During the 1919–20 English football season, Gillingham F.C. played in the Southern League Division One. It was the 22nd season in which the club competed in the Southern League, and the 21st in Division One; prior to the season, the club had been inactive for over four years due to the First World War. George Collins was appointed as the club's new manager, and most of the players were new; the club struggled to find a settled team during the season, fielding nearly 40 players, including six goalkeepers. The team's results included a run of 14 league games, from October to February, without a win. Gillingham finished bottom of the league table but nonetheless gained entry to the national Football League when it absorbed the entirety of the Southern League Division One.
Gillingham, founded in 1893 and known as New Brompton until 1912,[2] had played in the Southern League since the competition's formation in 1894. The team had been promoted from Division Two in 1895 and remained in Division One ever since but with minimal success, rarely finishing in the top half of the league table.[3] The 1919–20 season was the first time the Southern League operated after the First World War; Gillingham had not played a competitive match since the 1914–15 season, when they had finished bottom of the table.[3][4] Earlier in the year, the Southern League had proposed an amalgamation with the national Football League, but it was rejected.[5]
In July, George Collins was appointed as Gillingham's new manager in place of Sam Gilligan, who did not return to the club after the war. As was the norm at the time, Collins had responsibility for team tactics and training, but other tasks associated with a modern manager, such as the signing of new players, were the responsibility of the club's secretary, William Ironside Groombridge.[6] Most of the Gillingham players from the final season before the war did not return, and the club signed a host of new players to take their place.[7] The new signings included Arthur Wood, a forward who had last played for Fulham of the Football League Second Division; he was able to resume his career despite having suffered an injury while fighting in the war which necessitated the insertion of a metal plate into his forehead and limited his ability to head the ball.[8] Other new players to join Gillingham included Bobby Beale, a goalkeeper born in nearby Maidstone who had previously played over a hundred Football League games for Manchester United,[9] and David Chalmers, a Scottish forward who had also seen active service during the war.[10][11] The team reverted to wearing a kit of black-and-white striped shirts, white shorts, and black socks, which had been the club's colours from its formation until shortly before the war when a blue and red kit was adopted.[12][13]
