see unfamiliar steam locomotives that brought heavy passenger trains over Somerset’s notorious gradients.

Many impressive civic buildings were built. Hardy’s rural characters marvelled at piers (Bournemouth and Boscombe each had one), pine groves, promenades and covered gardens. The Prince of Wales installed Lillie Langtry, his reputed mistress, at Red House; Mont Dore Hotel residents could take specially-imported Auvergne spring water, and Westbourne Arcade offered high-class shops beneath a covered arcade.

This became the first municipal town to regularly provide live music for residents. A four-thousand capacity Winter Gardens – modelled on the Crystal Palace – opened in 1893, hosting concerts conducted by Edward Elgar, Hubert Parry, Gustav Holst and Jean Sibelius. Bournemouth Pavilion could stage both top West End productions and popular music-hall shows..   

Football also thrived. Local club Boscombe had been Southern League members since 1920; they now joined the Football League as Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, and would remain a Third Division side for fifty consecutive – if mostly unremarkable – seasons. Their simple ground stood in King’s Park, near the site of Thistledown Barrow and surrounded by sedate public gardens laid out to commemorate Edward VII’s coronation.                       

Decades of safe predictability ended in 1969-70 with relegation to Division Four. John Bond’s entertaining team nevertheless went straight back up, with Ted MacDougall and Phil Boyer scoring 53 goals between them. The pair had previously been equally prolific for York; they later – with many other members of that Bournemouth side – played for Bond at Norwich City.

The club celebrated promotion by renaming themselves AFC Bournemouth. An impressionistic new badge – supposedly depicting celebrated former player Dickie Dowsett – was also designed. MacDougall just carried on scoring. He added another thirty-five League goals to his forty-two from 1970-71, and scored three hat-tricks in the 11-0 FA Cup rout of non-League Margate.

MacDougall’s diving header in front of 48,000 at Villa Park on 12 February 1972 thrilled Match of the Day viewers. But a 2-1 defeat pushed Bournemouth into third place, which – in days when only two teams went up – was where they ultimately finished. First Division managers began eyeing their prolific goalscorer; there seemed little choice but to accept when Manchester United offered £200,000 for him.

It was 1987 before Bournemouth finally experienced Second Division football. The man responsible – ambitious young manager, Harry Redknapp – had made a hundred appearances here when he left West Ham. Redknapp returned in 1983-4 after coaching Seattle Sounders, Phoenix Fire and Oxford City; his team avoided relegation to Division Four, also memorably beating Manchester United in the FA Cup.

The Second Division interlude that followed was brief. Things might have been very different but for desperate luck with injuries during 1989-90, which turned that season’s final fixture – against promotion-chasing Leeds at Dean Court – into a must-win affair for both teams. Carnage ensued as thousands of travelling fans left a trail of havoc behind them. Leeds won 1-0.   

For all its destructive unpleasantness that long Bank Holiday weekend proved pivotal. Sky TV’s pernicious influence gradually strangled football’s traditionally visceral culture, and comparable disorder would never again be seen at any British ground. Redknapp, meanwhile, was hospitalised after a car crash while visiting Italy for the World Cup; Bournemouth flew him home and quietly resumed lower-league mediocrity.

Harry Redknapp had started out at West Ham in 1965. His team mates included World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. He eventually managed four Premier League clubs, eventually seeing Bournemouth become unlikely members of the same self-declared elite. No one can better claim to have witnessed football’s metamorphosis from working-class sport to global business.   

The journey 

welcome

Sky helpfully moved the game at short notice from Saturday afternoon. We therefore booked Premier Inn rooms near Bournemouth station, and – anxious lest anything should go wrong – were driving past Wessex Way’s famous welcome sign not long after midday. Plenty of Fulham fans had already arrived. “Going to football?” enquired the man on reception.   

