Shaftesbury Town

Shaftesbury Town Football Club are a football club based in Shaftesbury, Dorset, England. The club is affiliated to the Dorset County Football Association and is a FA chartered Standard club. They are currently members of the Wessex League Premier Division.

History

The club was established in 1888 and by the 1905–06 season were winners of the Dorset Junior League. The club became members of the Dorset Senior League for the start of the 1931–32 campaign and a season later were winners of the competition.

After the Second World War the club played in the FA Cup for the first time, reaching the Extra Preliminary Qualifying round before being knocked out by Alton Town. The club became one of the founder members of the Dorset Football Combination League at the start of the 1957–58 season. Four seasons later the club reached the final of the Dorset Senior Cup, for the first time but lost out to Dorchester Town. The club continued in the Combination until the end of the 1961–62 competition, when they dropped into the Dorset leagues again.

The 1976–77 Season saw the club return to the Dorset Combination league. The club went on to win the combination league in the 1988–89 competition. They repeated another title success again in the 1996–97 campaign.

When the Wessex Football League expanded for the start of the 2004–05 campaign, the club moved to the newly created Division two. The next season saw the club enter the FA Vase for the first time, where they were knocked out in the First Qualification round by Westbury United. The club stayed in the Wessex league a further season, when they finished bottom of the league and were relegated to the Dorset Premier Football League. In 2013–14, Shaftesbury Town continued their Dorset Premier League challenge, starting on 10 August against Wareham Rangers.