Horley Town Football Club is a football club based in

Horley Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town. It has its own eco ...

, Surrey, England. They are currently members of the and play at the New Defence.

History

The club was established in 1896 as Horley Football Club. In 1903 they merged with Gatwick Rovers (founded in 1903), continuing under the Horley name.About Us
Horley Town F.C. After winning the Surrey Junior Cup in 1924–25 the club joined the Surrey Intermediate League. They were league champions in 1926–27. After winning the Eastern Section of the league in 1950–51, the club moved up to the

Surrey Senior League The Surrey Senior League was an English regional football league for teams based in Surrey although teams from outside the county were often admitted as well. The league existed from 1922 until 1978, when it was rebranded as the Home Counties Leagu ...

.Surrey Senior League 1922–1978
Non-League Matters However, after finishing bottom of the league in 1954–55 and were relegated back to junior football. In 1956 Horley moved back into the intermediate leagues. They returned to the Surrey Senior League in 1971 and were renamed Horley Town in 1975. The club won both the league title and the League Cup in 1976–77, but when the league evolved into the Home Counties League in 1978, they switched to the Premier Division of the

Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establish ...

. After three seasons in the Spartan League the club joined the

Athenian League The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...

. However, the Athenian League disbanded at the end of the 1983–84 season; although most clubs joined the Isthmian League, Horley transferred to 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 ...

, a renamed Home Counties League. Horley left the Combined Counties League after finishing bottom of the league in 1995–96. After playing in the Crawley & District League, they joined the

Surrey County Senior League The Surrey County Senior League (previously known as the ''Surrey County Premier League'') was a football competition based in Surrey, England. It operated from 1982 until 2003 when it was absorbed into the Combined Counties League, which had itse ...

in 2002. A third-place finish in the 2002–03 season saw them promoted to the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League. At the end of the 2005–06 season the club were relegated to Division One due to ground grading issues. However, they were Division One runners-up the following season and promoted back to the Premier Division. At the end of the 2018–19 season the club were transferred to the Premier Division of the Southern Combination. Following the 2020–21 season they were transferred back to the Premier Division South of the Combined Counties League.

Ground

The club originally played at the King's Head Ground. In 1947 they moved to a new ground on Smallfield Road, the land having been given to them by A.L.N. Jennings. The ground was named "the Defence" after people who had died in defence of the UK. In 2003 the club moved to another new ground, which was named "the New Defence".

Honours

*Surrey Senior League **Champions 1976–77 **League Cup winners 1976–77 *Surrey Intermediate League **Champions 1926–27 **Eastern Section champions 1950–51 *Surrey Junior Cup **Winners 1924–25

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: First qualifying round, 1982–83, 1983–84, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2013–14 *Best FA Vase performance: Fourth round 2017–18The Clarets reach last 32 of the FA Vase for first time ever
Get Surrey, 7 December 2017 *Record attendance: 1,500 vs AFC Wimbledon, 2003–04 *Biggest win: 12–1 vs

Egham Egham ( ) is a university town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna ...

*Heaviest defeat: 8–2 vs Redhill, 1956–57 *Most goals: Alan Gates

References

External links