Alton Football Club is a football club based in

Alton, Hampshire Alton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England, near the source of the River Wey. It had a population of 17,816 at the 2011 census. Alton was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as ''Aolton ...

, England. Formed by a merger of Alton Town and Bass in 1991, they are currently members of the and play at Anstey Park.

History

Alton Town

Alton Town Football Club was established in 1947.Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2016) ''Non-League Club Directory 2017'', Tony Williams Publications, p453 The club joined Division Three East of the

Hampshire League The Hampshire League was a football league in Hampshire, England. During its heyday its constitution consisted of four divisions with over 60 clubs taking part - this included a vast number of semi-professional teams and Reserve/’A’ sides o ...

and won the division in their first season, earning promotion to Division Two.History
Alton F.C. They were Division Two champions the following season, as well as winning the Hampshire Intermediate Cup and the Russell Cotes Cup, resulting in promotion to Division One.
Non-League Matters The 1950–51 season saw them finish as runners-up in Division One. Although they were relegated at the end of the 1953–54 season, the club were Division Two champions the following season, earning an immediate promotion back to Division One. They were Division One runners-up in 1956–57 and league champions in 1957–58. Alton were Division One runners-up again in 1962–63. In 1972–73 the club reached the first round of the

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 ...

for the first time, losing 5–1 at Fourth Division Newport County. At the end of the season they left the Hampshire League to join Division Two of 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 ...

. After winning Division Two at the first attempt, there were promoted to Division One. The league was reduced to a single division in 1977, and after finishing bottom of the league in 1980–81, the club switched to the expanded

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 ...

, where they were placed in the Western Division. They were Western Division runners-up in 1981–82 and the following season the league reverted to a single division. After finishing second-from-bottom of the Combined Counties League in 1983–84, Alton dropped into Division Three of the Hampshire League. They finished bottom of the division for the next two seasons, but after it was disbanded in 1986 they were moved up to Division Two. They went on to win the Division Two title in 1986–87 and were promoted to Division One. In 1989–90 they were Division One runners-up.

Season-by-season

Merged club

In 1991 Alton Town merged with fellow Hampshire League Division One club Bass Alton. The new club was initially known as Alton Town Bass, before becoming Bass Alton Town the following season. In 1998 they were renamed Alton Town, and were Division One champions in 1998–99. Division One was renamed the Premier Division at the end of the season and Alton were Premier Division champions in 2001–02, earning promotion to the

Wessex League The Wessex Football League is an English association football league formed in 1986, with its premier division currently at the fifth step of the National League System, or the ninth tier of the overall English football league system. The part ...

. When the league gained a second division in 2004 they were placed in Division One, which was renamed the Premier Division in 2006. Alton were transferred to the Premier Division of the

in 2013, but finished in the relegation zone in their first season in the division, resulting in relegation to Division One. In 2015 they were transferred back to the Wessex League, rejoining Division One. They were renamed Alton Football Club in 2016. In 2021 the club were promoted to the Premier Division based on their results in the abandoned 2019–20 and

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

seasons.

Season-by-season

Ground

The club play at Anstey Park, which was the home ground of the original Alton Town club."Alton", ''Groundtastic'', Autumn 2017, issue 90, p19 The merged club played at the Bass Ground before moving to Anstey Park in 2015 as its owners,

Coors Brewers Coors Brewers Limited, later known as Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK) Limited is the UK arm of Molson Coors Beverage Company. Its headquarters is in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The company originates from Bass Brewers Limited. The company ...

, sought to use the site for redevelopment. Coors funded a refurbishment of the Anstey Road ground, which included a new grandstand (replacing an older one), new floodlights and an

artificial pitch Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commerc ...

.Historic day at Anstey Park as new G3 pitch is opened
Alton Herald, 10 December 2015 A new covered stand was opened in 2017, replacing one that had been removed during the redevelopment work.

Honours

*Athenian League **Division One champions 1973–74 *Hampshire League **Champions 1957–58, 1998–99, 2001–02 **Division Two champions 1948–49, 1954–55, 1986–87 **Division Three East champions 1947–48 *

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, with the exception of 1914 to 1919 when it wa ...

**Winners 1957–88, 1968–69, 1971–72, 1977–78 *Hampshire Intermediate Cup **Winners 1948–49 *Russell Cotes Cup **Winners 1948–49

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 1972–73 *Best

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an England, English football (soccer), football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of p ...

performance: Quarter-finals, 1962–63 *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, 1976–77 *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: Third round, 1978–79

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 51, 09, 29.2, N, 0, 57, 54.1, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Hampshire 1991 establishments in England Association football clubs established in 1991 Alton, Hampshire Hampshire League Athenian League Combined Counties Football League Wessex Football League

History

Alton Town

Season-by-season

Merged club

Season-by-season

Ground

Honours

Records

See also

References

External links