Stratford Town 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 representing the town of Stratford upon Avon,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

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 ...

, but currently based in nearby Tiddington. They are currently members of the and play at Knights Lane.

History

The club was formed in 1941 as Stratford Rangers, changing their name in 1949. After playing in various local leagues they joined the Worcestershire Combination (which later became the

Midland Football Combination The Midland Football Combination was an English association football, football league covering parts of the West Midlands (region), West Midlands. It comprised five divisions, a Premier Division, Divisions One and Two and two Reserves Divisions. ...

) in 1954. In 1957 they switched to the Birmingham and District League, which became the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

in 1962, but rejoined the Combination in 1970. In 1975 they took the unusual step of joining the Hellenic League, which does not normally include teams from Warwickshire. After two unsuccessful seasons they rejoined the Midland Combination once again, where they remained until becoming founder members of the

Midland Football Alliance The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and No ...

in 1994. The club entered financial difficulty in 1998 and were reformed to become Stratford Town F.C. On 20 April 2013, a 1–1 draw with Stourport Swifts sealed the Midland Alliance title and promotion to the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

for the first time in the club's history, where they initially played in Division One South & West. After two seasons in the Division One South & West, Stratford Town earned promotion to the Premier Division via the play-offs with a 3–2 win against Larkhall Athletic on 4 May 2015. They successfully retained their status the following season. The 2021–22 season saw The Bards reach the first round proper of the

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 ...

for the first time in their history, defeating

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

side Boston United 3–2 in a fourth qualifying round replay after an initial 1–1 draw at the Boston Community Stadium. Stratford were drawn at home to League One side Shrewsbury Town, with the match televised on

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which first aired on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV plc. The channel focuses primarily on general entertainment programming targeting a male audience, including action series and films, ...

. Despite scoring first, they were eventually defeated 5–1 in front of a sell-out 2,800 spectators at Knights Lane.

Stadium

Stratford Town moved into the Knights Lane ground, Tiddington in the 2007–08 season. They played their first league match there against

Barwell Barwell is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, with a population of 8,750 residents in 2001, increasing to 9,022 at the 2011 census. The name "Barwell" literally translates as "Stream of the Boar" and is said to originate from ...

on 16 February 2008, losing 1–0 to a Stuart Spencer goal.Stratford Town match report
The record attendance is 2,800 for the FA Cup first round match against Shrewsbury Town on 7 November 2021.

Players

Current squad

''The

does not use a squad numbering system.''

Management and coaching staff

Boardroom

Current staff

Managerial history

References

External links

* {{coord, 52, 11, 39, N, 1, 40, 35, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Southern Football League clubs Midland Football Alliance Association football clubs established in 1941 Football clubs in Warwickshire 1941 establishments in England Football clubs in England Stratford-upon-Avon