Alton F.C.

Alton
Full name Alton Football Club
Nickname(s) The Brewers
Founded 1947
Ground Anstey Park, Alton
Capacity 2,000 (200 seated)[1]
Chairman Jim McKell
League Wessex League Division One
2017–18 Wessex League Division One, 8th of 19
Website Club website

Alton Football Club is a football club based in Alton, Hampshire, England. They are currently members of the Wessex League Division One and play at Anstey Park.

History

Alton Town Football Club was established in 1947.[2] They joined Division Two of the Hampshire League and won the division in 1948–49, resulting in promotion to Division One.[3] The 1950–51 season saw them finish as runners-up in Division One.[3] Although they were relegated at the end of the 1953–54 season, the club were Division Two champions the following season, earning an immediate promotion back to Division One.[3] They were Division One runners-up in 1956–57 and league champions in 1957–58.

Alton were Division One runners-up again in 1962–63.[4] In 1972–73 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 5–1 at Fourth Division Newport County. At the end of the season they left the Hampshire League to join Division Two of the Athenian League. After winning Division Two at the first attempt, there were promoted to Division One.[5] The league was reduced to a single division in 1977, and after finishing bottom of the league in 1980–81, the club switched to the expanded Combined Counties League, where they were placed in the Western Division. They were Western Division runners-up in 1981–82 and the following season the league reverted to a single division.[5]

After finishing second-from-bottom of the Combined Counties League in 1983–84, Alton dropped into Division Three of the Hampshire League. They finished bottom of the division for the next two seasons, but after it was disbanded in 1986 they were moved up to Division Two. They went on to win the Division Two title in 1986–87 and were promoted to Division One. In 1989–90 they were Division One runners-up.[5]

In 1991 Alton Town merged with fellow Hampshire League Division One club Bass Alton. The new club was initially known as Alton Town Bass, before becoming Bass Alton Town the following season.[6] In 1998 they were renamed Alton Town,[5] and were Division One champions in 1998–99. Division One was renamed the Premier Division at the end of the season and Alton were Premier Division champions in 2001–02, earning promotion to the Wessex League. When the league gained a second division in 2004 they were placed in Division One, which was renamed the Premier Division in 2006.[5]

Alton were transferred to the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League in 2013, but finished in the relegation zone in their first season in the division, resulting in relegation to Division One.[5] In 2015 they were transferred back to the Wessex League, rejoining Division One.[5] They were renamed Alton Football Club in 2016.[7]

Season-by-season

Ground

The club play at Anstey Park, which was the home ground of the original Alton Town club.[8] The merged club played at the Bass Ground before moving to Anstey Park in 2015 as its owners, Coors Brewers, sought to use the site for redevelopment.[9] Coors funded a refurbishment of the Anstey Road ground, which included a new grandstand (replacing an older one), new floodlights and an artificial pitch.[8][9] A new covered stand was opened in 2017, replacing one that had been removed during the redevelopment work.[8]

Honours

  • Athenian League
    • Division One champions 1973–74
  • Hampshire League
    • Champions 1957–58, 1998–99, 2001–02
    • Division Two champions 1948–49, 1954–55, 1986–87
  • Hampshire Senior Cup
    • Winners 1957–88, 1968–69, 1971–72, 1977–78[2]

Records

See also

  • Alton F.C. players
  • Alton F.C. managers

References

  1. ↑ Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) Non-League Club Directory 2013, p804 ISBN 978-1-869833-77-0
  2. 1 2 Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2016) Non-League Club Directory 2017, Tony Williams Publications, p453 ISBN 978-1869833695
  3. 1 2 3 Hampshire League 1948–1960 Non-League Matters
  4. ↑ Hampshire League 1960–1970 Non-League Matters
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Alton Town at the Football Club History Database
  6. ↑ Alton Town Bass at the Football Club History Database
  7. ↑ Alton at the Football Club History Database
  8. 1 2 3 "Alton", Groundtastic, Autumn 2017, issue 90, p19
  9. 1 2 Historic day at Anstey Park as new G3 pitch is opened Alton Herald, 10 December 2015
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.