Blandford United Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour, north-west of Poole. It had a population of 10,355 at the United Kingdom 2021 census, 2021 census. The town is notable for its Georgian archit ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The club was a founding member of the Dorset Combination in

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

. The club is affiliated to the Dorset County Football Association and is a FA chartered Standard club. They are currently members of the . They play their games at Blandford Recreation Ground.

History

The club was formed on October 1, 1882, and were inaugural members of the South Hants and Dorset Football Association in 1884, which became part of the Dorset FA in 1887. In 1896–97 the club became founder members of the Dorset League, finishing in fifth place out of eight. They stayed there up and till the First World War when football was suspended in the Dorset league and returned to the League after the First World War in 1919–20 finishing fourth place out of nine. In the 1920–21 season they reached the third Qualifying round of the FA Cup beating East Cowes Victoria 3–2 (a) in the preliminary round, Boscombe (now

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

) 2–1 in a replay (h) after a 1–1 draw, Bournemouth Amateurs 2–0 (h), before losing 0–1 at Cowes. The team continued to play in the Dorset League 1 but during the summer of 1924 an amalgamation took place between the club and Blandford Institute, who had been playing in Dorset League 2 to form the current club, Blandford United, with a reserve side in Division 2. In the 1934–35 season the club won the Dorset Senior Cup for the first time, beating Weymouth 2–1 after a drawn match. After the second world war the ground was unplayable owing to anti-tank traps, and they had to wait sometime before it could be used again. In 1957 the club left the Dorset league, to play in the Dorset Combination League which had just been created and the club won the Division 1 championship. They stayed in the league until 1964, having to leave due to a lack of players and money, but rejoined again in 1967 and two seasons later Blandford United won the league. The club then went on to win the league again in the 1974–75 and 1982–83 seasons, while also collecting a number of league cups during the 1970s. The club entered the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

for the first time in 1984–85 season, but only continued entering this competition for a further two seasons. The 1991–92 season saw the club's last league championship win and since then the club has remained in the Dorset Combination League, now known as the Dorset Premier League.

Ground

Blandford United play their games at Blandford Recreation Ground, Park Road, Blandford Forum DT11 7DB.

Honours

*Dorset Premier League **Winners: 1957–58, 1969–70, 1975–76, 1982–83, 1991–92 **Runners Up: 1979–80 *Dorset Senior Cup **Winners: 1934–35 *Dorset Combination Cup **Winners: 1974–75, 1978–79, 1983–84

Club Records

*Highest League Position: 1st in Dorset Premier League: 1957–58, 1969–70, 1975–76, 1982–83, 1991–92 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

best performance: Third qualifying round – 1920–21 *

best performance: extra preliminary round – 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87

Former players

1. Players that have played/managed in the Football League or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.
3. Players that hold a club record or have captained the club. Mark Ford. Poached 42 goals in the 2023/24 season. (footballer), George Bristow

References

External links

* {{Dorset Premier League Association football clubs established in 1893 1893 establishments in England Football clubs in Dorset Football clubs in England Dorset Premier Football League Blandford Forum