One of the most successful and popular football teams in Frome has withdrawn from the league due to financial pressures and a lack of players.

Frome Collegians AFC made the surprise announcement on social media, and scores of other teams and former players and referees expressed their sadness at the decision.

The team had an emergency meeting on Sunday and made this announcement:

The history of the team

Frome Collegians were formed in 1976 and played in the Trowbridge & District League in their early years before joining the Mid Somerset League.

They started in Division 3 of the Mid Somerset League and won promotion in three consecutive seasons to reach the Premier Division in Season 1993-94. They won the Premier Division title in their second season at that level in Season 1994-95 and finished as runners-up two seasons later which allowed them to be promoted to the Somerset County League Division 3.

Having established themselves at the higher level, they were promoted to Division 2 at the end of 1999-2000 after finishing 3rd but were relegated back down to Division 3 after just two seasons. 

Season 2003-04 saw them crowned champions of Division 3 and a return to Division 2 where this time they held their own. Following regionalisation of the Division 2 level Frome were again to win another league title, being crowned champions of Division 2 East in 2009-10 which resulted promotion to Division 1 for the first time. Their four years in that division were successful and they never finished outside the top six, winning promotion to the Premier Division after finishing 3rd in Season 2013-14. Season 2014-15 was their first season in the Premier Division and they once again achieved a third place finish, this time at the higher level. However, their second season in the Premier Division was to prove problematic though as a bad winter for weather caused them to fall dramatically behind with their fixtures and with the prospect of having to play 18 games across the county in the final six weeks of the season they were forced to withdraw from the league. Since then they have played back in the Mid Somerset League. They finished 3rd in their initial season before doing that treble in 2017-18, which they repeated again in season 2018-19.

advertisement

Both Frome Collegians first two seasons in the Wiltshire Senior League frustratingly ended with the season being curtailed on both occasions, with Frome sat in fifth place in the table in the second of those seasons at the time the season was brought to a premature end. Collegians finally were able to complete a season in Season 2021-22 achieving a top half of the table finish, just missing out on fifth spot in the final week of the season.

Season 2022-23 saw the top two of Trowbridge Town and Devizes Town finish over 20 points clear of the chasing pack, but the battle for third spot was a lot more competitive with five sides, Pewsey Vale, Wroughton, Frome Collegians, Kintbury Rangers and league newcomers Blunsdon all battling out for that third spot going into the closing weeks of the season. In the end it was Pewsey who would secure that third-place finish, assisted by Malmesbury Vics Development defeating Frome Collegians in the Collegians penultimate game else it might have been Frome who took that third spot. In the end Frome had to settle for a fourth-place finish, just one point behind Pewsey, their best performance since joining the league.