Original Club
Botley F.C. were founded in 1894 and spent their early days playing friendly fixtures before becoming founder members the Botley & District League in 1902. [1]
After the Great War, they joined the Meon Valley League and then, after a brief spell in the Hampshire League, moved to the Southampton League in 1927, winning the Eastern Division title in 1935. [2]
The post World War II era saw renewed interest as Botley began participating in national cup competitions [3] and joined the Hampshire League where they were placed in Division 2, [4] but after four difficult seasons they dropped out - returning to the more realistic Southampton League. [5]
The sixties saw the club's fortunes take off as they won a series of promotions to reach the Premier Division. The 1967/68 campaign was their most successful after winning the title and Southampton Senior Cup, beating favourites Netley Sports 2-1 at the The Dell, Southampton. [6]
This was rewarded with a return to the Hampshire League, and their dramatic rise continued as they immediately won the Division 3 East title, followed by promotion again as Division 2 runners-up. On limited resources, they did extremely well to consolidate in a very tough top-flight which at the time consisted of a number of semi-professional clubs, before suffering the three successive relegation's down to Division 4. [7] In 1976, Botley again reached the Southampton Senior Cup final, but this time lost 2-3 against BAT Sports.
In 1980 Botley were relegated back to the Southampton League where they regrouped, eventually regaining their Premier Division status, but after finishing bottom in 1992 they folded - just two years shy of their centenary.
Pheonix Club
Efforts were soon made to revive the club, and in 1994 they returned as a Sunday side called Botley Brewery. Three years later, they merged with local youth set-up Botley Barracudas to form Botley Village F.C.
The new team switched back to Saturday soccer, and joined the Southampton League, where they quickly won a series of promotions to reach the Premier Division by 2001. Here Botley became regular title contenders, finishing in the top four each season (three times as runners-up) before joining the Hampshire League 2004 in 2008. Despite finishing fourth in their debut season, their fortunes rapidly declined after a player exodus, which eventually resulted in relegation.
Since 2012 Botley Village have played in the Southampton League, and in 2023 they won the Junior Division 2 title.
