128 Years of History
10 Mar 2008

Few Football Clubs in Hampshire can boast that they are 128 years old, but an ancient copy of the Old Ringwood Almanac reveals that a Ringwood Town Football Club was formed in 1879. The club is first mentioned in county records from 1886 when they used the title of “Ringwood Hornets”.
The Team disbanded during the Great war of 1914-18 when most of the players joined the colours and served on the Western Front. When these servicemen returned from the battlefields in 1918 they reformed the team as the “Ringwood Comrades”.

Throughout the 1920’s and 30’s the club played at a local level but for the 1936 season reverted to the name of Ringwood Town FC. The club again disbanded at the outbreak of the Second World war in 1939, when again the players left to play a much more dangerous game. When peace returned the club reformed as “Ringwood and Wellworthy F.C “for the 1946 season, but soon reverted back to the title of Ringwood Town Fc and has played under that name ever since.

The club played at Carvers Playing Fields throughout the 1950’s and 60’s but an ambitious club committee, encouraged by Ringwood Town Council, laid the foundations for the club to move to the present location here at Long Lane.

Ringwood Town continued to play in Bournemouth Leagues and the Bournemouth Page Croft Cup with some notable success over the years before joining the Hampshire League. Some of that success on the pitch has seen the Club win the Bournemouth Senior Cup four times and be Runners-Up on a further four occasions. In 1980, the club recorded its most memorable achievement to date when they beat mighty Southern League opposition to win the Russell Cotes Cup. In 1986 the Club won promotion to the top level Division One of the Hampshire League, but the challenge proved a step too far and they were relegated after just one season. They were soon back again though and as the new century dawned the club was found to be playing again at the top level of the Hampshire league in the renamed Premier Division. During the 2003-04 season, their last in the Hampshire league, the club reached the final of the Hampshire Floodlit Cup whilst the Reserve team won their Hampshire League Combination Division.

Ringwood Town joined the Wessex League in 2004-05 for the inaugural season of that leagues Division Two. Successive Committees had strived for years behind the scenes to improve the facilities at the ground and this paid off handsomely when, at the start of the 2006-07 season, the Wessex League realigned its divisions and Ringwood successfully applied to join the renamed Premier Division. This was to be the highest level the club had ever competed at and the learning curve was steep. The aim for the 2007-08 season is to apply the lessons learnt last year and strive to establish the club as a regular member of the Sydenhams Wessex Premier Division.