FTFC | Club History | Early Days

frometownfc.co.uk Official Website of ‘The Robins’

Website Sponsor

Early Days Frome Town, known at the Robins, was formed in 1904 and started their league campaign playing in the Wiltshire Premier League. Early success came in the form of three Somerset Senior League Championships in between 1906 and 1911, whilst in between the Wiltshire League Championship was won in 1909-10. The Club reached the Fifth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup in 1911-12 under the old format of the competition, which was today's equivalent of the Third Round proper. The team travelled to Southport Central, only to lose 4-1 in front of a crowd of 3,366. Frome entered the Western League in 1919 and immediately became Division 2 Champions. The Somerset FA Senior Cup was won in successive seasons in 1932- 22 & 1933-34 & for a third time in 1950-51 as silverware started to become a regular feature in the Badgers Hill trophy cabinet. Frome have always played at Badgers Hill and the ground held its biggest gate in 1954 when 8,000 spectators saw Leyton Orient win 3-0 in the FA Cup First Round Proper. For the game the ground underwent a transformation with huge amounts of stone and rubble brought in to form banking which helped increase the capacity for the match. The ‘North Bank’ was created which over the years many a Robins supporter would stand on to cheer on their team. In the same season promotion was won to Division One of the Western League and were also beaten finalists in the inaugural Western League Cup. A few years of poor displays saw the Club slip back and the Robins once again found themselves back in the Wiltshire League. Promotion was gained back into the Western League again in 1962-63 where the club remained for many years. Success started to come again for the Club as the Somerset Premier Cup was won in 1966-67 with victory over Yeovil Town in the final and the cup was shared by the same two teams again in 1968-69. With the Club growing Frome were hoping to transfer their cup successes back into the league and over the coming years the Robins would go on to be one of the best sides around as they continued to improve.