Taunton Town

Taunton Town FC is a non-league football club from the town of the same name in Somerset, that was founded in December 1947 as Taunton FC by a group of local businessmen, initially joining the Somerset County League.

The town had previously been represented by a club called Taunton United, who changed their title to Taunton Town in 1927 before disappearing before World War Two. The new club progressed to Division Two of the Western League for the 1954-55 season.

By this time the club had played home matches at Mountfields, French Weir, Victoria Park and Huish Old Boys. They then moved to Denman's Park, Haines Hill where they remained until 1953 when they moved into a new ground at Wordsworth Drive.

The following season the side finished as runners-up and won promotion to Division One. 1968 saw the club take up their present title, with the change immediately paying dividends as ‘The Peacocks’ were crowned as Western League champions.

The early part of the 1970’s saw Town finish as Western League runners-up in four consecutive seasons; 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75 and 1975-76. This eventually led to promotion to the Southern League Division One South for the 1977-78 campaign.

The league was re-organised in the summer of 1979, with Taunton being placed in the Midland Division. A fine run in the FA Cup in 1981-82 saw the team reach the First Round for the first time before going down 2-1 to Swindon Town, after the game was moved to The County Ground.

Owing to financial reasons, the club dropped back down to the Western League at the end of the 1982-83 season, where Town lifted the league crown for a second time in 1989-90 under manager Keith Bowker. 1993-94 ended in disappointment after finishing second in the league.

Town managed by Terry Rowles also reached Wembley in the final of the FA Vase after victories over Moreton Town, Keynsham Town, Melksham Town, Barnstaple Town, Banstead Athletic, Belper Town, Newbury Town and Boston.

In the final Taunton were defeated 2-1 by Diss Town after extra time. Consolation came with a third league title in 1995-96 before another second place finish in 1997-98, which was coupled in a FA Vase semi-final defeat to Tow Law Town.

In 1998-99 Town won the Western League for a fourth time and again reached the last four of the FA Vase; this time going out to Tiverton Town. A fifth league championship was celebrated in 1999-00.

The title was retained the following season, which also saw another great run in the FA Vase with wins against Street, Diss Town, Brockenhurst, Arlesey Town, Tooting & Mitcham United and Clitheroe as Russell Musker led the team.

The final was held at Villa Park as Wembley was being rebuilt, and ended in a 2-1 win as the Peacocks finally got their hands on the trophy. 2001-02 ended with Town as league runners-up before they decided to have another bash at Southern League football.

The club were placed in the Western Division, with Pete Beadle in charge for a few games in 2005 before Gary Domone took over team affairs. A restructuring placed Town in Division One South West in 2006-07. Ian Jones was appointed as manager in December 2007.

Former Vase winner Paul West replaced Jones in April 2009, building a side including plenty of local talent. Former reserve player Kevin Turmey became club chairman in 2010, while Leigh Robinson took over as manager in May 2012.

The club began a period of growth as local interest began to grow. Facilities were improved, and investment was made in the squad. The team reached round one of the FA Cup for the second time in 2016-17, going out to Barrow after a draw in front of 2,300 fans at home.

The team finished in the play-offs in 2014-15, losing to Stratford Town. The following season Taunton were defeated by Banbury Town in the final having disposed of Swindon Supermarine in the semi-final.

In 2016-17 the Peacocks were denied any chance of promotion by Tiverton Town in the semi-final. Robinson’s side were not to be denied in 2017-18 as further investment in the squad paid dividends as the Southern League West Division title was lifted in style.

Taunton Town FC will play in the Southern League Premier Division South in the 2018-19 season.

My visits

Wednesday 15th August 2012

I’d been to the League Cup tie between Exeter City and Crystal Palace the previous evening before gradually making my way back towards London. It was a filthy day weather wise, but I was undaunted in trying to visit some new venues.

I’d got off the train at Tiverton Parkway and taken the bus to visit the homes of Elmore and then Tiverton Town before catching a bus to Taunton, by which time the heavy rain had abated.

I was saturated but partly resolved the situation by heading to Sports Direct to purchase a t shirt, hoodie and Olympics baseball cap. The town was far bigger than I thought but I still took the walk to an open Wordsworth Drive.

The ground was decent enough from memory without having any outstanding features. For some reason I failed to put together a page for this blog at the time and have consequently lost the phots when I had an issue with my PC storage.

Following a look at the ground I headed to the some of Somerset County Cricket Ground, which was most impressive. I really needed to head down for a game. After a couple of pints in the excellent Plough Inn I took the train to Swindon.

Taunton Town 3 Hendon 3 (Saturday 25^th August 2018) Southern League Premier Division South (att: 523)

When I previously visited Wordsworth Drive I had absolutely no idea I’d return a few later for a match as a supporter of Hendon FC. However, the club had offered me a home to get involved with a lovely football club, and I was thoroughly enjoying the ride.

