Godalming Town Football Club is a semi-professional

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 ...

club based in

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settlement ...

, Surrey, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Bill Kyte Stadium.

History

The club was established in 1950 as Godalming United by former pupils of

Godalming Grammar School Godalming Grammar School was a state-funded selective grammar School taking both boys and girls, situated in Tuesley Lane, Godalming, England. Organisation Post-war, students were selected via the eleven-plus examination. From the early 1960 ...

.History
Godalming Town F.C. When Godalming & Farncombe United folded in 1970, the club moved to their Weycourt ground and were renamed Godalming & Farncombe. In 1979 they joined the

Combined Counties League The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's football league in south-eastern England with members in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Jersey, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and the western half and sou ...

, and in 1980 were renamed Godalming Town. League restructuring saw them placed in the Eastern Division of the league for the 1981–82 season, with the league reverting to a single division in 1982. In 1982–83 they won the league's Concours Challenge Trophy, and in 1983–84 the club were league champions. In 1992 the club was renamed Godalming & Guildford, after the Guildford Football Appeal donated money for a set of floodlights. However, they changed back to Godalming Town in 2005. In 2005–06 they won the Combined Counties League and the league's Premier Challenge Cup, earning promotion to Division One South 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 t ...

. Although they finished bottom of the division in the following season, they were reprieved from relegation and instead transferred to Division One South & West of the Southern League. At the end of the 2007–08 season the club were moved back to Division One South of the Isthmian League. A fourth-place finish in 2009–10 saw Godalming qualify for the promotion play-offs. However, after defeating

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

2–1 in the semi-finals, they were beaten 2–1 in the final by

Folkestone Invicta Folkestone Invicta Football Club is a association football, football club based in Folkestone, Kent, England. They are currently members of the and play at Cheriton Road. History The club was established in 1936 and joined the East Kent Wedne ...

. They also won the

Surrey Senior Cup The Surrey Senior Cup is the senior Saturday cup competition of the Surrey FA. It is currently competed for by teams playing in the top nine levels of the English football league system who are affiliated to the Surrey FA. The competition was ...

, beating Sutton United 2–1 in the final. In 2011–12 the club finished fifth, losing 5–3 on penalties to

Bognor Regis Town Bognor Regis Town Football Club is an English football club based in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Nicknamed 'The Rocks',the club is an FA Chartered Standard Community club affiliated to the Sussex County Football Association. They currently compet ...

in the play-off semi-finals following a 4–4 draw. They were transferred to Division One Central of the Southern League for the following season, and a third-place finish resulted in another play-off campaign, this time losing 2–1 to Biggleswade Town in the semi-finals. The club also won the Surrey Senior Cup for a second time, again beating Sutton United in the final. They were subsequently transferred to Division One South & West for the 2013–14 season, then back to Division One Central in 2014, before returning to Division One South of the Isthmian League for the 2016–17 season. After finishing bottom of the table, they were relegated to the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League. At the end of the 2020–21 season Godalming were transferred to Division One of the Southern Combination League.Non-league shake-up: Lancing, Littlehampton, Bexhill among Sussex teams promoted
Sussex Express, 18 May 2021

Ground

Godalming initially played at the Recreation Ground, before moving to the Weycourt ground, taking over the tenancy from Farncombe. Improvement works at the site included moving the pitch to the site of a former rubbish tip. During the works, the club temporarily played at Broadwater Park. In 1985 the main stand from Addlestone & Weybridge Town's Liberty Lane ground was purchased for £225 after the club folded. The ground was renamed the Bill Kyte Stadium in 2018 in honour of a former president.

Honours

*Combined Counties League **Champions 1983–84, 2005–06 **Premier Challenge Cup winners 2005–06 **Concours Challenge Trophy winners 1982–83 *Surrey Senior Cup ** Winners 2009–10, 2012–13

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 compet ...

performance: Fourth qualifying round, 2011–12 *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 com ...

performance: Third qualifying round, 2009–10 *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 footb ...

performance: 2nd round, 1987–88, 1993–94, 1995–96 *Record attendance: 1,305 vs

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional football club, based in Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 season. The club's home stadium is Plough Lane. The ...

, 2002 *Most appearances: Shaun Elliot, over 360

References

External links