History

The Club was founded in 1889 by W.M. Pethybridge and C.H. Bray, therefore had the distinction of sharing its centenary year with the C.C.F.A. As well as being co-founder of the club, Mr. Pethybridge also played for Bodmin Town. In later years he continued his association with the club, becoming a Vice-president. Although known as a centre-half, he played in every position except goalkeeper for Cornwall, also captaining the side. Bodmin Town originally played at Cooksland, off the Liskeard road, then moved to Coldharbour Lane, Barn Park, back to Cooksland, then Westheath and finally to Priory Park. Following the 1914/18 war, the club played in junior football. After being runners-up in the Junior Cup (Eastern Section) in 1921, the club was granted senior status. In 1922/23 we were runners-up in the Senior Cup, also Champions of the Bodmin & District (Senior) League, repeating the latter again in 1926/27. At the beginning of the 20th Century the club joined forces with the 'barracks' side, playing in white shirts nicknamed the "Lilywhites". The Club adopted its familiar black & amber colours in 1925, starting off in stripes, changing to a quartered shirt, reverted back to a striped kit before adopting amber shirts with black piping, to the present-day all yellow kit.

After the 1939/45 war, the club again played in junior football, finishing as runners up in the Junior Cup and Bodmin & District League in 1947/48. Following this success they were once more promoted to senior status. In 1948/49 the club had five County players: G.L. Cocks, R.P. Hylatt, A.R. Smith, E.M. Harper, and J.A. Walton, the latter also an England player. In 1953/54 the club joined the South Western League, which had been formed two years earlier. After a slow start, the club began to establish itself, finishing 5th in 1955/56 and 4th in 1958/59. Three years in the bottom half followed before the Club withdrew from the South Western League to play in the East Cornwall Premier League, before rejoining. the SWL League for the 1969/70 season, where we remained until the League amalgamated with the Devon County League, to form the South West Peninsula League for the start of the 2007/08 season.

The club enjoyed reasonable success in the early to mid- 1970's, mainly under the management of Johnny Williams and Bobby Baxter, but then went through a lean spell until the mid 1980's when the club appointed Ricky Cardew as manager, who had played for the club in the mid to late 1970's. In a 12 year period the club won every Senior honour in local football, two SWL championships, 2 League Cups, 3 Charity Cup wins, a Cornwall Senior Cup victory, as well as an excellent run in the F.A. Vase, reaching the fourth round (last 32) in 1997/98. The 1993/94 season, achieving the Club’s first League & League Cup ‘double’ as well as reaching the final of the Cornwall Senior Cup, was Bodmin Town’s best season up to that point.

Following the departure from the club of Ricky Cardew in September 1999, the club introduced a youth policy with Sean Hooper taking over as manager. The much-changed side finished in a mid-table position. In 2000/2001 the side struggled from the start and had to apply for re-election for the first time in 16 years. This being successful, a few experienced players signed for the new season. After a good start, the side lost a few players, then in October 2001 Sean Hooper left the club, Steve Trotman taking temporary charge before handing over to former Bodmin Town goalkeeper, Paul Hicks. The good form of earlier in the season returned and the side ended the 2001/02 season in mid table.

During the 1990's the Club was fortunate to host several attractive friendlies. First Division (now Premiership) Queens Park Rangers, Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday have been followed more recently by Sheffield United who visited Priory Park on several occasions, Crystal Palace, QPR again, before we hosted Leeds United at the start of the 2012/13 season, with Neil Warnock managing most of these sides, to who we owe our sincere thanks.

The 2002/2003 season saw three changes of manager and numerous players come and go. Paul Hicks was replaced after only a couple of months, by John Clarkson. However, after just five matches in charge he too left the Club. Steve Trotman held the reigns for one match then, experienced ex-goalkeeper Dave Philp took charge until the end of the season, which the Club ended in last place, having to apply for re-election for the second time in three seasons.

