Chippenham Town F.C.

Chippenham Town

Full name	Chippenham Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Bluebirds
Founded	1873
Ground	Hardenhuish Park, Chippenham, Wiltshire
Ground Capacity	2,815 (500 seated)
Chairman	Neil Blackmore
Manager	Mark Collier
League	Southern League Premier Division
2014–15	Southern League Premier Division, 11th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Chippenham Town are an English football club based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, which plays in the Southern League Premier Division, the seventh highest tier in the English league system. They are nicknamed the Bluebirds and play their home matches at Hardenhuish Park. They are most noted as being the oldest football club in the South West of England. Their home kit consists of a blue shirt, blue shorts and blue socks.

History

Chippenham Town Football Club was formed in 1873 and joined the Western Football League in 1904.^[1] After an unsuccessful start, the club left and played in the Wiltshire League, winning the championship in 1907–08 and 1908–09.^[1] The club won the championship and Wiltshire senior cup three times in the 1920s, plus a quadruple of Wiltshire trophies in 1928–29.^[1] Following their successes in the Wiltshire League, the club rejoined the Western League for the 1930–31 season.^[2] The club turned professional in 1948–49 after being taken over by local businessman, George Flower.^[1] The club then won the Western League in 1951–52 and reached the First Round of the FA Cup for the first time, eventually being knocked out by Leyton.^[1][2] They were runners up of the Western League in 1954–55.^[2] However, they left the league briefly in the early 1960s to rejoin the Wiltshire League, before spending five seasons in the Hellenic Football League.^[1] After returning to the Western League in 1976–77, Chippenham were champions of the Western League Division One in 1980–81 and were promoted to the Premier Division.^[1] Chippenham finished runner-up in the FA Vase in 1999–2000 and in 2000–01, the club finished runners up in the Premier Division and gained promotion to the Southern Football League Division One West, finishing runners-up in their first season, being promoted to the Southern League Premier Division.^[1] They finished runners-up in 2004–05, however, they failed to progress in the playoffs.^[1] The following season they were also knocked out at the playoff stage, however, they did progress to the 2005–06 FA Cup First Round, being knocked out in a replay by Worcester City.^[2] Chippenham were also knocked out of the playoffs in the 2007–08 and 2009–10 seasons. In 2012 they established a second team to help progress football in the town with the aim of getting the main team eventually in to higher levels of non-league football. The team formed was Chippenham Park F.C. ^[1]

Seasons

This is 5 recent Chippenham Town seasons, for a full history look List of Chippenham Town F.C. seasons

Year	League	Lvl	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Position	Leading league scorer		FA Cup		FA Trophy		Average home attendance
												Name	Goals	Res	Rec	Res	Rec
2009–10	Southern Football League Premier Division	7	42	21	11	10	67	43	+24	74	3rd of 22 Lost in playoff final	Lewis Powell	23	QR4	3-1-1	R2	4-1-1	411
2010–11	Southern Football League Premier Division	7	40	18	14	8	54	41	+13	68	7th of 21	Lewis Powell	14	QR2	1-0-1	QR2	1-2-1	411
2011–12	Southern Football League Premier Division	7	42	14	11	17	55	53	+2	53	11th of 22	Alan Griffin	19	QR1	0-0-1	R1	2-4-1	372
2012–13	Southern Football League Premier Division	7	42	13	12	17	63	67	-4	51	15th of 22	Alan Griffin	17	QR4	3-0-1	QR2	1-0-1	328
2013–14	Southern Football League Premier Division	7	44	14	6	24	59	87	-28	48	18th of 23	Alan Griffin	20	QR1	0-0-1	QR2	1-0-1	319

Kit and colours

The club originally played in black and white, but changed to blue and white after turning professional in 1948–49.^[1] Chippenham Town for the 2014/15 season are sponsored by Windhager UK on their home kit, all blue with white trim, and the away kit is sponsored by Thornbury Surfacing Ltd. For the 2014/15 season, Chippenham will retain their Green away kit but now with dark grey shorts.

Stadium

Chippenham Town play their home games at Hardenhuish Park, Bristol Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6LR.

