Full name | Swanage Town & Herston Football Club |
---|---|
Founded | 1898 |
Ground | Days Park, Swanage |
Chairman | Mark Watson |
Manager | Tim Brown |
League | Dorset Premier League |
2015–16 | Dorset Premier League, 8th |
Swanage Town & Herston Football Club is a football club based in Swanage, Dorset, England. The club is affiliated to the Dorset County Football Association. They are currently members of the Dorset Premier League.
The club was formed in 1898 as Swanage Albion Football Club, joining the Dorset Junior League and winning the Dorset Junior Cup in their first season. The club then made it to the Dorset Senior League during the 1920s. The 1920s also saw the club move from their original ground at Swanage Middle School, to Days Park and change their name to Swanage Town.
In the 1957–58 season the club became one of the founder members of the Dorset Combination League. The first season in the league proved very successful as the club became the leagues first winners. The next five seasons saw the club finish in the top two, by winning the league three times in a row for the 1959–60, 1960–61 and 1961–62 campaigns, and finishing Runners up for the 1958–59, and 1962–63 seasons. The 1961–62 campaign also saw the club enter the FA Cup for the first time in their history, losing to Bridport in the first qualifying round.
In 1966 Swanage Town merged with local side Herston Rovers F.C., who had been playing in the Dorset Combination league for five seasons, and the club was renamed Swanage Town & Herston F.C.. The club then stayed in the Dorset Combination League for another ten seasons, until the end of the 1975–76 competition when they left the league to join the newly reformed Division One of the Western Football League.
After eleven seasons in Division the club gained promotion to the Premier Division, when they finished as Champions in the Division. The 1989–90 campaign saw the club play their last season in the Western league as they then joined the Wessex Football League. The last season in the Western league saw the club clinch the Dorset Senior Cup for the first and only time, when they beat Weymouth 1–0 in the final. The first season in the Wessex Football League saw the club finish runners-up. The 1990–91 season also saw the club reach the Dorset Senior Cup final again, but this time lost to Weymouth 5–1.