Winchester Castle F.C. are an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

football team based in

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. The club is affiliated to the

Hampshire Football Association 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 ...

. The club currently plays in the .

History

The club was first formed in the 1960s and originally played in the Winchester and North Hants Leagues. The club gained entry to Division Four 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 ...

for the start of the 1971–72 campaign, finishing third in their first season, and gaining promotion to Division Three. The club remained in Division Three until the end of the 1983–84 campaign when they gained promotion to Division Two as champions. The club remained in Division Two for two seasons and was then promoted to Division One, when many teams from the Hampshire league left to join the newly formed

Wessex Football 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 ...

. However, after two seasons in Division One the club finished bottom and was relegated back to Division Two. Further relegation followed at the end of the 1991–92 campaign when the club finished second from bottom of Division Two. The club bounced back up at the end of the 1996–97 campaign when they finished as runners-up in Division Three. In March 2001 it was announced that the club would merge with their local rivals Winchester City in an attempt to create one of the most powerful non-league sides in Hampshire. The amalgamated club decided that it would use Winchester City's Abbots Barton for the first team, and keep Winchester Castle's ground for the reserve and ladies team. At the end of the 2000–01 season Winchester Castle finished as runners-up behind Winchester City. The clubs then formally merged in June of that year. The club was reformed in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, when the Winchester City 'A' team and 'B' team decided to leave their parent club, to keep playing together as the

Hampshire League 2004 The Hampshire League 2004 was an English football league comprising teams located in Hampshire. It was formed in 2004, ran for nine seasons and served as a feeder league to Step 7 of the National League System. It was an unofficial continuation of ...

did not want reserve teams to feature amongst its members any more. The following season the club became one of the founder members of the Hampshire Premier League.

Ground

Winchester Castle play their home games at Hampshire County Council Sports Ground, A31 Petersfield Road, Chilcomb, Winchester, Hampshire, SO21 1HU.

Honours

Division Two: ** Runners-up (1): 2000–01 *

Division Three: ** Champions (1): 1983–84 ** Runners-up (1): 1996–97 *

Intermediate Cup ** Winners (1): 1976-77

Records

* Highest League Position: 4th in Hampshire Premier League 2013–14

References

External links

* {{coord, 51, 03, 12.79, N, 1, 18, 06.88, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in Hampshire Association football clubs established in 2006 Sport in Winchester 2006 establishments in England Football clubs in England North Hants League Hampshire League Wessex Football League Hampshire League 2004 Hampshire Premier League