Cribbs Football Club, nicknamed “The Cribbs,” is a non-league football club based in Henbury, Gloucestershire.
They currently compete in the Pitching In Southern Football League Division One South, which is part of the eighth tier of English football. The team calls The Lawns their home ground.
Originally founded as ‘Sun Life Assurance’ in London in 1958, the club marked their 66th season recently. The club’s significant transition began in 1976 when Sun Life relocated to Bristol, prompting the establishment of the Bristol-based team. Initially, they fielded two teams in the Bristol and Avon League, playing their matches at Dundridge Farm. In 1978, the opening of the Cribbs Causeway Sports Ground, now known as The Lawns Sports Ground, saw the 1st team promoted directly to the Avon Premier Combination League, where they competed for two decades before winning the Bristol Premier Combination League in 2000 and earning promotion to the Gloucestershire County League.
In the late 1990s, following a merger between AXA Equity & Law and Sun Life Assurance Society, the club adopted the name AXA Sun Life FC, which was later shortened to AXA FC in 2002. This period marked a significant chapter in the club’s identity as it navigated through corporate mergers and rebranding efforts. By the end of the 2010/11 season, after AXA Sun Life merged with Friends Provident, the club was renamed Cribbs Friends Life.
Eventually, as the affiliation with the insurance company ended, the club embraced a new chapter as Cribbs Football Club, fully establishing its independent identity. This evolution reflects the club’s ability to adapt and thrive through various transformations over the decades, maintaining its presence and competitiveness in the non-league football scene.