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The History of Odd Down (Bath) F.C.
Odd Down AFC was founded in 1901by Messrs Fred Weaver and
brothers Walt & Stan Noad.
Odd Down then a self -contained village on the outskirts of Bath in
Somerset, played in the Bath & District League is it's formative years.
During the 1920's the club found itself playing in Wiltshire Football
League and prior to World War 11 had graduated to playing in the
Somerset Senior Football League. Regrouping after the war, Odd
Down started off again in the Somerset Senior League and in the
1946-47 season finished as runners up to Somerton, they also won the Mid-Somerset League
that season a league formed to make up for the shortage of Somerset Senior League fixtures
at that time.
From 1967 to !972 the Club formed a steering committee which worked hard to provide a
social club, eventually opening one on 5 April 1972. The hard work paid off as Odd Down
th
gained admittance to the Western Football League for the start of the 1977-78 season.
However it was to be season 1991-92 before the club won it's first major honour, lifting the
Somerset FA Senior Cup, with even more joy to come in the following season as the club won
promotion to the Great Mills Western League Premier Division after finishing 1992-93
Division One Champions
In their centenary year of 2001 Odd Down reached the final of the Somerset FA Premier Cup
for the first time , losing 1-0 to Southern League side Clevedon Town. The feat was repeated
in 2004 going down 5-0 to Yeovil Town at their Huish Park home. The same season the club
were awarded the Western League's Vice President's Trophy, for the team with the best
sportsmanship record.
During the last 20 yrs Odd Down has seen great changes both on and off the pitch. The
'Odd Down Triangle' of Mike 'Tini' Mancini, Eric Clarke and Mike Russell , unfortunately Tini
passed away a couple of games into the the 2007-07 season, shortly after being warded the
great honour of being made a life member of Toolstation Western League.
Tini's sad passing caused great problems off the pitch, which were only compounded when
the greatly respected General Secretary of the main club Steve Keen also passed away
during the season.
On the field of play the club has gone through many changes in terms of management and
playing personnel, In 2007-2008 after a period of instability in terms of management and
leadership Odd Down found themselves relegated to the first division. However, in the
2009/10 Chairman Dave Loxton , Treasurer Paul Gover and a new football committee
appointed Lee Burns as Manager. Lee has previously played over 300 games for the club and
was well known in the Western League circuit after playing for 28 seasons, he immediately
appointed Odd Down legend Mark Keen as his assistant and Alan Moxham as Director of
Football.
Lee, Mark & Alan worked extremely hard to turn the fortunes of the club around, they
created a new exciting squad, with a blend of youth and experience and the hard
work paid off handsomely as the new look team produced some outstanding results
finishing runners uo in the Toolstation Western League First Division gaining
promotion back to to the Premier Division. Dave Loxton and his team worked hard