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Kings Somborne Football Club |
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History |
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CLUB HISTORY
The club was formed in 1903, and is therefore one of the oldest sporting associations in Hampshire.
Throughout it's history the club has remained a traditional village club, having use of it's own pitch in the village and always retaining a strong local element amongst the playing members and management. The early years were spent in competition with other local villages, and entry into the Andover and Winchester leagues.
In 1947 the club had teams in the Winchester & District League, the Sutton Scotney League, and the Andover Junior League. The club was thriving at this time and over 50 people are recorded as attending the AGM. There was a traditional management structure at the club, including the teams being picked each week by a meeting of the selection committee.
Early 1949 saw the formation of the King's Somborne Sports Club, of which the football club played a prominent part. The Sports Club existed to cover all sporting activities in the village, sharing resources and ideas, and the President was Thomas Sopwith, of Compton Manor. The organisation and the football club in particular thrived in the fifties, including winning the Andover League.
Although the club won the Winchester League Division 2 in 1964, enthusiasm dropped in the sixties, the Sports club folded, but the football club continued to turn out a team.
The seventies marked a definite upturn in fortunes; the club was able to field 2 teams on a Saturday and 2 teams on a Sunday. The Sunday 2nd team won the Andover League Division 3 in 1971. In 1972 the club played a major part in the revival of the Sports Club, with the same president, who was by now Sir Thomas. The success continued, the club winning the prestigious Andover FC six-a-side tournament in 1975, the next season saw two titles with the Saturday side winning the Andover Division 1 and the Sunday side winning the Premier Division 2. In 1977, following promotion, the first team won the North Hants League Division 2. To round off the decade the club won the Andover Sunday Division 3 title with a side consisting of 7 youth players. By this time a boy's team was also playing regularly.
The eighties saw the club maintain a strong presence in the local leagues both Saturdays and Sundays, the first team alternating between the Andover and North Hants leagues.
This continued into the nineties, but club fortunes slumped around the middle of the decade and for one year only one Saturday team was fielded. One exception to this slump was a particularly strong Sunday side that got together for a season to win the Andover Junior Premier Division. In 1996 there was a major change of management roles within the club, people who had been with the club for many years took on prominent positions and the club started to move forward again. The reserve team was restored, and in 1998 the first team won the Andover League in great style, plus the League Cup and Fred Druce Cup to complete a memorable treble. Off the field things were buoyant as well, with the formation of a strong fund raising section, and major sponsors were attracted in the form of Compton Manor Estates. Having won the Andover League, the club were looking forward to promotion to the North Hants league. However the rules had changed since the club were last in the league, and the pitch was no longer long enough. The club worked very hard to gain extra land, but unfortunately much 'red tape' meant it could not be obtained in time for the start of the next season. So the first team duly spent another season in the Andover League, and won it again, as well as taking on the best in the Winchester League and winning the Alex Hopkins Cup. Extra land was finally obtained, and the club worked hard to get a grant from the Football Association to help with the groundwork to extend the pitch. This enabled the club to take its rightful place in the North Hants League for the 1999/2000 season.
The team were more than ready for the promotion, and had another fine season, coming runners-up to Alresford by a single point. Revenge was sweet however in the League Cup final when Somborne won on penalties after a superb game. The next season saw another solid league performance, and again the runners-up spot was achieved. This convinced the club that they were ready for Hampshire League football, and the application was successful.
The team spent a really successful season in the Hampshire League, having a good cup run and finishing in the top half of the table.
As happens with many teams, players decided to move on, and the club withdrew to the Andover and District League, where we currently remain.
In 2003 the club were really happy to re-establish a youth section. An under 12 team was formed, and they have successfully grown and stuck together to the current date where they are playing as under 14s in the Testway Youth Football League.
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