Page 12 - Longwell Green Sports v Radstock Town 030224

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RADSTOCK TOWN FC

Formation: Programme notes from a game in 1937 suggest that foot ball was being
played in Radstock as early as 1835 but there is no solid evidence to back that up.
However, there are newspaper match reports from 1883 so, it can be safely
assumed that the club was actually formed in the early 1880's.
Radstock Wanderers was the club’s name from 1889 until they changed to
Radstock Town after affiliating to the Somerset FA in 1895.
Ground: In the early days the club played on a ground off of the Old Bath Road
situated where a Primary School stood until recently. It was officially called
Roundhill but was known locally as ‘Hilltop'. In the late 1800's and early 1900's they
also played at South Hill, which is where a Bath College campus is now but at the
time was a manor house and grounds which were owned by Earl Waldergrave.
The lack of a true home became criti cal at the end of the First World War and the
club was unable to reform until 1920 when they were able to move to their current
home at South field. The first official fixture played at Southfield was on September
10th 1920 when Warminster Town were the visitors in an FA Cup tie.
The game, which Radstock won 1-0, was watched by a crowd of 700, which the
local press reported ‘greatly pleased the club committee!'
As a business: Financial issues saw the club take a couple of breaks from
competitive first team football, 1900-01 to 1902-03 and again at the end of the
1909-10 campaign. The 1914-18 war and the lack of a pitch meant that Radstock
Town didn't appear again as senior club until the 1920-21 season.
In 1930 club supporters joined to gether to create a supporters’ social club which
remains in existence to this day.

On the pitch: The club's first silver ware came when they won the inau gural
Somerset Senior Cup at the end of the 1895/96 season beating Wells City 4-0 in a
replay at Midsomer Norton following a 1-1 draw. The club has won the cup twelve
times subsequently and finished runners up on a further thirteen occasions!
Success in league competitions has been harder to come by but they have won the
Somerset Senior League six times and the Wiltshire League on four occasions.
Despite many seasons in the Western League the best position achieved was way
back in the 1920/21 season when the reformed side finished run ners up. The
1960's & 70's were the most successful in the club’s long history when they won a
remarkable 12 leagues and cups!

The 2000’s: Early in the new millen nia the club was promoted back to the Western
League and then promoted to the Premier Division at the first attempt. Life in the
Premier Division was difficult though and the best place finish was 12th in 2010/11
season. 2013/14 was a particularly traumatic campaign which saw the playing
budget withdrawn to keep the club going, the chairman resign, two mangers leave
and ended with the club being relegated!
Since then though the Chairman and committee has worked very hard to bring
stability back to the club and despite some dark moments the team remain in the
first division.