Thatcham Town • Club History
Thatcham Town Football Club was founded in 1894. The club were originally known as Thatcham, with Town being added to its name in 1974. In the early years Thatcham played at The Marsh on Dunston Green, Brownsfield (home of the Cricket Club) and Station Road, before moving to Lancaster Close in 1949. Floodlights were erected in January 1983 with Fulham FC visiting for a friendly fixture to commemorate their switchingon. In order to provide improved facilities the club moved to Waterside Park during the 1992/93 season.
The club joined the Reading Temperance League in 1896, winning the Division Two title in 1905/06. In 1953 Thatcham became founder members of the Hellenic League and won promotion to the Premier Division as DivisionOnechampionsin1958/59,1964/65and1972/73.TheclubthenwontheHellenicLeagueChampi- onship in1974/75.
Following short spells in the Athenian and London Spartan Leagues, Thatcham joined the newly formed Wessex League in 1986 and won the title in 1995/96. After finishing second in 2005/06, FA ground require- ments were met and promotion to step four was achieved.
The Kingfishers spent eight seasons in the Southern League Division One – seven in the South & West Division and one (2012/13) in the Central Division. After finishing sixth in 2006/07 and 2008/09, the club achieved its highest ever placing in 2010/11. Despite being in the bottom half of the table at new year, the club earned 38 points from the final 15 matches to finish in fifth place, however the Kingfishers were beaten at Sholing in the play-off semi-final.
Once safety was assured in 2013/14, the club announced its resignation from the Southern League to cut costs by playing at a lower level. In 2014/15 Town finished twelfth in their first season back in the Hellenic Premier,buthavingfinishedsecondandfourthinthelasttwocampaigns,theclubareoptimisticofreturning to the Southern League in the nearfuture.
Thatcham completed league and cup doubles by winning the Hellenic First Division Cup in 1972/73 and the Premier Division Cup in 1974/75. The latter was the club’s most successful season as Thatcham also claimed the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup. Thatcham were actually beaten in the cup final but were awarded the trophy due to a dispute between their opponents Wycombe Wanderers and the Berks & Bucks FA.
In1989ThatchamreachedthelasteightoftheFAVasehavingbeendrawnawaysixtimesbeforeeventually losingtolocalrivalsHungerfordTown. Inthesamecompetition,arecordattendanceof1,400wassetwhen Aldershot Town won 1-0 at Waterside Park in1993/94.
1996/97 saw the club's best ever FA Cup run as they reached the Fourth Qualifying Round. In 2012/13 Thatcham were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Gloucester City of the Conference North in the Second Qualifying Round, in a tie played at Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road ground.
The club are yet to progress beyond the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy though reached the Quarter-Finals of the Red Insure Cup in 2011/12. During the 1990s Thatcham won the Wessex League Cup four times, and more recently, success has been enjoyed in the Basingstoke Senior Cup.