The Dons had been switched to the Southern League at the beginning of the season, with plenty of long trips but great opportunities for groundhoppers along the way. I wasn’t going to miss out on such opportunities.

There hadn’t been enough fans wanting to travel to justify a dedicated coach, as with Frome a fortnight previously. Once again, we were permitted to travel with the team. This time the fare was a very reasonable £25.

It was never going to be the quickest of journeys, and we weren’t helped with the game being scheduled on a Bank Holiday. It necessitated an 8am departure from Silver Jubilee Park on a pleasant if cooler day.

Thankfully I was in better order than the previous excursion, having curtailed my Friday evening activities shortly after going to watch the London Skolars v Keighley Cougars Rugby League clash at Wood Green.

The journey actually went better than we’d anticipated; even allowing for our driver to get into a right muddle trying to access the coach area at the M5 Gordano Services; around the only section where we encountered any heavy traffic.

We pulled into the car park at the sponsored titled Viridor Stadium before 1pm, with the fans heading off down the road to The Master Thatcher five minutes away on Lisieux Way; trusting my judgement.

The pub was a cracker, but it was primarily a food establishment. The Palmers range of beers looked promising but were a bit of a let down if truth be told. We headed back to the ground at 2pm, where admission was £10 and the programme an extra couple of quid.

The ground certainly seemed better than on my previous brief visit. The was terracing behind both goals with the centre section covered. The players entrance was in the near corner, with a long low seated stand filling the touchline.

The far side had a club shop, refreshments, a clubhouse, club offices and a small seated stand before giving way to some open terracing. The two dug outs were on that side, and I was certain that I’d never seen a set positioned so far apart.

The best option at the bar in the ground as Quantock Pale Ale on keg. An excellent pastie was a fine accompaniment. It was apparent that Hendon would have a decent following at the game, which probably amounted to around 40 by kick off.

I was most impressed with the playing surface and surroundings of The Viridor Stadium. A decent sized crowd had assembled. Hopefully they weren’t too confused, with the team list on the back of the programme quoting Staines Town as the visitors.

We anticipated a tough game for Hendon so we’re most enthused when Ricky German tapped into an empty net after great work from Marvin Morgan, who used all his years of experience on seven minutes.

Dan Boness in goal at the other end was being kept busy along with his defence before German finished neatly to double the lead on thirty four minutes. Town halved the deficit when the impressive Matt Wright powered a header home at the back post as the interval approached.

Both sides could easily have been reduced to ten men after a bout of handbags got a little heated. Morgan did Laste Dombaxe a real favour dragging him away, although the midfielder didn’t appreciate it at the time. The home bench were particularly vocal trying to influence the officials.

I enjoyed a good cheeseburger at the break before the second period carried on as before with the Peacocks going for the more direct approach. I celebrated a German hat trick for the first time as the powerful front man powered his way past a couple of challenges to smash home from the edge of the box to make it 3-1 on fifty six minutes.

Host custodian Lloyd Irish pulled off a top stop from Dombaxe as Hendon continued to cause problems while Taunton ramped up the pressure in attack. Dan Sullivan dragged a goal back on 66 minutes with a powerful angled shot. Chances were coming thick and fast. Predicting the full time score was hazardous at that stage.

Again, referee Lee Roberts did well to keep discipline down to a pair of yellow cards after an altercation by the home bench; where some of the conduct and continued complaining was over the top. Hendon could well have been awarded a penalty as sub Dylan Kearney appeared to be dragged back.

Six minutes additional time was added on, which was about right. In the final sixty seconds the man in black pointed to the spot to award Taunton a penalty. Boness got to Wright’s kick, but the power took the ball in.

A draw was a fair result on reflection of a tough encounter not lacking incident, even if we were disappointed with the late award and ruing one or two missed opportunities to take three points at what would undoubtedly prove to be a home fortress.

Referee Roberts proved most amiable in the bar after the game, explaining his decision making to our table when asked politely. The game could do with more officials like that. Purely in my opinion of course!

We were back in the car park at SJP at 9.45pm after a ride back of Skid Solo qualities, for readers of a certain age. I thought I was going to have a administer heart massage to Dean Wheeler, the kit man!

We were ‘entertained’ by some extreme black rap music on the return ride. I don’t think they knew what were asking for when requesting a bit of Deacon Blue or Simply Red! The boys appeared to be bonding and were in good form, so we were all happy.

It was a top day out and although it felt like a defeat at the time, I feel we’d have settled for it upon departure. Jimmy Gray and his brand new and ever improving squad were continuing to make quite an impression.