FA CUP FEVER
It is probably fair to say that Frome, in sporting terms, is best known for being the home of the 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button.
But there have been other notable ‘successes’ worthy of being included within a pantheon of the town’s greatest sporting moments and one of these occurred 65 years ago last month.
Frome Town AFC was founded in 1904 and began playing in the Wiltshire Premier League. Their home ground, then as now, being Badgers Hill, located on Berkley Road. Although there were several league successes during the half-century which followed the founding of the team nicknamed the Robins, FA Cup glory eluded their grasp.
The Football Association Challenge Cup is an annual knockout competition that was first played during the 1871-72 season and is the oldest national football contest in the world. It is open to what is known as non-league clubs and much of the drama over the years has come from ‘David and Goliath’ clashes between these, and teams in the Football League.
Frome Town AFC made their debut in the 1911-12 season, and although they reached the fifth qualifying round, a 4-1 defeat by Southport Central put a stop to further progression. A long period of non-appearances in this most prestigious of competitions then occurred, but after 35 years the team took part once more in the 1946-47 season. It was the 1953-54 season, however, which would go down in the club’s history. This began with an unbeaten run of four league games, before a FA Cup qualifying match against Chippenham Town.
Non-league sides would play several qualifying rounds before the victorious ones would be put into the draw with teams of the Football League, to play in the FA Cup rounds proper.
In the game against Chippenham, home team Frome ran out three goal winners, courtesy of a Stan Abbot hat-trick and so began what would become their greatest FA Cup ‘run’. An away match against Trowbridge was the reward for having beaten Salisbury at their own ground in a subsequent qualifying round and after this latest game ended in a 1-1 draw, a hotly anticipated replay back across the county border ensued.
Back at Badger’s Hill another exhilarating exhibition of football saw the home team thrash their neighbouring opponents 4-0 and Abbot managed to notch up another hat-trick.
The local press had been enthusing about Frome and its progress so far, but now national newspapers also became interested in this small market town.
The result of this media attention was the team now found itself playing in front of ever larger crowds, many of whom were crammed into the recently built covered terrace. Although their league performances also warranted attention, it was the FA Cup which held centre-stage for most of that season, especially after another victory against Melksham.
This led to a home draw with then Southern League high-flyers Weymouth, in what was the biggest match in Frome Town’s history up to that point.
Despite poor weather affecting the crowd attendance, more than 4,000 people still turned up to see the home team run out 3-1 winners, with goals from Abbot, McManus and Collis. This victory propelled Frome Town AFC, managed by Jock Fairweather, into the first round of the FA Cup proper, where teams from the Football League now also competed.
When the draw was made, the reward for all the Robins’ hard work so far was a home tie against Leyton Orient, at that time laying in second place within Division Three South. The crowd capacity had been set at 7,000, but after swiftly completed improvements had been carried out at Badgers Hill, this was officially increased to 8,500.
When the match finally kicked off, Leyton scored first, but despite not being able to find the net themselves, by the hour mark Frome were still well and truly in the game. Two further goals from Leyton, however, broke locals’ hearts but history had been made, especially as along with this FA cup run, the club also gained league promotion that season.
Mick Davis and David Lassman
