Our history

Wincanton Town Football Club was founded in 1890 and played most of its football in the Yeovil and District Football League at Dancing Lane on West Hill. In the early to mid 1990’s the West Hill ground was sold to fund Wincanton’s new Sports ground development on Moor Lane to the south west of the town. The Club still continue to play here today. 

In the club's recent history they progressed significantly in the late 1980's as they won the Yeovil and District League Division 2 in 1988/89, won the Division 1 title the following season before they then completed a notable hat-trick in 1990/91 as they became the Yeovil and District Premier Division Champions. 

Season 2002/03 saw Wincanton Town managed by Mike Hatcher and they finished as runners up in the Yeovil and District League Premier Division and for the first time in the club’s history they secured promotion to the Somerset County League. In their first season of Senior Football, the club progressed again, finishing as runners up in Division Three, scoring over 100 goals, and securing back to back promotions.

 In 2006 and after two seasons of mid table finishes in the Somerset Senior League Division Two, the club made the decision to move over the border to play in the Dorset County League. The club were allocated a space in the Dorset Senior League and under Wayne Jerome’s management in their first season in Dorset they won the title by a ten point margin and were promoted into the Dorset Premier League. 

In the first season (2007/08) in the Dorset Premier League the club finished in a creditable 5th position. 3 mid table seasons then followed with finishes of 8th, 9th and 7th. Before the start of the 2010/11 season the club appointed Paul Down as manager and in his second season (2011/12) the club finished in 4th position losing just 3 league matches all season. The following season (2012/2013) saw the club fair even better as they finished as runners up to Portland United. This allowed the club to apply for promotion to the Toolstation Western Football League. During the season Wincanton won 25 of their 34 league matches, scoring over 100 goals in the process. Silverware was added in the form of the Somerset Senior Cup in the last game of the season as Town beat Brislington 1-0 in the final in a match played at Street Football Club. The icing on the cake came in early summer the confirmation that the club had been accepted for promotion into the Toolstation Western League. A busy summer then lay ahead as big changes at the club had to be made both on and off the pitch. The committee worked hard to ensure floodlights, hard standing and fencing was installed on time to reach the league’s ground grading rules. Gary Johnson then manager of Yeovil Town F.C. officially switched on the floodlights in October 2013. His then Championship first team squad played a match to celebrate the switching on of the lights. Yeovil won 8-0 but a crowd of more than 450 watched the fixture. In the league the team finished its first season in the Western League in a very creditable 4th spot scoring 116 league goals.

Season 2014/15 saw the club enter the F.A. Vase for the first time, however Wessex League Bemerton Heath Harlequins proved too strong and won the tie 5-0. The team repeated their 4th position finish in the league and were one of only two sides to defeat runaway champions Barnstaple Town. A run to the quarter finals of the Les Phillips Cup was ended by the eventual Cup winners Willand Rovers. At the end of the season manager Paul Down announced he would be standing down after five successful seasons in charge. 

Season 2015/16 saw Andy Mitchell and Chris Wise take charge of the club as joint managers. A tough first season with a completely new look team led the team to be bottom three at Christmas but a strong second half of the season saw the Wasps climb to 16th for a respectable first season. This season also saw the club enter the FA Cup for the very first time and they beat a higher league side in Wessex League Premier Division Whitchurch United after a replay to earn the club a tie at Southern league side Winchester City, a tie we would eventually lose 5-1 away from home.  

The 2016/2017 season was the 2nd under the Wise and Mitchell reign and with a settled squad the club looked destined for a solid top half finish until injuries to some key players disrupted things around Christmas time and meant the Wasps finished in 13th place overall. Season 2017/2018 season saw a management shuffle with Chris Wise being the sole manager and having Andy Mitchell and Gary Chapman as his playing assistants. A 10th placed finish was secured as well as a first win in the FA Vase, 2-1 at Bridport from the league above.  

For the 2018/19 season Mitch stood down from his role as assistant manager so he could concentrate solely on playing. To fill the role the club welcomed back former player Matt Peters to work alongside Chris and Chappo. Too many drawn games hampered the team – 14 from their 38 matches which meant the team had to settle for a 14th placed finish. Season 2019/20 saw an improvement with the club in 8th position when the season was cancelled owing to the global pandemic. With most of the squad retained for the new season alongside a few additions, hopes are high of a finish closer to the top of the table.