Dereham 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

Dereham Dereham (), also known as East Dereham, is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of the England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about 15 miles (25 km) west of the city ...

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. They are currently members of the and play at Aldiss Park.

History

The club was founded as Dereham Football Club in 1884, spending many of its early years in the Dereham & District League. In 1891–92 the club reached the final of 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 ...

, losing to CEYMS. By 1910 the club were playing in the Norwich & District League and had been renamed East Dereham.Blakeman, M (2010) ''The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935-2010, Volume II'' In 1920 they adopted their current name and in 1935 they joined 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 ...

, which had lost several clubs to the newly established Eastern Counties League. When the Norfolk & Suffolk League merged into 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 ...

, the club were placed in the Senior B Division. They won the division at the first attempt and were promoted Premier Division. They were renamed Dereham Hobbies United in 1986 after a local Sunday league team merged into the club. The club were relegated from the Premier Division at the end of the 1988–89 season, but made an immediate return to the Premier Division as Division One champions. In 1991 they returned to the name Dereham Town. In 1997–98 Dereham won the Anglian Combination Premier Division, earning promotion to Division One of the Eastern Counties League, also winning the Don Frost Memorial Cup. In 2001–02 the club finished second in Division One, beating

Stanway Rovers Stanway Rovers Football Club is a association football, football club based in Stanway, Essex, Stanway, near Colchester, in Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Hawthorns. History The modern club was established on ...

1–0 on the final day to overtake them and earn promotion to the Premier Division. The club won the Norfolk Senior Cup in 2006, defeating Norwich United 1–0 in the final, and again in 2007 when

Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 households ...

were beaten 1–0 in the final. In 2012–13 they won the Eastern Counties League Premier Division, earning promotion to Division One North of the Isthmian League. The club won the Norfolk Senior Cup for the fourth time in 2015–16, defeating Norwich United 2–0 in the final. A fifth Senior Cup was won in 2018–19, when Dereham beat Thetford Town 2–1 in the final.

Reserve team

After the club were promoted to the Isthmian League, the reserve team joined Division One of the Eastern Counties League, moving up from the reserve division. They left the league at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Ground

Prior to

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 ...

the club played at Bayfields Meadow, after which they moved to the Recreation Ground. However, the council owned the ground and there was no scope for upgrading it. In 1991, the club purchased a site on the outskirts of the town in order to build a new £750,000 stadium. The club moved to the new ground at Aldiss Park in December 1996. At the start of 2000–01 season

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 ...

visited Aldiss Park for a pre-season friendly and although the club lost 9–0, a new record attendance of 1,800 was set. Norwich City visited for another friendly match in July 2001, with a new record of 3,000 being set.

Current squad

Honours

*Eastern Counties league **Premier Division champions 2012–13 *Anglian Combination **Premier Division champions 1997–98 **Division One champions 1989–90 **Senior Cup winners 1993–94 *Norfolk Senior Cup **Winners 2005–06, 2006–07, 2010–11, 2015–16, 2018–19

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: Third qualifying round, 2012–13 *Best

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 ...

performance: Second qualifying round, 2014–15 *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, 2008–09 *Record attendance: 3,000 vs

, friendly match, July 2001Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p645

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 52, 40, 56.68, N, 0, 58, 20.93, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in Norfolk Football clubs in England Association football clubs established in 1884 1884 establishments in England Norwich and District Saturday Football League Norfolk & Suffolk League Anglian Combination Eastern Counties Football League Isthmian League