History
Radstock Town Football Club …
A condensed history
Without a doubt the ‘miners’ are one of the oldest football clubs in the county of Somerset. The club’s official establishment year, as recorded by the FA , is 1895 but there is strong evidence that indicates a Radstock team was actively competing against other local villages up to 35 years before in 1860.
The club was closely associated with the local mining and railway industry, where the majority of the team were recruited from, right up until their closure, although because of the ease of use of the railway system between the wars ‘the miners’ were always able to bring in players from Bristol if needed, one such player was Bill Holloway, father of current Blackpool manager and former Rovers star, Ian Holloway. It is widely reported that players would quite often take to the field still covered in coal dust after turning up to play immediately after their shift underground had finished! A Radstock team first appeared in the Western League in 1897 but entered as Radtock Town in 1903/04 along with our old rivals Welton Rovers but resigned at the end of 1910/11 season to play in the Somerset League. The club next appear in the Western League after the First World War and the 1920’s proved a particularly successful period for the club, in fact in 1923/24 the team finished as runners up to Lovell’s Athletic, who finished six points ahead of them, to this day their highest finishing position in the league. In the early days the club played it’s home games at Round hill, where the club’s junior section still play their home games, before moving to Southfield, the clubs current home in the 1927. The ground was purchased from a local farmer through a £5 each share issue, for which the participating miners paid 2/6d, (30p), per week. Unfortunately it appears that the issue was not entirely successful and the balance of the shares had to be taken up by the local mine managers association, this appears to be why, when the mines closed the trusteeship of the ground passed to the miners welfare organisation and in turn to the local council via ownership by the charity commissioners, however, no personally owned shares were purchased and to this day the club still believe that the ground actually belongs to those shareholders and therefore because of the terms of the issue, the club! All very complicated and until an actual share certificate can be found the true ownership of the ground remains a mystery. During the Second World War and for a few years after the club were forced to play games at Southall Park, where Norton/Radstock College currently reside, this was because an American tank division were billeted at Southfield! The club did enjoy a legacy from the occupancy though as the ‘yanks’ left a mizzen hut behind, which was converted to dressing rooms and replaced the very aged railway carriage that the teams had been previously using! The club dropped out of the league at the end of the 59/60 season along with Clandown and Frome Town to join the Wiltshire Premier League, this was a particularly successful period for the club securing championships in both 1965/66 and 66/67, the former saw the team unbeaten throughout the campaign and also winning the Somerset Senior and Wiltshire Subsidiary cup. The club moved to the Somerset County League in 1971 and again tasted success winning the championship twice in 76/77 and 78/79, when they were also promoted back to the Great Mills Western League first division. In 84/85 they were promoted again to the premier division after finishing runners up to Portway Bristol, under the stewardship of Steve Gay, unfortunately they never set the division alight and after a few difficult seasons were relegated back to the first division, sadly the troubles within the club continued and they were relegated back into the Somerset League in 1994. Even worse was to follow though as the club were relegated again the following season in to the Somerset Senior League first division, however the tide turned at that point and the side were promoted back to the Premier division at the first time of asking. The next five years were spent in the County League Premier Division before former player Nigel Bryant took over the management reigns in 2000 and for the next couple of years the club showed sustained year on year improvement culminating in promotion back to the Western League in 2004. A second promotion followed the following season when the side finished third, (on goal difference), to the then named Screwfix Western League first division. The club continue to compete in the Premier division and although the last few years have been far from easy both on and off the pitch, mainly due to off field financial issues and a lack of stability on the playing front the history and traditional values that have served ‘the miners’ so well over the last 115 years remain intact and under the current management structure Radstock Town’ future looks set to prosper.
A condensed history
Without a doubt the ‘miners’ are one of the oldest football clubs in the county of Somerset. The club’s official establishment year, as recorded by the FA , is 1895 but there is strong evidence that indicates a Radstock team was actively competing against other local villages up to 35 years before in 1860.
The club was closely associated with the local mining and railway industry, where the majority of the team were recruited from, right up until their closure, although because of the ease of use of the railway system between the wars ‘the miners’ were always able to bring in players from Bristol if needed, one such player was Bill Holloway, father of current Blackpool manager and former Rovers star, Ian Holloway. It is widely reported that players would quite often take to the field still covered in coal dust after turning up to play immediately after their shift underground had finished! A Radstock team first appeared in the Western League in 1897 but entered as Radtock Town in 1903/04 along with our old rivals Welton Rovers but resigned at the end of 1910/11 season to play in the Somerset League. The club next appear in the Western League after the First World War and the 1920’s proved a particularly successful period for the club, in fact in 1923/24 the team finished as runners up to Lovell’s Athletic, who finished six points ahead of them, to this day their highest finishing position in the league. In the early days the club played it’s home games at Round hill, where the club’s junior section still play their home games, before moving to Southfield, the clubs current home in the 1927. The ground was purchased from a local farmer through a £5 each share issue, for which the participating miners paid 2/6d, (30p), per week. Unfortunately it appears that the issue was not entirely successful and the balance of the shares had to be taken up by the local mine managers association, this appears to be why, when the mines closed the trusteeship of the ground passed to the miners welfare organisation and in turn to the local council via ownership by the charity commissioners, however, no personally owned shares were purchased and to this day the club still believe that the ground actually belongs to those shareholders and therefore because of the terms of the issue, the club! All very complicated and until an actual share certificate can be found the true ownership of the ground remains a mystery. During the Second World War and for a few years after the club were forced to play games at Southall Park, where Norton/Radstock College currently reside, this was because an American tank division were billeted at Southfield! The club did enjoy a legacy from the occupancy though as the ‘yanks’ left a mizzen hut behind, which was converted to dressing rooms and replaced the very aged railway carriage that the teams had been previously using! The club dropped out of the league at the end of the 59/60 season along with Clandown and Frome Town to join the Wiltshire Premier League, this was a particularly successful period for the club securing championships in both 1965/66 and 66/67, the former saw the team unbeaten throughout the campaign and also winning the Somerset Senior and Wiltshire Subsidiary cup. The club moved to the Somerset County League in 1971 and again tasted success winning the championship twice in 76/77 and 78/79, when they were also promoted back to the Great Mills Western League first division. In 84/85 they were promoted again to the premier division after finishing runners up to Portway Bristol, under the stewardship of Steve Gay, unfortunately they never set the division alight and after a few difficult seasons were relegated back to the first division, sadly the troubles within the club continued and they were relegated back into the Somerset League in 1994. Even worse was to follow though as the club were relegated again the following season in to the Somerset Senior League first division, however the tide turned at that point and the side were promoted back to the Premier division at the first time of asking. The next five years were spent in the County League Premier Division before former player Nigel Bryant took over the management reigns in 2000 and for the next couple of years the club showed sustained year on year improvement culminating in promotion back to the Western League in 2004. A second promotion followed the following season when the side finished third, (on goal difference), to the then named Screwfix Western League first division. The club continue to compete in the Premier division and although the last few years have been far from easy both on and off the pitch, mainly due to off field financial issues and a lack of stability on the playing front the history and traditional values that have served ‘the miners’ so well over the last 115 years remain intact and under the current management structure Radstock Town’ future looks set to prosper.
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