Fakenham Town 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

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north west of Norwich. The town is the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to Norwic ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England. Affiliated to the

Norfolk County Football Association The Norfolk County Football Association is the governing body for association football, football in the county of Norfolk, England. History and Organisation Norfolk County Football Association was founded in 1881 and has been administering footb ...

, they are currently members of the and play at Clipbush Park.

History

The club was established in 1884 and played their first match against Lynn Alexandria, winning 2–1.History
Fakenham Town FC In 1899–1900 they won the Norfolk Junior Cup, a feat repeated in 1905–06.Blakeman, M (2010) ''The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935–2010, Volume II'' In the early 1900s the club joined the Norwich & 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 ...

they did not rejoin the league until 1921–22. In 1935 they moved up to the

Norfolk & Suffolk League The Norfolk & Suffolk League was a football league covering the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk in England. History The league was established in 1897, starting with six clubs, Beccles Caxton, Great Yarmouth Town, Kirkley, Lowestoft Town, Lynn ...

. When the league merged with the

East Anglian League The East Anglian League was a football league in the East Anglia region of England. History The league was established in 1903 as the South East Anglian League. The founder member clubs were Chelmsford City, Colchester Crown, Colchester Town, ...

to form the

Anglian Combination The Anglian Combination (known as the Hadley & Ottaway Anglian Combination under the terms of a sponsorship deal) is an English football league that operates in the East Anglia area. The league specifically covers Norfolk and northern Suffolk ...

in 1964, Fakenham were placed in the top division for the 1964–65 season,Anglian Combination 1964–2003
Non-League Matters but were relegated at the end of the 1965–66 season. In 1970–71 they won the

Norfolk Senior Cup The Norfolk Senior Cup (currently known as the Ashtons Legal Senior Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football cup competition for clubs in the county of Norfolk, England, who compete between steps three and seven of the non-League pyramid. The fi ...

for the first time. The following season they won Division One and returned to the Premier Division. They went on to win the Norfolk Senior Cup again in 1972–73 and 1973–74, as well as the Anglian Combination Senior Cup in 1978–79. In 1988 Fakenham became founder members of Division One of the Eastern Counties League. After finishing second in 1991–92, a season in which they defeated Diss Town after a replay to win the Senior Cup again, the club were promoted to the Premier Division. In 1994 they won the Senior Cup again with a 4–0 win against

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

in the final. They retained it the following season, beating

Gorleston Gorleston-on-Sea (), known colloquially as Gorleston, is a town in the Borough of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England, to the south of Great Yarmouth. Situated at the mouth of the River Yare it was a port town at the time of the Domesday Book ...

2–1 in the final, before going on to win it for a seventh time in 1999. After finishing as runners-up in 1998–99, the club went into decline, and was relegated back to Division One in 2003–04, finishing bottom of the table. In 2005–06 they won the Division One Knock-Out Cup, but a slump in league form saw them finish bottom of Division One in 2008–09 and 2009–10. Fakenham were Division One runners-up in 2013–14 season, earning promotion back to the Premier Division. In 2017–18 they finished third-from-bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One North. In 2021 the club were promoted to the Premier Division based on their results in the abandoned 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.

Ground

The club initially played at Hempton Green, with over 2,000 spectators in the ground to see a match against Holt in a match played on

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

.Fakenham Town
Pyramid Passion They moved to Star Meadow in 1889, and then to Baron's Hall Lawn in 1907, a ground that was shared with the local cricket club. Cover and seating for spectators was provided by 'the Shed', a stand behind the goal at the Town End. Floodlights were installed in 1987. When the club were promoted to the Premier Division of the Eastern Counties League in 1992 they were given three years to find a new ground or be relegated. In 1996 the club moved to a new ground on the edge of the town named Clipbush Park, which was officially opened with a match against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

on 16 July 1997, attracting a crowd of over 1,100, although the first match had been on 12 October 1996 when they defeated Tiptree United 4–0. It includes a seated stand on one side of the pitch, a clubhouse on the other, and covered standing behind both goals.

Honours

*Eastern Counties League **Division One Knock-Out Cup winners 2005–06 *Anglian Combination **Division One champions 1971–72 **Senior Knock-Out Cup winners 1978–79 *Norfolk Senior Cup **Winners 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1991–92, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1998–99 *Norfolk Junior Cup **Winners 1899–1900, 1905–06

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, 1999–2000, 2001–02 *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: Fourth round, 2020–21, 2021–22 *Record attendance: **At Hempton Green: 2,000 vs Holt **At Baron's Hall Lawn: 1,100 vs

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, friendly, 29 September 1987 **At Clipbush Park: 2,000+ vs Norwich City, friendly July 2006

References

External links