Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mo ...

, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward'.

History

The club was established in 1896 by a merger of Aldworth United and Basingstoke Albion.History
Basingstoke Town F.C. They joined 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 ...

in 1901, and when the league was split into geographical divisions in 1903, were placed in the North Division.Early Hampshire League 1896-1914
Non-League Matters They finished bottom of the division in both 1903–04 and 1904–05, and again in 1906–07 and 1907–08. However, after consecutive second-bottom finishes and then finishing fifth out of seven clubs in 1910–11, they were North Division champions in 1911–12. Finishing as champions resulted in promotion to the County Section, although the club continued to play in the North Division. They won the North Section again in 1919–20, After league reorganisation in 1929 Basingstoke were placed in Division One. They finished as runners-up in 1965–66 and 1966–67, before winning the league in 1967–68.
Non-League Matters After finishing as runners-up again in 1968–69, they won back-to-back titles in 1969–70 and 1970–71, remaining unbeaten in the latter season. After their third Hampshire League title, Basingstoke moved up to Division One South of the Southern League. Their first season in the Southern League saw them reach 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, eventually losing 5–1 to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland L ...

. The club remained in Division One South until 1979, when league restructuring saw them placed in the Southern Division. They won the division in 1984–85, earning promotion to the Premier Division. Two seasons later they were transferred to the Premier Division 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 ...

. Although they were relegated to Division One at the end of the 1987–88 season, they made an immediate return to the Premier Division after ending the following season as runners-up. The 1989–90 season saw the club reach the first round of the FA Cup again. After beating

Bromsgrove Rovers Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. was a non-League football club from the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. The peak of the club's success was in 1993 when Rovers finished runner-up in the Football Conference. They went into administration during the ...

3–0, they lost 3–2 to

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

in the second round. In 1993–94 they were relegated to Division One, returning to the Premier Division after finishing as Division One runners-up in 1996–97. The following season saw them reach the first round of the FA Cup and defeat

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

opposition for the first time, beating

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

5–4 on penalties after a 2–2 draw in a replay; the attendance of 5,085 was a new record for the club. They then took Northampton to a replay in the second round, before losing 4–3 on penalties. They reached the first round again in 1998–99, losing 2–1 to AFC Bournemouth. In 2003–04 the club finished fourteenth in the Premier Division, entering a play-off against

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre ...

for a place in the new

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the ...

. Although they lost 4–1, they gained a place in the new league after

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

decided against promotion. The club made another appearance in the FA Cup first round in 2006–07, beating League One club Chesterfield 1–0 at

Saltergate Saltergate, officially the Recreation Ground, was the historic home of Chesterfield Football Club, and was in use from 1871 until the club's relocation in July 2010, a 139-year history that made it one of the oldest football grounds in England ...

before losing 3–1 to local rivals

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alde ...

in a second round replay. A fifth-place finish in 2011–12 saw the club qualify for the promotion play-offs. However, they lost the two-legged semi-final to

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock ...

3–1 on aggregate, losing 1–0 at home and 2–1 away. They also reached the FA Cup first round again, losing 1–0 to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

. They qualified for the play-offs for a second time in 2014–15 after finishing third, but were beaten 2–1 on aggregate by

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was origin ...

in the semi-finals. The following season saw Basingstoke make another appearance in the FA Cup first round, a 1–0 defeat at

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

; however, after finishing bottom of the renamed National League South, they were relegated to the Premier Division of the Southern League. The club were placed in the Premier South division at the end of the 2017–18 season as part of the restructuring of the non-League pyramid. They went on to finish third-from-bottom of the division in 2018–19 and were relegated to Division One South. At the end of the 2020–21 season the club were transferred to the South Central Division of the Isthmian League.

Ground

The club played at Castlefields from their establishment until 1945, when a site for a new ground was offered to them by

Lord Camrose William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose DL (23 June 1879 – 15 June 1954) was a British peer and newspaper publisher. Life and career Berry was born in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, the second of three sons of Mary Ann (Rowe) and John Mathias Ber ...

. The new ground was initially known as Winchester Road, and consisted of a small wooden stand together with grass banking with some terracing. The first match was played on 1 December 1945 against Southampton Borough Police, and the ground was later renamed after Lord Camrose.Basingstoke Town
Pyramid Passion A new clubhouse was built in 1969 and a new main stand in 1970. Terracing was also added to the ground and floodlights erected. A roof was later installed over the terracing opposite the stand, with another terrace built next to the stand. The ground's record attendance of 5,085 was set in 1997 for an FA Cup first round match against

. It currently has a capacity of 6,000, of which 651 is seated and 2,000 covered.Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) ''Non-League Club Directory 2013'', p257 During the 2014–15 season it was known as the Soccer AM Stadium due to a sponsorship deal with the

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It h ...

show, before becoming the Ark Cancer Charity Stadium for the 2016–17 season. In 2019 the club was forced to relocate to

Winchester City Winchester City Football Club are an English football team based in Winchester, Hampshire and playing in the Southern Football League Division One South. Craig Davis is the current manager. The club motto is "Many in Men, One in Spirit". Histo ...

's City Ground as former chairman Rafi Razzak attempted to sell the Camrose for development. In October 2020 the club returned to Basingstoke, at the upgraded FA Winklebury Sports Complex in the Winklebury area of the town.Basingstoke Town to play first Winklebury stadium match TODAY
Gazette, 24 October 2020

Club staff

First team *Manager: Dan Brownlie *Assistant Manager: Aaron Nicholson *Coach: Paul Worsfold *Coach:

Jon Boardman Jonathan George Boardman (born 27 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who was a joint player-manager at Hungerford Town. He is currently a first team coach at Basingstoke Town. Career Boardman was born in Mortimer Commo ...

*Physiotherapist: Gideon Vallence *Goalkeeper Coach: Geraint Holliman & Lance Forster Academy *Academy Manager: Aaron Nicholson *Academy Coach: Kieran Rodgers

Honours

*Southern League **Southern Division champions 1984–85 *Hampshire League **Division One champions 1967–68, 1968–69, 1970–71 **North Division champions 1911–12, 1919–20 *

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 1970–71, 1989–90, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2007–08, 2013–14, 2016–17 *Remembrance Cup **Winners 2005, 2006

Records

*Best league position: 3rd in the Conference South, 2014–15 *Best

performance: Second round, 1989–90, 1997–98, 2006–07 *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: Third round, 1998–99, 2003–04 *Most appearances: Billy Coombs (1980s) *Most goals: Paul Coombs 159 (1991–99) *Biggest win: 10–1 vs Chichester City, FA Cup first qualifying round, 1976 *Heaviest defeat: 8–0 vs Aylesbury United, Southern League Division One South, April 1979 *Record attendance: 5,085 vs

, FA Cup first round, November 1997 **Record league attendance: 2,810 vs

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

, Isthmian League Premier Division 26 December 1998 *Record transfer fee paid: £4,750 to Gosport Borough for Steve Ingham

References

External links

Club websiteSupporters Club website
{{Coord, 51.267931, -1.111906, display=title Football clubs in England Football clubs in Hampshire Association football clubs established in 1896 1896 establishments in England Sport in Basingstoke Hampshire League Southern Football League clubs Isthmian League National League (English football) clubs el:Μπεϊσινγκστόουκ#Μπεϊσινγκστόουκ Τάουν ΦΚ