Abingdon Town Football Club is a football club based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. Affiliated to the

Berks & Bucks Football Association The Berks & Bucks Football Association is the County Football Association for Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. It is responsible for the development of association football in the two historic counties. It organises cup competitions between affiliat ...

, they were members of the Hellenic League and played at Culham Road.

History

The club was established as Abingdon Football Club in 1870. In 1892 they joined the Oxford & District League.Abingdon Town
Non-League Club Directory After absorbing St Michaels in 1899, they went on to win back-to-back league titles in the next two seasons.History
Abingdon Town F.C. After the second title the club joined the Berks & Bucks League, but left after a single season to join the West Berks League. In 1904 they changed leagues again, this time transferring to the Reading Temperance League. In 1919 Abingdon joined the North Berks League, going on to win the league title at the first attempt. After a second championship win in 1922–23 the club switched to the Reading & District League. In 1928 they became Abingdon Town. After a third-place finish in Division One in 1931–32 the club were promoted to the Premier Division. Although they finished bottom of the table in the next two seasons they were not relegated. They finished bottom again in 1936–37, after which they transferred into the

Oxfordshire Senior League The Oxfordshire Senior Football League is an association football competition based in Oxfordshire, England. The league has three divisions; the Premier Division comprising clubs' first teams, whilst the other two divisions are reserve and deve ...

for a season (in which they also finished last), before returning to the North Berks League in 1938. Following

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Abingdon Town rejoined the Reading & District League in 1945. They were runners-up in 1946–47 after losing a championship play-off to Thatcham Town. However, the following season saw the club win the league. In 1950 they moved up to 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 establi ...

, in which they played for three seasons before becoming founder members of the Hellenic League in 1953. When the league gained a second division in 1956 the club were placed in the Premier Division and went on to win the division in its first season. They were champions again in 1958–59, also winning the

Berks & Bucks Senior Cup Berks may refer to: Places * Berkshire, England * Berks, Nebraska, United States * Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Other uses * ''Berks'' (TV series), Filipino television series * Berks station, a SEPTA station in Philadelphia, Penn ...

, and retained the league title the following season. After their back-to-back titles, Abingdon's success diminished and in 1965–66 the club finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One. The following season saw them finish as Division One runners-up, earning an immediate promotion back to the Premier Division. Although they went on to be runners-up in both 1970–71 and 1971–72, the club finished bottom of the division again in 1974–75, resulting in relegation back to Division One. However, another immediate return was achieved as they won Division One at the first attempt, losing only one league match all season. Abingdon Town were Premier Division champions for a fourth time in 1986–87, and after finishing second the following season, they returned to the Spartan League, joining its Premier Division. The club won the Spartan League at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division Two 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 tea ...

. They were Division One South champions in 1990–91 and were promoted to Division One. After seven seasons in Division One the club were relegated to Division Two at the end of the 1997–98 season. The following season they were relegated again, this time to Division Two. The club returned to Division Two when the league was restructured in 2002, although it was effectively a rename of Division Three. Despite a seventh-place finish in Division Two in 2004–05, Abingdon Town dropped into the Premier Division of the Hellenic League. The next nine seasons saw the club struggle, finishing outside the bottom four on only three occasions. In 2013–14 the club ended the season in last place in the Premier Division, subsequently dropping two divisions into Division One of the North Berks League. The club was inactive during the 2016–17 season, but returned to the Hellenic League for the 2017–18 season, joining Division Two East, which was largely composed of reserve teams. They moved up to Division One East prior to the 2018–19 season. Abingdon Town made headlines in December 2019 when, after conceding eight goals in the first half of a league match against rivals Abingdon United, the team refused to play the second half and instead left the ground. Abingdon Town's manager Tranell Richardson resigned the following day, claiming the team had been unable to train for three months due to lack of facilities, and accusing the club's officials of not providing enough support. Within a few days new manager, Byron O'Regan, and assistant, Chris Adams, were brought in to bring stability back to the club in the short term. In their spell at the club they raised their profile, including appearances on BBC Oxford Sports Report. Before finishing his short term tenure prior to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of March 2020, Byron O'Regan and his team successfully improved the quality of their squad including signing Trinidad and Tobago's Jacob Blackstock.BBC Oxford Sports Report, Selfey Ahead of the 2021–22 season, Abingdon Town withdrew from the Hellenic League after failing to reach an agreement with Culham Road's new owners.

Ground

The club played at Culham Road. A stand was built in 1928 and two years later the club were able to buy the ground for £300. The stand burnt down following an Easter Monday game soon after

and was replaced in 1948. A covered terrace was built in 1950. The pitch was later rotated 90° and a new main stand built in 1991, with its seats taken from the original

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

.Abingdon Town
Pyramid Passion One end of the ground has covered standing, with an open terrace at the other end. The ground has a capacity of 3,000, of which 1,771 is covered and 271 seated. In June 2021, the ground was sold to Singaporean-based company iRama.

Honours

*Isthmian League **Division Two South champions 1990–91 *Hellenic League **Premier Division champions 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1986–87 **Division One champions 1975–76 *Spartan League **Premier Division champions 1988–89 *Reading & District League **Champions 1947–48 *North Berks League **Champions 1919–20, 1922–23 *Oxford & District League **Champions 1899–1900, 1900–01 * Berks & Bucks Senior Cup **Winner 1958–59

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 competit ...

performance: Fourth qualifying round, 1960–61, 1989–90, 1992–93 *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: First round, 1992–93 *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: Fifth round, 1975–76, 1985–86, 1989–90 *Record attendance: 4,000 vs

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

Maurice Owen Maurice Owen (4 July 1924 – 8 July 2000) was an English professional footballer who scored 150 goals in 555 appearances in the Football League playing for Swindon Town. Early life Born in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Owen served as a Chindit in Bur ...

benefit match, 1950

References

External links