Season 1888-1889
In a replay of the previous year's final, the Town beat Swindon Temperance again to retain the Wiltshire Cup for a third season. The FA introduce qualifying rounds to the FA Cup, and the Town fail to qualify - losing 5-2 at home to Marlow in the Second Qualifying Round. Meanwhile, twelve teams make up the first Football League, which is won by Preston North End.
Men Senior1st
Men ReservesRes
Season 1887-1888
The Wiltshire Cup is retained after a victory over Swindon Temperance - but the Town fall at the first hurdle in the FA Cup - losing to Old Brightonians.
Men Senior1st
Season 1886-1887
The Town enter their first competitions, and win their first trophy - cementing their place as the county's premier team by winning the inaugural Wiltshire Cup, beating Trowbridge Town in the final. The club also enter the FA Cup for the first time, beating Watford Rovers in the first round, before being humiliated 7-1 by Swifts in the second.
Men Senior1st
Season 1885-1886
The club begins to build a reputation as the best team in Wiltshire, and record their biggest victory to date, a 12-0 win over Devizes Depot. With the Wiltshire FA being formed in 1884, thoughts begin to turn towards the commencement of competitive action.
Men Senior1st
Season 1884-1885
The newly-named Swindon Town club move again - this time to The Croft in Old Town, which is the club's home for eleven years. Close to the then recently-opened Swindon Town station, the pitch was situated at the end of the modern day Hesketh Crescent - teams changed in the nearby Fountain Inn (subsequently named Cartoons, The Rock Garden, The Hobgoblin, the Pipers Arms, and now the Hop Inn), and tickets were purchased from a pigeon-hole in the Royal Oak Inn.
Men Senior1st
Season 1883-1884
The name of Swindon Town Football Club is chosen in 1883, when amateur goalkeeper and future England international Billy Rose arranges a meeting in the Fountain Inn. Reverend Pitt suggests the name, and is installed as club president, with Rose named as club captain - and the club colours are chosen as consisting of "a red and black striped jersey with a blue sash". The first known match as STFC is played against Culham College, and ends in defeat by two goals to one.
Men Senior1st
Season 1882-1883
By now, the Spartans are playing their home matches on J.E.G. Bradford's Field in Old Town - the pitch situated next to a quarry, in which many balls were lost (the pitch situated at the end of the current day Bradford Road and its intersection with Avenue Road - other modern street names of Quarry Road and The Quarries offering some clues as to what was there previously!). After a young spectator falls down the quarry, the club make the short move to the Globe Field, situated off of Lansdown Road - again, Globe Street and the nearby Globe Inn being references to the area's history.
Men Senior1st
Season 1881-1882
The Spartans' match with St. Mark's Young Mens' Friendly Society in November 1881 ends in a 2-2 draw - until the mid-1990s, it was thought that this match prompted the two clubs to merge and form a club under the name of "the Swindon Football Club" - and though the club celebrated their centenary in 1981, further evidence later reveals this to be inaccurate - the teams would play each other again the following season!
Men Senior1st
Season 1880-1881
It is decided that "The Swindon Town Football Club was rather a mouthful to shout out", and the club's name is changed to the Spartans. The Spartans name first appears as a cricket club over the summer, with many men turning out for both the cricket and football teams. Early home matches are played on The Wharf, a field owned by Thomas Hooper Deacon, who would go on to become Mayor of Swindon in 1908. The field was very close to the current County Ground site, on the opposite site of the canal - approximately where the fire station is now.Reverend Pitt is appointed as Rector of Liddington in 1881.
Men Senior1st
Season 1879-1880
Swindon Association Football Club was founded in the autumn of 1879, by Reverend William Pitt, in a meeting held in King William Street School with workers from the railway factory.The first recorded match is played on November 29 against a "Rover FC" team - most probably on Faringdon Road Park - the match report doesn't appear in the Swindon Advertiser for two weeks, reporting a 4-0 defeat for a Swindon team that only has ten men listed in their lineup!
Men Senior1st