Page 20 - Shirehampton FC v Radstock Town 290822

RADSTOCK TOWN F.C.

Formation: Pro gramme notes from a game in 1937 suggest that
football 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 as sumed that the club was actually
formed in the early 1880’s. Radstock Wanderers was the clubs 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 owned by Earl Walder- grave.
The lack of a true home became critical at the end of the First World War
and the club was unable to re form until 1920 when they were able to
move to their current home at Southfield. The first official fixture played
at Southfield was on Sep tember 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 apparently ‘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 Midsom- er 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 clubs 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 continued
promoted to the Premier Division at the first attempt. Life in the Premier