Full name | Hartley Wintney Football Club |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Row |
Founded | 1897 |
Ground | The Memorial Playing Fields, Hartley Wintney |
Capacity | 2,000 |
Chairman | Luke Mullen |
Manager | Daniel Brownlie and Anthony Millerick |
League | Combined Counties League Premier Division |
2015–16 | Combined Counties League Premier Division, 1st |
Website | www |
Hartley Wintney Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in the village of Hartley Wintney, England. They are members of the Combined Counties League Premier Division. The club maintain a fierce local rivalry with a number of Hampshire-based clubs, most notably Whitchurch United, Fleet Town and Camberley Town. The club nickname of 'The Row' stems from the fact that Hartley Row was/is a hamlet since subsumed by the spread of Hartley Wintney itself.
Hartley Wintney Football Club was established in 1897. The club was a founder member of the Home Counties Football League in 1978. The league was renamed the Combined Counties League the following season. They were runners-up in 1980–81, and won the league in 1982–83. In the 1992–93 season, they reached the Third Round of the FA Vase. Hartley Wintney were relegated to Division One in 2005, but returned to the Premier Division after finishing third in 2008–09. However, they were relegated back to Division One the following season. The club was promoted to the Premier Division again in 2011–12 after finishing third. After a poor start to the 2012–13 campaign manager Dave Tuttle was replaced by former player Ben Dillon as Interim manager until the end of the season. Dillon reshaped the playing squad with the help of assistant Joe Lawler, first team coach Jason Minton. In February 2013 Dillon's job was made permanent with the club seemingly safe from relegation.
The club has recently been more well known through its heroics in the FA Cup that in 2012–13 saw the side reach their best ever qualifying performance in the FA Cup reaching the Fourth Qualifying Round after beating Clevedon Town in a thrilling game that ended 4–3. It was not to be a dream come true though as Ben Dillon's side were beaten heavily at home by Daventry Town 6–1 which set up a dream cup tie for Daventry against Chesterfield.
After Dillon's resignation, Daniel Brownlie & Anthony Millerick were appointed joint managers, and Joe Lawler remained as assistant manager. Luke Tuffs was made first team head coach. Under the new management team the club went from strength to strength – an exciting FA Cup run that included the scalps of Fleet Town and Merthyr ended in added time at National League South side Eastbourne Borough in the Third Qualifying Round. 2–0 down Hartley Wintney pulled the game back to 2–2 only to concede in the dying minutes. Their run in the FA Vase took the club from the 1st Qualifying Round to the 5th Round Proper – the furthest the club has been in this competition – only to be defeated 4–1 by eventual finalists Hereford in front of an impressive all-ticket crowd of 1120. But the icing on the cake was sealing the Combined Counties Premiership title for the second time in the club's history.