With the application successful, the Club, appointed former Porthleven manager, Alan Carey for the 2003/04 season. In his five years as manager Bodmin Town won two League titles, the first in 2005/06 being part of a League and Cup ‘double’. Bodmin Town were the first ‘Peninsula’ League Champions in 2007/08, winning the Throgmorton Cup as well as the Cornwall Charity Cup for our first ever ‘treble’.

The new season could have been a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’. However, despite numerous setbacks 2008/09 ended in magnificent triumph for Bodmin Town. Although there were early exits from both the F.A. Cup and Vase competitions, added to the resignation of Manager Alan Carey in early October, the squad just got stronger as the season progressed.

Darren Gilbert stepped up from Assistant Manager to take over the reins, with his first match in charge only days after his appointment. There were a few setbacks along the way, by far the most serious being a very serious injury to Steve Ovens which was to keep him out of action for 18 months, although we did see the return of Craig Swiggs after 18 months out following a serious injury he sustained on the final day of the 2006/07 season. On the pitch the team just kept on winning, with 13 consecutive League victories. The only disappointment was defeat at home to Truro City in the Senior Cup. The winning run in the League was ended at home to Torpoint, after which the side went another 15 League games undefeated, during which the final of the Throgmorton Cup was reached. With five matches still to play Darren’s side retained the Tristan Scott Championship Trophy and after extra time in the Throgmorton Cup final, against Ivybridge his side achieved something no other Bodmin Town manager has done, winning two successive League and Cup ‘doubles’.

The 2009/10 season started in the same way as the previous one, with defeat in the Charity Bowl. However, the first six League matches all ended in victory. Sandwiched between those early games, we exited the FA Cup after a second tie, but successfully negotiated the first hurdle in the FA Vase, that success was itself short-lived however as we suffered a shock defeat at home to Shaftesbury. But within a few days we were re-instated as Shaftesbury had fielded an ineligible player. Saltash United visited Priory Park in the re-arranged tie, but lost by the odd goal in three. Following this double disappointment, we suffered our heaviest defeat for five years, at Buckland Athletic, losing 0-5. Our most inconsistent period of the season came to an end with five consecutive wins, to put the season firmly back on track. A defeat in mid-January was to be our last League defeat of the season. Twenty three matches without defeat followed, which took the Club not only to a third consecutive Throgmorton Cup Final, but also saw us lift the Cornwall Senior Cup for only the second time in the Club’s history. The Throgmorton Cup Final against Buckland Athletic, was a very closely fought game, Buckland winning with a late penalty. Prior to the final, it was announced that the League’s joint-President Tristan Scott, had sadly passed away. In our final League match we needed to win by six goals more than Buckland, so despite a 3-0 win we missed out on a third successive League title by the narrowest of margins. Ironically, we ended the season with one more point and scored ten more goals than the previous season. With victory in the Senior Cup final and runners-up in both the League and Throgmorton Cup, it was another excellent season for Bodmin Town.

Following our now customary defeat in the ‘Charity Bowl’, we started to the 2010/11 season with five wins and two draws from the first seven matches, which included the opening two rounds of the FA Cup. Our third FA Cup tie saw us welcome Wessex League leaders Poole Town to Priory Park. With several absentees, including goalkeeper Kevin Miller, the visitors proved too good on the day winning 4-1. Sandwiched between two more League games, the second of which resulted in our first League defeat of the season, our opening tie in the FA Vase, at home to fellow ‘Peninsula’ League side Launceston, ended with a 5-2 win. The next round of the ‘Vase’ saw us with a trip to Western League side Sherborne. A 1-1 draw meant a midweek replay which we won by the only goal of the game. Three League wins later we hosted Tavistock in the opening round ot the Throgmorton Cup, resulting in a coinvincing 7-0 win for us. Five points from the next three League matches kept us in touch with the leading group, before an FA Vase 2nd round tie at another Western League side, Dawlish Town returning home with an excellent 2-0 win. Two League wins later, the FA Vase third round draw resulted in another away game, but only just over the Tamar, as we were drawn away to our fierce rivals, Plymouth Parkway. An incident packed tie, saw the home side have three players sent off, but they still took us to extra time, but scoring three more goals we reached the fourth round. The next seven games saw us play only two League matches, as the weather took its toll. The five cup ties played saw us reach both the ‘Senior’ Cup and Throgmorton Cup quarter finals, including one replay. Unfortunately, we exited the FA Vase at home to Essex Senior League side Stansted, but before the ‘Senior’ Cup quarter final, at home to Penryn Athletic, we gained two more League wins.

