How to Bet on Bournemouth

The club began in the autumn of 1899 as Boscombe and spent its first seasons in junior football, graduating to senior amateur football in 1905–06. A lease on wasteland next to Kings Park in 1910 gave them a ground, and in 1923 the name became Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. A rebrand as AFC Bournemouth came in 1971–72. Harry Redknapp turned them into a cup-giant-killer, with a victory over holders Manchester United in January 1984 and the Associate Members' Cup that May, then took them to the second tier for the first time as Third Division champions in 1987. Administration in February 2008 brought a ten-point deduction and nearly the end of the club. The great escape came in the final home game of 2008–09, a 2–1 win over Grimsby Town. Eddie Howe returned in October 2012 and led them to the Championship, then to the title in 2014–15 on the final day with a 3–0 win at Charlton Athletic, and with it the club reached English football's top table for the first time. A drop back to the Championship ended in 2021–22, when Scott Parker's side clinched promotion in the penultimate match.

Dean Court has been Bournemouth's home since the club took its long lease in 1910, and it sits in Bournemouth itself. The capacity is 12,357, which makes it one of the smallest grounds in the Premier League, and that is exactly the point. Everything is close to the pitch, the atmosphere is intimate and the visiting team is never far from a loud home end. It is a ground that shows how a modest club can make a small stadium work for it: tight, noisy and awkward to play at, with little room for the opposition to hide when the home side is on the front foot.

The deepest grudge belongs to Leeds United, and it dates to 5 May 1990. Leeds fans came to town on a spring bank holiday and left a trail of disorder and damage, an episode Bournemouth supporters have never forgiven. The Leeds meeting carries real bad blood, and the feeling is mutual enough that it is widely seen as the most intense rivalry the club has. The map tells a different story. A fan poll called The League of Love and Hate in August 2019 put near neighbours Southampton at the top of the hate list, with Portsmouth, Brighton and Hove Albion, Reading and Leeds behind them in that order. That makes the south-coast fixtures feel like local derbies, with Southampton the biggest of them, while the Leeds game is the one that runs on memory.