Fleet Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in

Fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet * Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles * Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England *The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beac ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The club are currently members of the and play at Calthorpe Park.

History

The club was established in 1890 under the name Fleet Football Club.History of Fleet Town Football Club
FleetHants With two Saturday teams, they played in both the Aldershot Senior League and the Basingstoke & District League. In 1961 the club joined Division Three of the Hampshire League.Hampshire League 1960–1970
Non-League Matters Although they won the division in their first season in the league, earning promotion to Division Two, the following season saw them relegated back to Division Three. In 1963 the club adopted its current name, and a third-place finish in 1963–64 saw the club promoted back to Division Two at the first attempt. In 1965–66 Fleet were Division Two champions, earning promotion to Division One. The following season saw the club make its debut in 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 ...

, reaching the second qualifying round, before losing 3–0 to

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

. They were Division One runners-up in 1972–73, but after finishing bottom of Division One in 1975–76, they were relegated to Division Two.Hampshire League 1970–1980
Non-League Matters The club were Division Two runners-up in 1977–78, after which they joined the Athenian League. However, due to difficulties meeting the ground grading regulations, the club dropped into the Combined Counties League in 1984. After finishing bottom of the league for two consecutive seasons, they dropped into the

Surrey Premier 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 ...

for the 1986–87 season, which also saw them finish bottom of the table. Fleet then joined the Premier Division of the Chiltonian League in 1987. After two seasons in the Chiltonian League, they moved up to the Wessex League. The club won the league in 1994–95 and were promoted to the Southern Division of the Southern League. They won the Russell Cotes Cup in 1997–98.Hampshire Cups
Football Club History Database After being transferred to the Eastern Division in 1999, they finished bottom of the division in 1999–2000 and were relegated back to the Wessex League. In 2000–01 the club were Wessex League runners-up and were promoted back to the Eastern Division of the Southern League. The following season saw them win the Russell Cotes Cup again. After finishing bottom of the Eastern Division in 2003–04, they were saved from relegation due to restructuring of the non-League pyramid and were transferred to Division One 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 ...

. League restructuring in 2006 saw them placed in Division One South. In 2006–07 Fleet finished fifth in the division, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. However, they were beaten 2–1 by

Tooting & Mitcham United Tooting & Mitcham United Football Club is an association football club based in the London Borough of Merton. They are currently members of the and play at Imperial Fields in Morden. Their nickname is "the Terrors" or "the Stripes". History ...

in the semi-finals. The season also saw them win the Russell Cotes Cup for a third time, a trophy they retained in the two following seasons. They were transferred to Division One South & West of the Southern League for the 2007–08 season. The club went on to finish as runners-up in the division, but lost 2–1 to

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

in the play-off semi-finals. They were subsequently moved back to Division One South of the Isthmian League for the 2008–09 season. A third-place finish by Fleet in 2008–09 resulted in another play-off campaign, in which they lost 1–0 to Metropolitan Police in the semi-finals. The season also saw them win the

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 ...

with a 1–0 win over VT in the final. In 2011 the club were transferred to Division One Central of the Southern League. In 2011–12 they finished in the relegation zone, but were reprieved after Bedfont Town resigned from the league.Fleet Town 'delighted' with relegation reprieve
Get Hampshire, 30 May 2012 In 2013 they were moved to Division One South & West, and finished in the relegation zone in 2013–14, receiving another reprieve from relegation. They were transferred back to Division One Central in 2015. At the end of the 2017–18 season the club were transferred to Division One South. They finished bottom of the division in 2018–19 and were relegated to the Premier Division of the Wessex League. Following the 2020–21 season the club were transferred to the Premier Division South of the Combined Counties League.

Ground

The club initially played at the Views (now Campbells Close), before moving to Watsons Meadow. In 1923 the club were granted the use of a site on Crookham Road by

Lord Calthorpe Baron Calthorpe, of Calthorpe in the County of Norfolk, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for Sir Henry Gough, 2nd Baronet, who had previously represented Bramber in Parliament. Born Henry Gough, he had assum ...

, with the ground becoming known as Calthorpe Park. The first match at the new ground was played on 3 March 1923. The ground currently has a capacity of 2,000, of which 250 is seated and covered.

Honours

*Wessex League **Champions 1994–95 *Hampshire League **Division Two champions 1965–66 **Division Three champions 1961–62 *Hampshire Senior Cup **Winners 2008–09 *Russell Cotes Cup **Winners 1997–98, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 *North Hants FA Cup **Winners 2008–09, 2009–10 *Basingstoke Senior Cup **Winners 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10 *Aldershot Senior Cup **Winners 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1999–00, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 **Runners Up (5): 1996–97, 1998–99 2000–01, 2002–03, 2010–11 *Southern Counties Midweek Floodlit Cup **Winners 1994–95, 2001–02 *Simpsonair Challenge Shield **Winners 1991–93, 1993–94

Records

*Best

performance: Third qualifying round, 2007–08, 2008–09 *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, 1998–99, 1999–00 *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: Second round, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1979–80 *Biggest victory: 15–0 vs Petersfield United, Wessex League, 26 December 1994 *Heaviest defeat: 7–0 vs Bashley, Southern League Eastern Division, 12 April 2004 *Record Attendance: 1,336 vs

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional football club, based in Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 season. The club's home stadium is Plough Lane. The cl ...

, Isthmian League Division One, 8 January 2005 *Most appearances: Mark Frampton, 428 *Most goals: Mark Frampton, 250 *Record transfer fee paid: £3,000 to

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 ...

for Mark Russell

References

External links