We reached the ‘Senior’ cup semi-final after a closely fought tie, with a 2-1 win. Next up was a trip to Dartmouth in the Throgmorton Cup quarter final, which proved far more comfortable for us, with an excellent 4-0 win. Then it was back to the ‘Senior’ Cup which was a very tough battle against Penzance, the tie going to extra time before we reached our second successive final with a 3-2 win. Five difficult League matches could not have gone much better as we won four, gaining a draw away to title rivals, Buckland Athletic, which kept us well in touch with them. Hoping to reach a fourth successive Throgmorton Cup final ended in great disappointment as we fell at the semi-final stage with one of our poorest performances of the season, losing 1-4 to St. Blazey. With two defeats in the next six League games we needed to win away to neighbours Wadebridge on Good Friday to stand any chance of regaining the League title, but the game ended in a disappointing draw, which saw Buckland retain the title, whilst relagation was confirmed for Wadebridge.Three days after that disappointment we had to lift ourselves for the final of the Cornwall Senior Cup and without the services of ‘keeper Kevin Miller, Luke Hodge deputised in goal. After going two goals behind in the opening 15 minutes, it looked like another disappointment, but with a tremendous second half display we came back to lift the trophy for the second consecutive season with an incredible 3-2 victory. After the celebrtations had died down we still had four League games to play. Three wins confirmed us as runners-up for the second year in succession to bring the curtain down on another terrific season for the Club.

The 2011/12 season started with two League wins, before the opening round the FA Cup saw fellow ‘Peninsula’ League side Falmouth Town visit Priory Park. With a terrific performance, we hit six goals and although Falmouth scored three times, two came very late in the tie, for not only a comfortable victory, but also a Club record number of goals scored against the West Cornwall side. The next round followed after another two League games, winning one, but suffering our first defeat of the season in the other at Tavistock. A trip to Western League Barnstaple Town was a difficult tie, but we showed great spirit to come back from a goal down to win it 2-1. We got back to winning ways again in the League with three straight victories, to take us to the top of the table. Our third FA cup tie took us back to Tavistock, but unlike our previous disappointing display, we won the tie with a comfortable 3-1 win to reach the second qualifying round for only the second time in the Club’s history. Two more League wins came before our next FA Cup tie, a long trip to Yate Town, a Southern League Division 1 side. Against a side two steps higher than us an although going a goal behind, we deservedly took the tie to a replay. To say the replay was memorable would be a great understatement. We were reduced to ten men after just 15 minutes. However, with what has to be one of Bodmin Town’s greatest performances ever we took the game to the opposition winning 4-1, as we totally dominated the replay, to rach the third qualifying round form the first time in the Club’s history. Godalming Town of the Rymans League, visited Priory Park for our history making 3rd qualifying round tie. An early goal gave us the lead but the visitors scored to force a replay, which the FA deemed had to be played in midweek, despite the very lengthy jouney. Although most of our players managed to make the trip, the long journey did not help preparation. From the kick-off Godalming dominated the replay, going two goals up before we went down to ten men, Godalming scoring three further goals before end for 5-1 win. Although the defeat was disappointing, our fantastic run had set a new club record for the FA Cup. Two more League wins followed, before our second League defeat of the season, 1-2 away to Launceston. That was soon forgotten as we welcomed the reigning champions, Buckland Athletic to Priory Park. We lead at the break 3-0, which was amazing enough, but by the final whistle we had recorded an unbelievable 7-0 win with a fantastic performance. Two more League wins was followed by our opening tie in the FA Vase. Having reached the fourth round the previous season, we entered the competition at the second round stage. Western League leaders Larkhall Athletic were our visitors for a tough opening tie. The only goals, one apiece, were both scored in the opening half, even 30 minutes of extra time could not separate the teams, so for the third successive cup tie we were involved in a replay. Again it meant a lengthy midweek journey, which we found very difficult, with only eleven regular first-teamers able to make the trip. Despite the depleted squad, we totally dominated the second half. With the scores level at one each, extra time was only a few minutes away when the home side broke away to grab a very late winner, coming completely against the run of play, for a very disappointing defeat. That was the lowest point of the season, as the squad quickly put that behind them winning the opening Throgmorton cup tie, which was the first of an incredible 32 League and Cup games winning sequence, which stretched to the end of the season. After winning our third consecutive Cornwall Senior Cup final, we then regained the League Championship with four matches to spare and to cap an unbelievable season we then won the Throgmorton Cup, after a penalty shoot-out, to record a unique Club ‘treble’ of League, League Cup and Cornwall Senior Cup. In the process of such a fantastic achievement, numerous League and Club records were broken, most of which will be difficult to equal.

