Dereham Town F.C.

Dereham Town
Full name Dereham Town Football Club
Nickname(s) The Magpies
Founded 1884
Ground Aldiss Park, Dereham
Ground Capacity 2,500 (50 seated)[1]
Ground Coordinates 52°40′56.68″N 0°58′20.93″E / 52.6824111°N 0.9724806°E / 52.6824111; 0.9724806
Chairman Ray Bales
Manager Matt Henman
League Isthmian League
Division One North
2015–16 Isthmian League
Division One North, 9th

Dereham Town F.C. is an English football club based in Dereham, Norfolk. The club are currently members of Division One North of the Isthmian League and play at Aldiss Park.

History

The club was founded as Dereham F.C. in 1884, spending many of its early years in the Dereham & District League. In 1891–92 the club reached the final of the Norfolk Senior Cup, losing to CEYMS.[2] By 1910 the club were playing in the Norwich & District League and had been renamed East Dereham.[3] In 1920 they adopted their current name and in 1935 they joined the Norfolk & Suffolk League, which had lost several clubs to the newly established Eastern Counties League. When the N&SL merged into the Anglian Combination, the club were placed in the Senior B Division. They won at the first attempt and were promoted Premier Division. They were renamed Dereham Hobbies United in 1986 after a local Sunday league team merged into the club. They were relegated from the Premier Division at the end of the 1988–89 season, but made an immediate return to the Premier Division as Division One champions. In 1991 they returned to the name Dereham Town.[3]

In 1997–98 they won the Anglian Combination Premier Division, earning promotion to Division One of the Eastern Counties League, and also won the Don Frost Memorial Cup in the same season. In 2001–02 the club finished second in Division One, beating Stanway Rovers 1–0 on the final day to overtake them and earn promotion to the Premier Division. The club won the Norfolk Senior Cup in 2006, defeating Norwich United 1–0, and again in 2007 when Wroxham were beaten 1–0.

In 2012-13 they won the Eastern Counties League Premier Division, earning promotion to Division One North of the Isthmian League.[4]

Reserve team

After the club were promoted to the Isthmian League, the reserve team joined Division One of the Eastern Counties League.

Grounds

Prior to World War II the club played at Bayfields Meadow, after which they moved to the Recreation Ground. However, the council owned the ground and there was no scope for upgrading it.[3] In 1991, the club purchased a 10.2-acre (41,000 m2) site on the outskirts of the town in order to build a new £750,000 stadium.

The club moved to the new ground at Aldiss Park in December 1996. At the start of 2000–01 season Norwich City visited Aldiss Park for a pre-season friendly and although the club lost 9–0, a new record attendance of 1,800 was set. Norwich City visited for another friendly match in July 2001, with a new record of 3,000 being set.

Honours

Records

References

  1. 1 2 Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) Non-League Club Directory 2013, p645 ISBN 978-1-869833-77-0
  2. Club History Dereham Town FC
  3. 1 2 3 Blakeman, M (2010) The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935-2010, Volume II ISBN 978-1-908037-02-2
  4. "Dereham Town crowned champions". EDP. Retrieved 27 April 2013.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.