Summary

Frome Town, known at the Robins, were formed in 1904 and their first game saw a 4-1 victory over Wooton Bassett in the Wiltshire League. Early success came in the form of three Somerset Senior League Championships in 1906-07, 1908-09 and 1910-11, 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 one round before the last 64 or 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 1932-22 and 1933-34 and for a third time in 1950-51.

Frome have always played at Badgers Hill and the ground held its biggest gate in 1954 when 8,000 spectators saw Leyton Orient and win 3-0 in the FA Cup First Round Proper. In the same season, promotion was won to Division One of the Western League & were beaten finalists in the inaugural Western League Cup.

Relegation back to the Second Division followed in 1959 & when the Western League reverted to one division the following year, and ended up in the Wiltshire Premier League. Promotion was gained back into the Western League in 1962-63 where the club have remained to this day. Success was gained in the Somerset Premier Cup in 1966-67 with victory over Yeovil Town in the final and the cup was shared by the same two teams in 1968-69.

Frome's greatest triumph came in 1978-79 when the club won the Western League title thanks to a 0-0 draw at Badgers Hill with Paulton Rovers in a nerve jangling final match. The Championship was ecured by losing only once in the last 32 matches. The League Cup followed in 1979-80 with a victory over Devizes Town.

Another vintage year followed in 1982-83 with victories in both the Somerset FA Premier Cup and the Western League Cup, along with runners-up in the league. The next trophy to follow was the 1983-84 Western Counties Floodlit Cup & in 1984-85 the Club reached the second round proper of the FA Challenge Trophy.

Following those heady days, Frome flirted all too often with relegation from the Premier Division, making a great escape on the last day of the 1991-92 season when survival was secured with a winning goal five minutes from time at Saltash United thanks to Richard Coombes.

However, relegation followed in 1996-96 under the leadership of Mike Leeson and the Club spent several seasons in the lower reaches of the First Division of the Western League until things slowly began to change both on and off the field.

The Club was re-structured off the field in 1999-00 & local business man Paul McGuinness was elected as Chairman. Straight away he spent a lot of money on upgrading the old and ramshackle ground by removing the famous old "North Bank" and also replacing the dangerous main stand. Unfortunately, success on the field did not follow with the Club hitting one of it's lowest points in its long history when the team finished bottom of the First Division. The re-structure of the Western League at the end of that season saved the Club the embarrassment of relegation to the Somerset County League.

Former Street Manager, Simon White, was installed as the new first team Manager at the start of the 2000-01 season who bought with him a real fighting spirit that is still in place at the Club to this day. Average gates increased as Frome had one of their best season's for years when they finished third at the end of the season.

Frome's improvement & attendances continued to increase during the 2001-02 season as they won promotion back to the Western League Premier Division after a six year absence as they fought off competition from Bath City Reserves to claim the First Division title. During the same season they also reached the final of the Les Phillips Cup for the first time in eighteen years where they narrowly lost 2-1 to that season's Premier Division Champions Bideford. That season saw the average attendance increased to nearly 200 and the popular Club Website FTFC Online was finally launched to keep the growing fan base in touch with all the latest news.

The same season also saw the Reserve Team bringing silverware back to Badgers Hill when they claimed the Somerset County League Division 2/3 Cup.

During the close season the Club shocked the non-league footballing world by parting company with Simon White. A popular player & former Yeovil Town & Trowbridge legend, Paul Thorpe, took over as Player/Manager. He appointed another fans favourite and former Bristol Rovers and Yeovil Town hero, Tony Pounder, as his first team coach. The 2002-03 season was always destined to be one of consolidation & they finished 11th but the main story of the season was the transfer of prolific striker Mark Salter being transferred to League Club Southend United.

After a poor start to the 2003-04 campaign the Club parted company with Thorpe and he was quickly replaced by the experienced Andy Black who had recently left Mangotsfield United after guiding them to promotion to the Southern League. Before Thorpe left his position with Frome he helped re-sign Mark Salter from Bath City for an undisclosed four figure sum. Salter had been released by Southend after a change of Manager.

With Frome struggling to win at home the Club turned to the help of a local "White Witch", Titania Hardie. This brought huge media interest from around the World, especially when they redecorated their changing room as the decor was given by Hardie as the reason for the poor form. The change in colour worked immediately and having not won at home in the league all season and they went on a great run that saw them go on to finish 3rd. The highest placing for many years. The Reserve team also won more silverware as they once again clinched the Somerset County League Division 2/3 Cup with a penalty shoot-out win against Street Reserves under the leadership of former First Team goalkeeper Andy Crabtree.

The 2004-05 season saw the Club celebrate their centenary & events on the field saw the Robins reach the Quarter-Finals of the FA Vase before eventually losing 3-0 at Jarrow Roofing BCA. As part of that weekend the squad trained at Sunderland FC's academy and had a tour of the Stadium of Light in the morning of the game. The team also pushed Bideford for large parts of the season for the league title only to finish up 3rd in the division after a poor end to the season. However, Crabtree & the Reserves were once again celebrating as they won the Somerset County League Division Two title.

Frome started the 2005-06 season with a change of personnel behind the scenes as Gavin Hares took over the job of Chairman. The first month of the season started well for the Robins as they raced into pole position but controversy hit the Club when they were forced to withdraw from an FA Cup replay against St Blazey when Manager Black failed to raise a team to travel to Cornwall. Black was sacked just days after the decision was made and Crabtree was installed in his place. After the early problems the season was always going to be one of a re-building job and while the First Team finished the campaign in 7th place the Reserves continued to move up through the football pyramid after gaining promotion to the Somerset County Premier Division.

The Robins continued to build on and off the field during the last season with more work carried out around the ground & the team finished 3rd in the League in one of the closest title races in the recent history of the division with three Clubs still all chasing the championship going into the last two weeks of the season.

An early FTFC photo

In the beginning!

Les Phillips Cup Winners

Sid Carter - a Frome legend

Dave "Bertie" Allen - An icon

Western League Champions

First Division Winners

FTFC visit Sunderland FC

Reserves win silverware

Somerset Premier Cup Winners

Paul McGuinness & Mark Salter

Frome Town Supporters