The task of trying to emulate the previous season’s amazing accomplishments started well as we won the season opener ‘Charity Bowl’ for the first time. Before our first League match, we had an FA Cup tie at home to Western League Brislington. After reaching the third qualifying round in 2011/12 we were eager to get underway again. With an excellent display we won the tie 3-1. The next round followed wins in our opening two League games. Another Western League side, Wells City welcomed us in the preliminary round. After a scrappy opening we took control after the break, to gain an excellent 4-0 win. After gaining four points from our next two League matches, we travelled to Bideford, a side three steps higher than us, in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup. We started well and deservedly took the lead, only for the home side to equalise with the final kick of the first half. We continued to enjoy the best of the play and retook the lead, but in the final minute of ‘added-on’ time Bideford equalised again to take the tie back to Priory Park. Despite going a goal down early in the replay we quickly got back on level terms. We were then reduced to ten men and with no further goals the tie went to extra time. Immediately from the re-start we took the lead, but Bideford equalised at the start of the second period of extra time. With a penalty shoot-out looming, Bideford repeated what they had done in the first match, scoring with virtually the final kick of the game, although this time it won Bideford the tie. We were very unlucky to lose out but we had more than held our own against them. Our next ten matches produced six League wins, with two drawn. Our first two ties in the 2012/13 FA Vase competition were also in this run, winning the first away to Minehead 4-0, our second tie saw Brislington make their second visit to Priory Park. Although this was a closer encounter, we recorded a good 3-2 win. Our first League defeat of the season, at home to Elburton Villa, who were enjoying their best ever season in the ‘Peninsula’ League, was followed by a narrow win away to struggling Penzance, then it was back to ‘Vase’ action, with a home tie against another Western League side, Odd Down. Dominating from the start we deservedly won 5-1, to reach the third round proper where we would be at home again, against Downton, current leaders of the Wessex League. Prior to that tie we recorded two more League wins and an amazing 9-0 victory at Falmouth in the opening tie of our defence of the Cornwall Senior Cup. Downton must have been confident for their visit to us, but with one of our best performances of the season we won 2-0. Cup ties in the Throgmorton and Cornwall Senior Cups, as well as four League matches all ended in victory before our fourth round FA Vase tie, at home for the fourth successive time, with Ashington having to make over a 900 mile round trip for a tie postponed from the previous week. Despite the visitors playing in the very strong Northern League we enjoyed the best of the game to record a 3-2 win, which put us into the fifth round for the very first time. Before that record breaking tie, amazingly at home again, with our visitors being Gornal Athletic of the Midland Alliance League, we recorded another League win. We probably had our most disappointing display of the season in that FA Vase 5th round match. Gornal took the lead with a fortunate deflected goal and we could not break them down, so with great disappointment we exited the competition. By general consensus we should have reached the sixth round. Still, it was an excellent achievement to get to the 5th round. A run of 20 unbeaten games followed as the team put that disappointment behind them. We reached both the Cornwall Senior Cup and Throgmorton Cup finals in that excellent 20 match spell. The Senior Cup was against Helston Athletic. The ‘Peninsula’ West division side had by far the best of the final and but for several excellent saves by goalkeeper Kevin Miller, they would have won the cup. The game ended goalless and with no allowance made for extra time, the final had to be replayed. Before that could take place, rescheduled for Treyew Road Truro, we had to play Helston again, this time in the semi-final of the Throgmorton Cup. We were determined not to let them control this game and deservedly took a two goal lead. Despite the West Cornwall side stepping up their game in the second half, they could not break our defence down and we successfully reached our fifth Throgmorton Cup final in six seasons. The replay of the Senior Cup final a week later was destined to be one of the greatest finals ever played. Helston made the better start, taking a first half lead. With half an hour played Chris Luxton had to go off, suffering what turned out to be a serious knee injury, his replacement Lee Doel would have a huge part to play in the remainder of the game. We scored twice in the first quarter of an hour of the second half. Helston were reduced to ten men after one of their players received a second yellow card, however they stepped up their game and with only six minutes of normal time remaining they grabbed an equaliser and almost got a winning goal, but Kevin Miller thwarted them again. We re-took the lead in the opening half of extra time and with just five minutes of the 30 remaining it looked as though we had finally seen off our stubborn opponents. We were wrong! Helston shocked us with an equaliser which could have knocked the stuffing out of our players, but as they showed throughout the season, they never knew when they were beaten. With just two minutes before the end of open play, it was appropriate that Lee Doel had the final say. He outpaced the tiring Helston defence, before firing the ball across the keeper to find the far corner of the net, sparking wild celebrations amongst our players and spectators. That win gave us our fourth consecutive Cornwall Senior Cup victory. Just two League matches later we retained the Carlserg South West Peninsula League Championship title after winning at Ivybridge Town. Our final four League games produced three wins, with only our second League defeat of the season, in our penultimate match, at home to Plymouth Parkway, after which we were presented with the League trophy. Our final game of the 2012/13 season was the Throgmorton Cup final, against Elburton Villa, played at St Blazey. With a goal in each half, we not only successfully defended that competition, we an amazing ‘treble’ for the second successive season,

