Great Yarmouth Town

Great Yarmouth Town FC is a non-league football club from the Norfolk seaside resort of the same name, formed on July 20th 1897 as players were recruited from local clubs Yarmouth Fearnoughts and Yarmouth Royal Artillery.

The club played home games at Beaconsfield Recreation Ground and became members of the Norfolk & Suffolk League, quickly going on to establish themselves with several triumphs in lifting the Norfolk Senior Cup.

‘The Bloaters’ moved into the Wellesey Recreation Ground for the start of the 1901–02 season, before being expelled from their league during the 1912-13 season prior to being reinstated to the competition a few months later.

Town proved a point lifting the league title in 1913-14 before adding further championships in 1926-27 and 1927-28 which was backed up by runners-up finishes in 1929-30 and 1933-34. Yarmouth became founder members of the Eastern Counties League for the 1935-36 season.

Following World War Two the team put together some prominent runs in the FA Cup, making a first round appearance in 1947-48 which ended in a 4-1 home defeat to Shrewsbury Town. In 1952-53 Town defeated Guildford City at the same stage after a replay before bowing out 2-1 at home to Wrexham.

The 1953-54 season saw Crystal Palace defeated 1-0 at the Wellesey in front of 8,944 fans in round one before Town bowed out 5-2 away to Barrow. The side went on to league runners-up places in 1956-57 and 1967-68.

Jimmy Moran managed Great Yarmouth when they were crowned champions of the Eastern Counties League in 1968-69 before former Norwich City winger Bill Punton took over as manager at the start of a record twenty-one years at the helm.

The Bloaters ended as league runners-up in 1977-78 to repeat the performance twelve months later. A third place finish ensued in 1982-83, the same season as Town became agonisingly close to reaching Wembley Stadium in the FA Vase.

Victories against St Neots Town, Stansted, March Town United, Letchworth Garden City, Heybridge Swifts, Bracknell Town and Brandon Town along with the goals of Neil Hart helped the side reach the semi-final against VS Rugby. A crowd of 4,552 were at the Wellesey for the second leg as the Bloaters were defeated in extra time.

The team accumulated third places in the league 1984-85 and 1985-86 before the competition was extended in 1988, as Yarmouth were placed in the Premier Division. Punton moved on to Diss Town in 1990.

The team ended third in 1998-99 under the stewardship of Paul Tong, which was as good as it got before Town were relegated in 2004-05 after the departure of Tong. Goalkeeping record appearance holder, Nick Banham, had a spell as manager while his wife Julia became chairperson.

The club were in a dire financial state in 2008 when local businessman Stephen Brierley helped secure their future. Club stalwart Kevin Cruickshank was put in as joint manager of the team with the returning Tong, who then went on to take sole charge.

He led the team to the Division One title in 2009-10 but were relegated from the Premier Division the following season. Off the pitch the club continued to develop their youth set up, but poor committee management nearly led to Town going bust during the 2011-12 campaign.

Tong departed to join fierce local rivals Gorleston during the 2015-16 season, as he was replaced by young joint bosses Adam Mason and Martyn Sinclair, who steered the side to promotion to add to their successes in local football.

The Bloaters were relegated once more in 2018-19 but restructured off the pitch to form a stronger base going forward. Rob McCombe took over as manager. His team sat in tenth place in Division One North when the 2019-20 season ended early owing to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Great Yarmouth Town FC will play in the Eastern Counties League Division One North in the 1920-21 season.

My visits

Wednesday 31st May 2006

With a day off work, I looked at the options open to me for a day out and plumped for a ride to the seaside and go to Great Yarmouth horse races. I managed to precure a cheap return rail ticket and off I headed, keen to explore somewhere new.

After alighting I headed straight away to the Wellesey Recreation Ground, which was open to the public as it also contained courts for small-sided football and tennis. Its outstanding feature was the beautiful ornate wooden main stand, opened in 1892.

Opposite was a long low cover with aa few steps of shallow terracing. The pitch was surrounded by a running track, with the rest of the arena being flat open hard and grass standing.

I headed for a walk to the sea front and then back towards the town centre and market. I was a little disappointed if truth be told. The place had obviously seen better days but was busy enough. I had a pint and fancied fish and chips. Stalls selling chips were in abundance, but I struggled to find anywhere selling fish in the market.

The racing wasn’t any better. I think I had one place all afternoon at a track which was missing the usual large screen in the middle of the track, meaning very poor viewing as the centre was occupied by hundreds of caravans meaning we only saw the horses near the finish.

The pubs were nothing to write home about. Many were offering karaoke. Not for me! I filed in an hour in a modern bar before heading back to London.

Tuesday 18^th August 2020

I’d returned to East Anglia at the start of my fortnight summer annual leave from work. Travel had been limited owing to the pandemic hurting everywhere. Travelodge had done a special offer of a free night with each one booked after the restrictions had been slightly lifted.

My choice was Norwich, where I’d only previously visited briefly for a midweek match in 2009. I was most impressed with the city, as I enjoyed some good walks. The pubs weren’t quite as good as I’d envisaged, and many were shutting at 9pm.

After a good night’s rest, I headed back to the coast for another look. My original plan was to walk to the Emerald Park home of Gorleston FC from Great Yarmouth station. It was far further than I imagined and gave up after three miles to catch a bus back.

Again, I got out in the centre of Yarmouth and took a walk to the ground, which was again thankfully open. I had a walk all the way around and even went upstairs to take a vantage point from the beautiful stand.

The ground was in good nick and I got the impression that the football club were making an effort, as all their signage was fresh and neat. Smudgers Social Club stood by the main entrance and advertised opening times throughout the week.

The seafront was again bustling despite it being a windy day. Visitors were taking a day by the coast and businesses must have been doing very well. Hopefully, the council will spend some money from the income as Great Yarmouth has many attributes but could certainly do with an upgrade.

It said everything that I took an earlier train back to Norwich than I originally intended, to eat there before taking a good walk and then enjoying the delights of the Coach and Horses, a pub popular on matchdays, throughout the evening.