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The
present Club was formed in 1946 following the amalgamation of three clubs and
some of their history can be traced back to the 1800s. Initially the Club joined the Portsmouth
League before election to the Hampshire County League two years later. During their stay in the Hampshire League
Fareham won every honour within the County including the League on eight
occasions, the Hampshire Senior Cup three times and all other Senior County
competitions at least once. The Club
also ran a Sunday side, which won the FA Sunday Cup in 1974.
The
Club remained in the Hampshire League until 1979 when an application to join
the expanding Southern League was successful.
Initially playing in the Southern Division, the Club gained promotion
to the Premier Division when the League was re-organised in 1982 and stayed
there for 7 seasons until relegated to the Southern Division in 1989. In National Cup competitions the Club has
reached the First Round Proper of the F.A. Cup on four occasions; the closest
the Club came to progressing beyond that was in 1988-89 when drawing 2-2 at
Torquay United after surrendering a
two goal lead with only five minutes to go; the replay ended in a
narrow 2-3 defeat.
The
Club’s most successful run in the F.A. Trophy came in 1986-87 when they
shocked the Non-League Football World by reaching the Semi-finals before
losing 0-2 on aggregate to the eventual winners Kidderminster Harriers. During the run to the Semis the Club played
10 games and beat Vauxhall Conference sides Scarborough and Barnet on their
own grounds – at the end of the season Scarborough were promoted to the Football
League as Conference Champions and Barnet were Runners-up. The Club also shook Hampshire football in
1993 by inflicting a 4-1 defeat on odds-on favourites Farnborough Town in the
Hampshire Senior Cup Final.
Over
the years a number of notable Fareham players have moved on to Football
League Clubs including Ray Hiron and Ron Newman (Portsmouth), Darren Foreman
(Burnley), Domenyk Newman (Reading), Kevin Bartlett (Cardiff City), Paul
Moody (Southampton), Dave Leworthy (Tottenham) and John Hold and Steve
Claridge (Bournemouth). Although only
playing a handful of games for Town, Stevie became the first and so far only
ex-Fareham player to feature in a £million transfer when moving from
Birmingham to Leicester for whom he scored in the League Cup Final. Two former England internationals, Ray
Crawford and Mark Chamberlain have managed the Club.
With
the cost of running a Southern League increasing every year the then Board of
Directors lead by Chairman Chris Solen made the sensible and realistic
decision that, if football was to survive at Fareham, then the Club would
have to compete at a lower level and in 1998-99 the Club joined the Wessex
League and entered the FA Vase for the first time. The Club was taken over in April 2001 by
the Ralls Building Group who wanted to take the Club further with the
ambition to do well in the Wessex League.
After a difficult start to life in the Wessex League, ex-Saint Jon
Gittens took over as Manager for the 2002-03 season and he took the Team to
their highest finish in the League at 5th. The following season saw the team placed 7th
and they also reached the Final of the 2004 Hampshire Senior Cup at St
Mary’s, Southampton and were rather unfortunate to lose after two very
debatable refereeing decisions in the closing minutes gave Conference side
Farnborough Town an undeserved 2-1 victory.
Following
a disagreement with the Club, Gittens departed and Louis Savage and Louis
Bell took control but after a good start Town slumped to their lowest ever
finish in the Wessex League. Bell was
replaced by first “Dutchie” Holland and then Pompey legend Joe Laidlaw as
Town fielded one of the best attacks in the League but a fragile defence and
shocking disciplinary record meant another change in the Team Management was
inevitable. With many of the players
also leaving, ex-Horndean Manager Mike Benfield has taken over and, after the
expected shaky start, his team of young players are gelling and looking like
they should finish in the top-half of the table.
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Appearances
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Fixtures & Results
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Goalscorers
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Past Times
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Players Register
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Wessex Opponents
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Wessex League
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Cup Competitions
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FA Cup
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FA Vase
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Hampshire
Senior Cup
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Wessex League Cup
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News… |