A few days after the end of the season, we received some very sad news. Although not unexpected, it was announced that Peter Davies had passed away after a short illness. Peter had been connected with Bodmin Town in one capacity or another over the past 40 years or so. Everyone who knew him had a very high regard for him, as he was always thoughtful towards others and would readily assist anyone if he was able to, this was especially true during his time as a Bodmin Town Councillor and he is widely regarded as the best Mayor that Bodmin never had. Peter will be greatly missed by all of us who had the pleasure to know him.

Despite the loss of two-thirds of the previous season’s ‘double-treble’ winning squad, the 2013/14 season started well, with a win in the season opener ‘Charity Bowl’ for the second successive season, when we beat Plymouth Parkway on penalties. However, the defence of our League title did not start well, as we lost our opening two League matches, both at home, to Witheridge, then newly promoted Godolphin Atlantic. The opening round of the FA Cup saw us with a long trip to play Western League side Radstock United. Despite being short on players we returned home with a well-deserved 4-1 victory. Three more League games saw us pick up our first points of the season, with two wins and a draw, before it was back to the FA Cup, with another long trip, to Wells City, for the second consecutive season. Unlike the previous season when we returned with a win, this time we performed disappointingly, losing the tie 2-3. A run of ten League matches without defeat followed, including seven victories.

