SHAFTESBURY - HISTORY
Shaftesbury Football Club was established in 1888 and the clubs first success was winning the League Cup in 1900 and then again in 1905/06 along with the League Title.
In 1908/09 season Shaftesbury formed a reserve side and also a mid-week league side known as Shaftesbury Wednesday. In the early 1920’s the first youth team was formed called Shaftesbury Athletic. Shaftesbury’s next success was in 1932/33 season winning the Dorset Senior League, then the most successful period come in the 1940/50’s when Shaftesbury won 12 cup competitions in a 10 year period.
Shaftesbury then moved to the ground known as Cockrams in 1974, even today still playing here but in a slightly different located pitch due to the arrival of Tesco Supermarket. Many more titles were won over the years with winning the League Cup in 1976, League Champions and Combination Cup in 1988/89, Combination Cup Winners 1994/95, League Winners 1996/97.
In 2004/05 Shaftesbury entered the Wessex League and for the first time in 2005/06 entered the FA Vase and 2006/07 the FA Cup. 2011/12, Shaftesbury re-joined the Dorset Premier League, many changes happened on and off the pitch and the re-growth of the team showed as they started to shine year on year in this league.
2015/16 season saw Shaftesbury Football Club have a successful year for some time, under new management, the 1st team won the Dorset Premier League meaning promotion into the Wessex League (Div 1). 2016/17 season was the first return to the Wessex League since 2004 and with a more than expected performance through-out the season, a top three finish saw promotion to the Wessex Premier and Shaftesbury’s highest level of football to come in 2017/18.
2017/18 was a successful year for the club with retaining a position in the Wessex Premier League and also reaching the Dorset Senior Final, unfortunately with a loss to Wimborne Town. The final success of the year was to win the Salisbury Hospital Cup.
The club won the Wessex League Cup in 2021/22, and achieved promotion to Step 4 as Premier Division play-off winners in 2023/24.
