Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English

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

Wivenhoe Wivenhoe ( ) is a town and civil parish in north-eastern Essex, England, approximately south-east of Colchester. Historically Wivenhoe village, on the banks of the River Colne, and Wivenhoe Cross, on the higher ground to the north, were two ...

, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Broad Lane.

History

The club was established as Wivenhoe Rangers by Frank Slaughter and students from Colchester Grammar School in 1925. They joined the Brightlingsea & District League in 1929. After finishing third in 1929–30 and second in 1931–32, they won the league without losing a match in 1932–33. They won the league again in 1936–37, together with the League Challenge Cup, the League Knock-out Cup and the Amos Charity Cup, winning the final against

Tollesbury Tollesbury is a village in England, located on the Essex coast at the mouth of the River Blackwater. It is situated nine miles east of the historic port of Maldon and twelve miles south of Colchester. For centuries Tollesbury, the village of t ...

8–1 in front of a record attendance of 1,500. The league title was won once more in 1947–48, with the Knock-out Cup also won again. They switched to the Colchester and East Essex League, winning the Premier Division in 1952–53 as well as the League Challenge Cup. In 1955–56 they won the league again, together with the Knock-Out Cup, and also reached the final of the Essex Junior Cup, losing 3–2 to

Heybridge Swifts Heybridge Swifts Football Club is a football club based in Heybridge, near Maldon, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Scraley Road. History The club was established in 1880 as Heybridge Football Club. After joining t ...

. After being relegated, the club returned to the Premier Division as Division One champions in 1959–60, but were immediately relegated again, and later dropped into Division Two. In 1968–69 they finished runners-up and returned to Division One. The following season they won the division and were promoted back to the Premier Division. After finishing runners-up to

Mersea Island Mersea Island is an island in Essex, England, in the Blackwater and Colne estuaries to the south-east of Colchester. Its name comes from the Old English word ''meresig'', meaning "island of the pool" and thus is tautological. The island is s ...

in 1970–71, the club were promoted to Division Two of the Essex & Suffolk Border League. They won the division in their first season, and also claimed the Division One title the following season. In 1974 the club were renamed Wivenhoe Town. In 1977–78 the club bought a carrot field on Broad Lane the outskirts of Wivenhoe for £2,500 to move back to the town, having most recently been playing at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

in nearby

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

. The following season they won the Premier Division, and were promoted to the

Essex Senior League The Essex Senior Football League is an English men's football league. It contains clubs from the Essex FA, Hertfordshire FA, London FA, Middlesex FA and the Amateur Football Alliance. It is a feeder league to Division One North of the Isthm ...

. After finishing runners-up three times in seven seasons, the club were promoted to Division Two North of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

at the end of the 1985–86 season. In 1987–88 they won the title, and were promoted to Division One, also winning the Essex Senior Trophy. In 1989–90 the club won Division One, accumulating 100 points, and were promoted to the Premier Division. A new record attendance of 1,992 was set for the visit of

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

. In 1993–94 the club experience financial difficulties, needing to raise £150,000 to buy back the ground and finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated. A second successive relegation followed. In 2004 the club switched to the Division One East of the Southern League. In 2005–06 they reached the play-off final, but lost 2–1 to Stamford. The following season they were transferred back to Division One of the Isthmian League. In 2007–08 they finished bottom of the league, and were relegated to the Premier Division of the

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suff ...

. During the 2008–09 season former

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

player

Julian Dicks Julian Andrew Dicks (born 8 August 1968) is an English football coach and former footballer who is assistant manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Playing from 1985 until 2002, he was a defender, notably in the Premier League for West Ha ...

was appointed manager, but he resigned in June 2009. In 2009–10 the club finished bottom of the Premier Division with only eight points, but avoided relegation after two clubs ( Harwich & Parkeston and King's Lynn reserves) withdrew from the league and one club (

Needham Market Needham Market is a town in Suffolk, England. The town of Needham, Massachusetts, was named after Needham Market. History It initially grew around the wool combing industry, until the onset of the plague, which swept the town from 1663 to 1665. ...

) were promoted. However, they were relegated to Division One at the end of the 2014–15 season. The following season they won Division One and were promoted back to the Premier Division. However, in 2017–18 Wivenhoe finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One South.

Honours

*Isthmian League **Division One champions 1989–90 **Division Two North champions 1987–88 *Eastern Counties League **Division One champions 2015–16 *Brightlingsea & District League **Champions 1932–33, 1936–37, 1947–48 **League Knock-Out Cup winners 1937, 1948 **League Challenge Cup winners 1937 *Colchester and East Essex League **Premier Division champions 1952–53, 1955–56 **Division One champions 1959–60, 1969–70 **League Challenge Cup winners 1953 **League Knock-Out Cup winners 1956 *Essex & Suffolk Border League **Premier Division champions 1978–79 **Division One champions 1972–73 **Division Two champions 1971–72 *Essex Senior Trophy **Winners 1988

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: Fourth qualifying round replay, 1989–90 *Best

performance: Third round proper, 1990–91 *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: Fifth round replay, 1995–96 *Attendance: 1,992 vs

, FA Trophy first round, February 1990 *Appearances: Keith Bain, 538

References

External links

Club website
* {{Coord, 51, 52, 25.97, N, 0, 58, 13.09, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Essex Association football clubs established in 1925 1925 establishments in England Colchester and East Essex Football League Essex and Suffolk Border Football League Essex Senior Football League Isthmian League clubs Southern Football League clubs Eastern Counties Football League Wivenhoe