However, during this spell we lost one of our supporters, George Burke. George had helped the club in various ways, assisting with gate duty, as well as helping with the maintenance around the ground.

Our unbeaten run was to last until Boxing Day, a total of 17 matches in all competitions without defeat. During this spell, spanning four months, we steadily climbed the League table to be amongst the leading group by the turn of the year.

We progressed in three cup competitions, the opening round of the Throgmorton Cup, two wins in the FA Vase, as well as success in defence of our Cornwall Senior Cup title.

This terrific run was ended by Camelford in the traditional Boxing Day game at Priory Park, losing by the only goal of the match.

The result was put into perspective however, as we heard the very sad news that one of our regular

supporters, John Curtis, passed away overnight.

We bounced back from that disappointing defeat with two more excellent wins. Firstly, at home to struggling Liskeard Athletic winning it 6-1, then back to Senior Cup action with a trip to Mullion, recording a very comfortable 5-0 victory. Our longest trip by far for several seasons came, not surprisingly in the fourth round of the FA Vase when we faced the mammoth journey to the eastern edge of Essex to play Brightlingsea Regent. The Essex side play in the Eastern Counties League, one step higher than the ‘Peninsula’ League. The home side made a terrific start, taking a fifth minute lead, although in somewhat controversial circumstances. Kevin appeared to have been fouled before the ball was slotted into our net, but despite our protests, the goal was awarded. However, we more than held our own for the remainder of the opening half, and within a few minutes of the re-start we deservedly equalised. Unfortunately, we were soon behind again and although we tried valiantly to get a second equaliser, coming close on a few occasions, the home side sealed victory with an injury-time goal. We ended January with another League victory, albeit a close one, 3-2 against Cullompton Rangers, winning thanks to two very late goals! The weather had been incredibly wet, with storms continually hitting the region, although up to this point we had not suffered too much because of it. Our luck in that respect ran out with a vengeance though, as we did not play at all during the whole of February! We got back to action with a Senior Cup tie at Wendron, winning 3-0, but found it difficult to get into a set rhythm until late in the game. A creditable draw at Saltash was followed by a Throgmorton Cup tie at Appledore winning 2-0. Our first ever trip to Godolphin Atlantic turned out to be one of our most disappointing performances of the season losing it 0-2. As well as conceding a League ‘double’ to the Newquay side, this loss was our first away defeat in the League since October 2011, over two and a half seasons! Our fifth consecutive Senior Cup final was achieved with an excellent 2-0 win over Saltash, before we exited the Throgmorton Cup at the quarter final stage for the first time, losing 1-3 at Plymouth Parkway. Three wins from our next four League matches, seemed to put us back on track, before another disappointing display at Torpoint, where we lost 0-2. Two more League wins followed, before the final of the Cornwall Senior Cup, at Wadebridge, against St Austell. A closely fought match ended 1-1 at 90 minutes, going straight to penalties, with no extra time allowed. St Austell scored all five of their kicks, whilst we missed our first one to lose out by the narrowest of margins. Despite the obvious disappointment of losing, especially on spot kicks, it was our fifth consecutive Senior Cup final, following four successive wins, which was a terrific achievement in itself. With seven League matches to play after the final we still had plenty to play for. The first of those was just two days later with the visit of Exmouth Town who were looking to clinch promotion. Despite a stout defensive display, Exmouth won 2-0. A trip to Elmore with a depleted squad saw one of our best performances for some time and we deservedly won the game 1-0 and we could have added considerably to that. The visit of the title favourites, Plymouth Parkway, saw an even better performance, arguably our best of the season, as we won against the odds, again by a single goal. Unfortunately, the three matches since then have all ended in disappointing defeats, with performances way below what the squad is capable of. Hopefully we can finish the season on a high note, with victory at home to Falmouth Town.