Street F.C.

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Street F.C. logo.png
Full nameStreet Football Club
Nickname(s)The Cobblers
Founded1880
GroundThe Tannery, Street
Capacity1,500 (150 seated)
LeagueWestern League Premier Division
2020–21Western League Premier Division (season curtailed)

Street Football Club are a football club based in Street in Somerset, England. They are currently members Western League Premier Division and play at the Tannery. The club is affiliated to the Somerset County FA.

Club history[]

Founded in 1880, Street FC is one of the oldest clubs in Somerset. Nicknamed The Cobblers due to a large shoe making industry in the village the early years were extremely successful and Street won the Somerset Senior League four times before the end of the century, the first occasion being the 1882/83 season.

Street was also to taste early success in the Somerset Senior Cup winning the trophy in the 1897/98 season and again two years later. After winning the Somerset Senior league again in 1910 and the Senior Cup the following season, the club made the decision to join The Western league and in the first season finished 8th out of eleven clubs. With The Western League being disbanded in 1914 due to The Great War, Street re-joined the league at the start of the 1919/20 season in the newly formed Division 2. However, the 2nd Division was disbanded three years later and the club re-joined The Somerset Senior League where they remained for the next eight years.

The first year back in The Western league 2nd Division was none too successful with the club finishing 16th out of seventeen but two years later, Street finished runners up to Swindon Town Reserves. They repeated the feat in 1938 when again they finished 2nd, 12 points behind Weymouth. However, there was no promotion from the 2nd Division to the 1st Division.

The following season 1938/39, The Cobblers had their finest hour when they reached the 1st Round Proper of The FA Cup and were drawn away to Division 3 side Ipswich Town. Representing the side of that day were numerous players with football league experience, notably: E Maggs, G Webber and A Banfield (Bristol City), F Farr (Northampton), L Rose (Everton), N & C Willey (Portsmouth) - but although they put up a gallant fight they were eventually beaten 7–0.

After the war Street returned to The Western League in the 1st Division and in the 1947/8 season had another memorable season finishing 3rd in the league and reaching the FA Cup 1st round for the second time after knocking out Yeovil Town 2-1 along the way in front of a crown of 5000 at The Victoria Field. Once again the road to Wembley ended there as they were beaten 5-0 by Cheltenham Town. Street then went through a lean spell and was relegated to the 2nd Division in 1955 and then re-joining The Somerset Senior League in 1960 when The Western league Division 2 was disbanded.

In the mid 1960s the introduction of ex-pro Tommy Wilson as manager saw the club's fortunes rise again and at the same time they left The Victoria Field and moved to the Turnpike Ground where they were crowned The Somerset League champions in 1964 and again in 1966.

In 1967 Street moved to their present home at The Tannery Ground but times were lean and by 1992 they had dropped to the 3rd Division. The introduction of Noel O’Hare as manager saw an upturn of fortunes and successive promotions came in his 1st two seasons. At the end of the 1993/94 season noel left the club and Simon White was appointed. Simon left after only 11 games but they went on to gain promotion again and reached the final of The League Cup under the guidance of Ken Randall.

The following season – 1996/97 – Simon White returned to and led Street to The Senior League Championship for a record 8th time and back into The Western League after a 47-year absence. The following season floodlights were erected, a seated stand added and the changing rooms enlarged. After guiding Street to a 3rd and 4th-place finish in the 1st two seasons Simon left the club midway through the following campaign. Julian Thresher and Neil Seymour then took over the reins followed by Gerry Pearson and then Alan Hooker, until Simon White was appointed at the start of the 2005/06 season and led the club to promotion to the Western League at the first attempt.

Dan Badman took over as first team manager in 2011/12 and has been proud to lead the team to their all-time best in 2012/13 finishing 6th and beating it again in 2013/14 finishing in 5th position. 2015/16 saw the Cobblers finish 7th and getting to the semi-finals of the Somerset Premier Cup, at the end of the season after 4½ year Dan stepped down due to work commitments.

Street moved swiftly and appointed former Bitton, Bridgwater Town and Paulton Rovers manager Richard Fey to take over at the helm, his first season in charge saw the Cobblers claim a 2nd-placed finish. They went one better and became champions in 2017/18 season, winning 26 games in a row along the way, amassing 99 points, scoring 100 goals, and having the best PPG ratio in the country of any team at that level. The side finished 15 points clear of Melksham Town, a massive achievement in the clubs history. Promotion to Southern League followed, with the team finishing a respectable 8th in 2018/19. The club was unable to sustain such lofty ambitions and chose to take voluntary demotion back down to the Western league, a huge disappointment to everyone involved in its recent record-breaking success.

Ground[]

Street play their home games at The Tannery Ground, Middlebrooks, Street, Somerset, BA16 0TA.

Honours[]

Honour Year(s)
Western League
Premier Champions
2017–18
Western League
Division One runners up
1952–53, 2016-17
Western League
Division Two runners up
1932–33, 1937–38
Somerset Senior League
Champions
1892–93, 1895–96, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1909–10, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1995–96
Somerset Senior Cup[1]
Winners
1897–98, 1899–00, 1910–11
Somerset Senior League Cup
Finalists
1995–96

References[]

  1. ^ "Senior Cup". SomersetFA. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2013-04-04.

External links[]

Coordinates: 51°06′57.99″N 2°44′38.31″W / 51.1161083°N 2.7439750°W / 51.1161083; -2.7439750

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