page_title: Bournemouth
section_title: Sport
hierarchical_section_title: Bournemouth / Sport
caption_attribution_description: English: Panorama of Goldsands Stadium (Dean Court) from East Stand. Prior to Football League Championship fixture 14/9/2013 AFC Bournemouth v Blackpool FC.
context_page_description: Bournemouth is a coastal resort town on the south coast of England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest in the administrative county of Dorset. With Poole to the west and Christchurch in the east, Bournemouth is part of the South East Dorset conurbation, which has a population of 465,000.
  Before it was founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, the area was a deserted heathland occasionally visited by fishermen and smugglers. Initially marketed as a health resort, the town received a boost when it appeared in Augustus Granville's 1841 book, The Spas of England. Bournemouth's growth accelerated with the arrival of the railway, and it became a town in 1870. Part of the historic county of Hampshire, Bournemouth joined Dorset for administrative purposes following the reorganisation of local government in 1974. Through local government changes in 1997, the town began to be administered by a unitary authority independent of Dorset County Council, although it remains part of that ceremonial county.
context_section_description: The town has a professional football club, AFC Bournemouth, known as the Cherries, which play in the Championship  AFC Bournemouth play at Dean Court near Boscombe in Kings' Park, 2 miles (3 km) east of the town centre.
  Bournemouth Rugby Club, which competes in the National League Division Two South, has its home at the Bournemouth Sports Club, next to Bournemouth Airport, where it hosts an annual Bournemouth Sevens Festival, a combined Rugby sevens and netball tournament with an associated food, drink, music and entertainment festival. Oakmeadians RFC is the oldest RFU Accredited Rugby Club in Bournemouth, established in 1963.They train and play at Meyrick Park competing in the South West Division. Bournemouth Cricket Club also plays at Bournemouth Sports Club and is reported to be one of the biggest cricket clubs in the country. Its first team plays in the Southern Premier League.Dean Park is a former county cricket ground, once home to Hampshire County Cricket Club and later Dorset County Cricket Club. Today it is a venue for university cricket.
  The BIC has become a venue for a round of the Premier League Darts Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation.
  The Bournemouth Rowing Club, is the town's coastal rowing club. Established in 1865 as Westover and Bournemouth Rowing Club, it is reported to be the oldest sporting association in the county. The club regularly competes in regattas organised by the Hants and Dorset Amateur Rowing Association which take place on the South Coast of England between May and September.
  Other watersports popular in Poole Bay include sailing and surfing, and there are a number of local schools for the beginner to learn either sport. Bournemouth has the third largest community of surfers in the UK and in 2009 an artificial surf reef, one of only four in the world, was constructed there. The reef failed to deliver the promised grade 5 wave, suffered a series of delays and ran over budget, finally costing £3.2 million.
caption: AFC Bournemouth's Dean Court
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