Thornbury Town F.C.

Thornbury Town
Full name Thornbury Town F.C.
Founded 1898
Ground Mundy Playing Fields, Thornbury
Chairman Andy Shutler
Manager Andy Davies
League Hellenic League Division One West
2017–18 Gloucestershire County League, 1st of 17 (promoted)

Thornbury Town Football Club is a football club located in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, England. They are currently members of the Hellenic League Division One West and play at the Mundy Playing Fields.

The club is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA and is a FA Charter Standard Club.

As well as a first and reserve team, the club also operates youth teams from Under 6s to Under 18s. The youth teams were part of Thornbury Falcons until they merged in 2010 with the adults team and adopted the "Thornbury Town" name.

History

The exact date of the formation of the club is uncertain, but there are records of football being played in the late 1800s, with the first mention of "Thornbury Town" in 1898.[1] Before the outbreak of World War I, Thornbury played in the Dursley & Wotton League, with records of games against Chipping Sodbury Town, Wickwar and Westbury Park. During this time Dr. E. M. Grace, elder brother of W G Grace, played for the team.

After the war, the club re-formed and joined the Bristol and Suburban League. The club played in what is now the upper end of The Castle School Sixth Form Playing Field, on a pitch surrounded by an iron fence. They used changing rooms at a social club on the High Street which is now the Thornbury branch of HSBC.

In 1933, multiple clubs in the area merged to form Thornbury Sports, later becoming Thornbury A.F.C., and later, Thornbury Town A.F.C.

At the end of World War II, the club moved to its current home at the Mundy Playing Fields. After using various establishments for changing room facilities, a pavilion at the playing fields was built in 1964. After playing in the Bristol and District League, they became founding members of the Bristol Premier Combination, winning the league in the 1956–57 season.[2]

In the 1968-69 season, the club became founding members of the Gloucestershire County League and in the following season recorded attendances in excess of 500 spectators. In 1971, the club was accepted into the Western Football League after finishing third in the County League. However, the Mundy Playing Fields didn't meet the requirements, therefore, the club remained in the County until their relegation to the Bristol Premier Combination in 1977.

The club returned to the Gloucestershire County League in 2002 after many steady, but unsuccessful, seasons in the Bristol Premier Combination, finally winning the title by 13 points. The club finally won their first County League title in 2009-10, but history repeated itself with the club unable to make the step up to a higher level due to lack of facilities at the Mundys. That summer, the local youth football team, Thornbury Falcons, merged with Thornbury Town in a bid to cement the long term tradition of developing local youth talent.

After the title winning season in 2009–10, Thornbury Town struggled to repeat the success and went through multiple changes of management in the following seasons. Under the stewardship of Andy Davies, the club won the Les James League Cup for the first time beating league winners, Cheltenham Civil Service 1–0. That season the club also finished in a respectable 4th place, which they repeated for the next two seasons.

In 2017–18, the club finally improved on their three consecutive fourth-place finishes, winning the league for a second time. The club also completed the double by winning the Les James League Cup for a second time, beating Frampton United 1–0. [3] Work behind the scenes by committee members, meant the club were also in a position to apply for promotion to Step 6 of the Non-League System after receiving planning permission for a 50-seater stand, floodlights and perimeter fencing. [4] The club's application was successful and they were placed in the Hellenic Football League Division One West for the 2018-19 season. [5]

Season-by-season record

Current staff

Position Name
PresidentPaul Wisbey
ChairmanAndy Shutler
Vice-ChairmanToni Watola
TreasurerPete Webber
SecretariesMike Pengelly & Pam Howard
1st XI ManagerAndy Davies
1st XI PhysioMalcolm Carr
1st XI AssistantNathan Irwin
2nd XI ManagerJake Shutler
Under 18 ManagersSimon Evans & Craig Griffiths

Honours

  • Gloucestershire County League
    • Champions 2009–10, 2017–18
    • Les James League Cup Winners 2014–15, 2017–18
  • Bristol Premier Combination
    • Premier Division Champions 1956–57, 2001–02
    • Division Two Champions 1965–66
  • Bristol & District League
    • Division Three Champions 1949–50
  • Harry Greening Memorial Trophy
    • Winners 2003–04[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Thornbury Town FC - Homepage". Thornbury Town FC. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  2. ↑ Phillips, Wallace. "Thornbury AFC". Thornbury Roots. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  3. ↑ Palmer, Jon. "Thornbury Town win cup and do the double as they beat Frampton United". Thornbury Gazette. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  4. ↑ Sims, Aaron (6 April 2018). "Pitch upgrades approval boosts Thornbury Town promotion bid". Thornbury Gazette. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  5. ↑ "The FA's League Committee reveal provisional Step 5&6 club allocations for the 2018/19 season". The Non-League Football Paper.
  6. ↑ "Thornbury Town Vs Patchway Town". Issuu. Tom Shorey.

Coordinates: 51°36′21″N 2°31′51″W / 51.605815°N 2.5307773°W / 51.605815; -2.5307773

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