Wroughton - The Weir Field

Wroughton FC

The Weir Field

Devizes Road

Wroughton

Wiltshire

SN4 0SA

01793 812319 (Wroughton Club)

Wiltshire Senior League Page

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Ground Number: 1332

Tuesday 13th August 2024

Wroughton 0-0 Shrivenham
Wiltshire Senior League - Premier Division

WROUGHTON FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1888 and is one of the oldest in Wiltshire.They soon joined the Swindon & District League soon after, winning Division 2 in 1922. Then in 1937, they won a Division playoff after being tied level best on points with 

Cricklade Road Prims and High Street Workmen. Despite not having many championships to their name, they moved up to the Wiltshire League in 1967 for a season. League restructuring saw them move up to the newly-formed Wiltshire Football Combination after a year but by 1971, they'd returned to the Wilshire League Division 1. A couple of seasons were spent in the Hellenic League during the early 70s before returning to local football.

In 1976, another restructure saw Wroughton placed in Division 2 of the modern-day Wiltshire Senior League. They finished 3rd Division 2 to win promotion to Division 1 in 1984 and would spend until 1987 there before finishing bottom and voluntarily dropping to Division 4. They won the division in 1989 but took a season out, returning to Division 2 in 1990, winning the title at the first attempt. They finished 4th in their first season back but were relegated again in 1993. A few seasons were spent in the second tier before they won promotion following a 3rd place finish in 1996. They remained in the top division for seven seasons, with the division re-branded as the Premier Division in 1998/99. After two 3rd-place finishes, Season 2003/04 saw them pull out of the league with their record expunged. A couple of seasons were spent in the Wiltshire Junior League where they won Division 1 in 2006. They've been back in the Premier Division ever since, taking another season out during 2013/14. They've won the title in 2008, 2017 & 2019 and finished 11th last season.

Local cup wins include the Swindon Junior Cup in 1922 and the Wilshire Senior League Cup in 2016 & 2017. They also reached the Wiltshire FA Senior Cup in 2023, losing narrowly to Wessex League Division 1 side Downton. The club has alternated between red and blue shirts in recent seasons, opting for the latter for this year. Wroughton is a large village in northeast Wiltshire, around two and a half miles from Swindon. The population is just over 8,000. Between 1855 and 1930, there was an "annual feast"—a week-long summer fair attended by local farmers and residents from north Wiltshire in the school holidays. Events included "A Programme of Horse, Pony, Donkey and Foot racing; climbing the greasy pole ..." the prize being a leg of mutton at the end. The event was held at the rear of the Three Tuns pub with other local fairs and a grandstand was built in the field. The main event was the "Champion Gip Fight", a bare-knuckle boxing competition between a Gypsy champion and a challenger. RAF Wroughton, just south of the village, closed in the 1990s. The site is now the Science Museum at Wroughton, a part of the Science Museum Group and used as a storage site occasionally open to the public. Since 2016, the television series The Grand Tour has used part of the northern perimeter road as a car test track.

This information was mainly gained from the excellent Wiltshire Senior League website.

MY VISIT

This game was decided upon a couple of weeks earlier. I was keen to keep up with the early kickoffs, but not many leagues at step 7 had kicked off yet. Although there were closer options in the Hampshire League at Whitehill & Bordon or Liss Athletic, I opted for the Wiltshire League game between Wroughton and Shrivenham. It was a league I was looking to complete and with no pubs to suit my tastes nearby, it was perfect for a midweek. I had yet to see Wroughton play but had seen Shrivenham play three times. The first was a friendly against Swindon Town at their pleasant home venue which they lost 4-2. It was more notable for being the night that Germany thumped Brazil 7-1 on their own turf during the 2014 World Cup. I'd also seen them win on penalties at my local side Holmer Green in an FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round replay in 2018. I then saw them win 3-2 at another local side Penn & Tylers Green in the Berks & Bucks Cup. This was strange for an Oxfordshire League side who would go on to play in the Wiltshire League but they were in Berkshire up until the 1974 boundary changes.

It had been a tiring couple of days back at work following a busy weekend and a limited amount of sleep on Saturday night. I finalised my plans on Monday but was still unsure whether fellow hopper Colin would be joining me as he'd not responded to my message. It suited me either way as the help with the petrol and the company would be great but the half an hour added to the end of the journey would not be. I even got wind of a road closure between his and mine that could further complicate things would not be. In any case, I'd decided where I'd be going for dinner. Masala Bites was quite pricey but had several interesting dishes that I'd not had before and got some great reviews on Google. It was a good night of sleep for me for once on Monday night and a productive Tuesday. I walked down Wycombe and got some shopping before getting the bus back.

After some Chinese chicken for lunch, I sorted out my car insurance for the year. I saved £200 a year on my renewal quote, going with Aviva at a shade over £530 this time which included breakdown cover. I expect to drive less this year due to early starts at work, but funnily enough, it costs less for 15,000 miles a year than 13,000. After spending the afternoon at home, I left around 4, two minutes after Colin let me know he was coming with me. After picking up Colin, I needed petrol. There was a ten-minute wait whilst a couple of ladies went shopping whilst leaving their car at the pump. There were then delays on the M4 but we were still there by 5.40. After parking up we walked to Masala Bites and I got Homestyle Chicken with boiled rice for £13.90. This was as excellent as the reviews suggested and it was great to try a new curry. I ate my meal at the ground, getting pitch side in time for kickoff. I donated some loose change to the bucket collection when they came around.

Wroughton had enjoyed a 100% start to the season but were still 2nd to Pewsey Vale in the table. They'd opened the season with a 4-2 win at Shrewton United and had gone on to beat Malmesbury Victoria Devs 7-2 and Calne Town Reserves 4-0. The visitors Shrivenham had travelled around 12 miles to today's game and sat in 13th place. They had drawn 1-1 against Trowbridge Town and 0-0 at Kintbury Rangers so far this season. It was a decent opening period with Shrivenham having the better of the play. Towards the end of the first half, Wroughton started to show why they were 2nd but never really tested the keeper. The second half saw the end to end play but wasteful finishing continued. It ebbed ever closer to my first 0-0 in 47 games but it wasn't for the want of trying and wasn't a bad game in the end. We left around 8.30 and had a reasonable journey home. I dropped Colin off at 9.50 and was home 15 minutes later. Despite several sets of roadworks, my fears of a closure proved unfounded.

THE GROUND 

THE WEIR FIELD is a pleasant place to watch a game of football. Two and a bit sides of the pitch are railed with the other bits having removable barriers. There is a club building and that sells snacks and drinks and this has a raised platform to watch the game from. There is a small car park at the ground and a larger one a couple of minutes walk away. There's a variety of food and drink places including the recommended Masala Bites. Overall, the friendly club and pleasant village are well worth a visit.