Bournemouth Sports Reserves

Bournemouth Sports Reserves - "Phoenix" - evolved from the original team that arrived at Chapel Gate in 2009. As Mercury FC we won the Sunday Hampshire Cup in 2009, followed by Phoenix achieving the domestic treble in 2010 - the Sunday Premier League, the MA Hart Robbins Cup and the MA Hart Sunday Senior Cup.

The team then overreached themselves by joining the Hampshire Premier League and three years of long distances and an ageing squad saw us limp back to local football, winning the MA Hart Pickford Cup in 2017.

In 2019 we joined the Dorset Football League and have since progressed from Division 3, gaining promotion to the Dorset Senior League at the start of the 2024/25 season.

We narrowly missed winning silverware last season, coming second to Silchester United in the Hampshire FA Vase cup final in May.

We are a mix of youth and experience and our current brief is to help develop a pathway for our youth players to become adult players at a level that they are best suited to. Unfortunately, we don't have many youth players coming through currently so the squad is focused on self improvement and finishing as high as we can in the Dorset Senior League.

Although many players have represented this team for 5-10 years, a fair number playing 100-200 games, we welcome new players and have a strong association with Bournemouth University over the last 15 years.

The team has two experienced managers - Dave Gunter and Steve Ellis - supported by two qualified coaches - Ryan Watts (UEFA B) and Rory Frampton (UEFA C), and we take pride in playing progressive football and representing a wonderful community football Club.