They had an average attendance of 372 in the 2011/12 season. Chippenham had a nomadic existence for its earliest years before settling at Hardenhuish Park in 1919.^[1] They added a clubhouse in 1979.^[1]

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Kent Kauppinen GK Conor Thompson DF Jon Beeden DF Greg Tindle DF Matt Coupe DF Mark Preece DF Conor McCormack DF Peter Monks MF Iain Harvey MF Toby Osman MF Bryan Smith MF James Guthrie

No. Position Player MF Alex Ferguson MF Jordan Roberts MF Ashan Holgate MF Ryan Campbell MF Michael Pook FW Darren Edwards FW Luke Ballinger FW Mark Francis FW Lee Phillips FW Jack Odam FW Charlie Griffin

Ex-players

Chippenham Town F.C. have had players go on to play in the Football League or in international matches

• Tyrone Mings - The defender became Mick McCarthy's first signing for Ipswich Town in December 2012. He impressed on his Championship debut on May 4, 2013.
• James Constable - Walsall F.C. bought James from Chippenham, he has since played for Kidderminster Harriers, Shrewsbury Town and currently plays for Oxford United F.C. He was the first ever player to score in a final in the new Wembley Stadium, he scored two in the 2007 F.A Trophy Final. He scored 1 goal in Oxford's play off final victory at Wembley as well and will now play in League 2. He has also played for England C Team.
• Gareth Davies - Played for Crystal Palace in the Premier League before ending his career at Chippenham.
• Mark Robinson - Made over 100 appearances for Barnsley before playing for Newcastle United under Kevin Keegan. An injury ended his career at Newcastle and he then played for Swindon Town for 8 years before ending his career at Chippenham.
• Peter Trego - The Somerset County Cricket Club fast bowler had a brief stint at the club in goal when there was a lack of keepers through injury. During his spell he scored from the edge of his box, at Hemel Hempstead, lobbing the opposition goalie. He also featured in the clubs second only appearance in the First Round Proper of the FA Cup against Worcester City FC who won the replay at St Georges Lane.
• Andy Sandell - Andy joined Chippenham from Wycombe Wanderers and went onto play 6 games for the Bluebirds. He joined Newport County after just over a month at the club.

Honours

Club honours include:^[1][2]

• Southern Football League Premier Division
  • Runners-up 2004–05

• Southern Football League Division One West
  • Runners-up 2001–02

• Western Football League Premier Division
  • Champions 1951–52
  • Runners-up 1954–55, 2000–01

• Western Football League Division One
  • Champions 1980–81

• Wiltshire Football League
  • Champions 1907–08, 1908–09, three other times in 1920s

• Wiltshire Premier Shield
  • Winners 1966, 1987, 1989, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011

• Western Football League Cup:^[3]
  • Winners (2): 1999–2000, 2000–01

Records

Club records:^[2]

• Best league position
  • Second: Southern League Premier Division, 2003–04, 2004–05

• FA Cup
  • First Round Proper 1951–52, 2005–06

• FA Trophy
  • Second Round replay 2003–04

• FA Vase
  • Finalists 1999–2000

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Twitter Page
• Official Youtube Channel
• Chippenham Town at the Football Club History Database
• CTFC Norway Supporters Club
• BBC Wiltshire – News reports from BBC Wiltshire

Southern League Premier Division Arlesey Town Banbury United Bideford Biggleswade Town Burnham Cambridge City Chesham United Chippenham Town Cirencester Town Corby Town Dorchester Town Dunstable Town Frome Town Histon Hitchin Town Hungerford Town Paulton Rovers Poole Town Redditch United Slough Town St Neots Town Truro City Weymouth Division One Central AFC Hayes Aylesbury Aylesbury United Barton Rovers Beaconsfield SYCOB Bedford Town Bedworth United Chalfont St. Peter Daventry Town Egham Town Godalming Town Hanwell Town Kettering Town Leighton Town Marlow North Greenford United Northwood Potters Bar Town Royston Town Rugby Town St Ives Town Uxbridge Division One South & West AFC Totton Bashley Bishop's Cleeve Bridgwater Town Cinderford Town Clevedon Town Didcot Town Evesham United Fleet Town Larkhall Athletic Mangotsfield United Merthyr Town North Leigh Sholing Shortwood United Stratford Town Swindon Supermarine Taunton Town Tiverton Town Wantage Town Wimborne Town Yate Town Seasons 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15