The ground

smaller

Simon Inglis described 1980s Dean Court as “immovable, like park benches in autumn.” The Main Stand – brightened up for many years by its red and white striped paddock wall, but later rebuilt as one seated tier – had once sheltered Wembley diners at the 1923 British Empire Exhibition. This unlikely structure was acquired to supplement the ground’s only existing stand, a much smaller shelter built before World War I. 

ahead

The so-called New Stand opposite dated from 1957. Narrow covered standing was funded by Freddie Cox’s team reaching that year’s FA Cup quarter-final, during which they beat First Division sides Wolves and Tottenham before playing Manchester United. 29,000 fans packed Dean Court to see the Busby Babes; Brian Bedford put Bournemouth ahead, but two Johnny Berry goals proved enough for their famous visitors.   

gaunt (Bob Lilliman)

Terraced ends rounded off this quintessential Third Division ground. One – nearest Kings Park Drive – had been roofed in 1936; the ironically-named Brighton Beach End opposite offered basic facilities for away fans, mercilessly exposing them to Dorset’s frequent rain and fog. Bournemouth drew up ambitious plans for a new stand and sports centre here, but costs spiralled and only the project’s gaunt steel skeleton was ever completed.  

adequate

Taylor’s overreactive demands could only be addressed by completely rebuilding Dean Court’s perfectly adequate facilities. Plenty of space existed to do so; this permitted an innovative approach that saw the pitch rotated 180 degrees, so that Thistlebarrow Road now ran behind one goal and extra circulation space was created behind three prefabricated stands. Bournemouth played eight home games at Dorchester while construction work took place.     

open (Manuel Martin)

Twelve years went by before finances permitted a permanent stand on the open southern touchline. This raised capacity to its present modest level. Premier League paraphernalia notwithstanding, Dean Court’s appearance and ambience have changed little since. Everything remains quintessentially Third Division; rosy-cheeked schoolboys still chant “Boscombe, back of the net” at corners, while Dowsett’s psychodelic badge is proudly worn fifty years on.  

Flesh and wine

likely

No-one had to drive now until tomorrow morning. Bournemouth’s many civilised tourist attractions accordingly stood little chance against the nearest likely-looking boozer, where several hours passed happily by among assorted cider drinkers, Northern expats and its acerbic Scottish landlady. We departed for the ground nicely oiled and with their kind wishes ringing in our ears. 

tent

Down at Dean Court the King’s Plaza had opened for business. A simple tent offered free food and drink; its strict opening hours were presumably aimed at preventing rowdiness, but these well-intentioned rules actually served only to make everyone drink faster. We felt duty bound to be last out, and somehow remained upright for the last few yards between here and our final turnstile.    

The game

sat down

We had scarcely sat down before Antoine Semenyo loped around statuesque defenders and scored directly in front of us. It should have been 2-0 when Evanilson’s volley struck the bar; Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon then fluffed good chances for Fulham, before visiting ‘keeper Bernd Leno pushed away a goalbound Alex Scott effort at his near post.

pints

Fulham found another gear after the break. Alex Iwobi played particularly well and only Kepa’s excellent save kept him out. But chances had been few in this tight contest between two Europa League hopefuls; we found plenty of thinking time as our precious landmark match ticked towards ninety minutes, and put it to good use by deciding that another few pints were called for.    

Teams and goals

Bournemouth: Kepa, Kerkez, Senesi (Zabarrnyi 46), Huijsen, Smith, Cook, Adams, Ouattara, Scott (Tavernier 65), Semenyo (Soler 89), Evanilson. Unused subs: Araujo, Brooks, Dennis, Hill, Jebbison, Winterburn.  

Fulham: Leno, Robinson, Bassey, Andersen, Castagne, Lukic (Willian 85), Berge (Cairney 59), Iwobi, Pereira (Smith-Rowe 69), Sessegnon (Traore 57), Muniz (Jimenez 57). Unused subs: Benda, Cuenca, Reed, Tete.     

Goal: Semenyo 1.  

Attendance 11,195.