Downton Football Club is a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in
Downton, near
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
,
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Affiliated to the
Wiltshire Football Association
The Wiltshire Football Association is the governing body of football in the English county of Wiltshire. Affiliated members pay a fee commensurate with the level of competition they play in, and benefit from access to support and guidance on such ...
, they are currently members of the and play at the Brian Whitehead Sports Ground on Wick Lane.
History
The club was established in September 1905.
[History]
Downton F.C. They joined the Salisbury & District League after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and were promoted to Division One at the end of the 1919–20 season. However, the club were relegated back to Division Two in 1923–24.
[ The following season saw them win the league's Norman Court Cup, which they won again five times before ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and three times after the war. The club also won the Wiltshire Junior Cup in 1949–50.[ In 1950 they joined the Bournemouth League, quickly gaining promotion to Division One. After winning Division One on five occasions, the club was promoted to Senior Division One at the end of the 1958–59 season and went on to win the league seven times in the next nine seasons, also winning the League Cup in 1961–62, 1963–64 and 1966–67, as well as the Bournemouth Senior Cup in 1962–63.][
In 1968 Downton moved up to Division Three West of the ]Hampshire League
The Hampshire League was a football league in Hampshire, England. During its heyday its constitution consisted of four divisions with over 60 clubs taking part - this included a vast number of semi-professional teams and Reserve/’A’ sides of ...
.Hampshire League 1960–1970
Non-League Matters League reorganisation saw them become members of Division Three in 1971 as the regional divisions were abolished and replaced with a third and fourth tier.
Non-League Matters[ A third-place finish in Division Two the following season saw them promoted to Division One,][ with the club also winning the Bournemouth Senior Cup and the Wiltshire Senior Cup.][Senior Challenge Cup competition results]
Wiltshire FA They retained the Wiltshire Senior Cup the following season.[ Although the club avoided relegation after finishing bottom of Division One in 1984–85, they finished bottom of the division again the following season and were relegated to Division Two.]Wessex League
The Wessex Football League is an English association football league formed in 1986, with its premier division currently at the fifth step of the National League System, or the ninth tier of the overall English football league system. The par ...
.[ They won the League Cup in 1994–95, a season that also saw them win the ]Hampshire FA
The Hampshire Football Association, also known as ''Hampshire FA'', is the governing body of football in the county of Hampshire, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its ...
's Russell Cotes Cup.[ When the league gained a second division in 2004, Downton became members of Division One. However, after finishing bottom of the division in 2004–05 they were relegated to Division Two. The following season saw the club finish fourth, earning promotion back to the renamed Premier Division.][ They were relegated again in 2007–08, having finished bottom of the Premier Division. The club went on to win the Division One title in ]2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
to earn promotion back to the Premier Division, but were relegated to Division One in 2013–14.[
]
Honours
*Wessex League
**Division One champions 2010–11
**League Cup winners 1995–96
*Bournemouth League
**League Cup winners 1961–62, 1963–64, 1966–67
*Salisbury & District League
**Norman Court Cup winners 1924–25, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1938–39[
*Wiltshire Senior Cup
**Winners 1979–80, 1980–81, 2021–22
*Russell Cotes Cup
**Winners 1995–96
*Salisbury Hospital Cup
**Winners 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12][
*Bournemouth Senior Cup
**Winners 1962–63, 1979–80
*Wiltshire Junior Cup
**Winners 1949–50
]
Records
*Best FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
performance: First qualifying round, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2006–07, 2008–09[
*Best ]FA Vase
The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...
performance: Third round, 2012–13[
]
See also
* Downton F.C. players
References
External links
Official website
{{coord, 50.992385, N, 1.7629610, W, display=title
Football clubs in England
Football clubs in Wiltshire
Association football clubs established in 1905
1905 establishments in England
Bournemouth Saturday League
Hampshire League
Wessex Football League