Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Former Clubs
Holt FC
Ground
Westbury Park Engineering Stadium, Meadow Lane, Westbury BA13 3AF

Seasons in League (Number and period)
Did not complete their one and only season (2019-20) in the league

Status
Folded

League & Cup Honours (when in WSL)
None

Club Notes
A football team from Holt were in fact the first to be formed in Wiltshire back in 1864. Holt were the fourth oldest side registered with the Football Association, registering a year after the oldest club in the country, Notts County.

Holt joined the very first Wiltshire League back in 1897-98 but generally struggled in the top league in the county. The highest position achieved was a 7th place in Season 1897-98 and after finishing bottom of the league in 1900-01 they left the Wiltshire League and joined the Trowbridge & District League.

They found the Trowbridge & District League more to their liking and after an initial third place finish in Season 1901-02, a season which also saw them win the Trowbridge & District Knockout Cup, they were crowned champions of Division 1  of in 1906-07 which resulted in them re-joining the Wiltshire League, which by now had a Division 2. They remained the Wiltshire League for three seasons achieving two 4th place finishes and a 7th place in their final season before going back to the Trowbridge & District League where they would remain until the outbreak of World War I.

When football re-started after the war, Holt were back in the Wiltshire League, playing in Division 1 but it was a difficult period for the club as they finished bottom of the league for three consecutive seasons, Season 1921-22 seeing them go the whole season without winning a league game. The following season saw Holt remain in Division 1 but they then withdraw due to insufficient players to complete their fixtures.

Holt were back in the Trowbridge & District League for Season 1924-25, playing in Division 1. A second from bottom finish saw them relegated to Division 2. They were again back in Division 1 towards the end of the decade but then left to join the Bath & District League.

Holt re-joined the Trowbridge & District League for Season 1934-35 and had immediate success securing the Division 1 title for the first time since 1906-07. This was to be the start of their golden period when it appears that they played in both Division 1 of the Trowbridge & District League and Division 2 of the Wiltshire League, with neither side being designated as a reserve side. In the Trowbridge & District League they won the Division 1 title again in both 1935-36 and 1936-37, also winning the A & B Cup in all three seasons and the Knockout Cup in the latter two seasons. The run of league successes came to an end, but they did retain the Knockout Cup in 1937-38. In the Wiltshire League they were crowned champions of Division 2 in 1935-36 and achieved two third place finishes in the following two seasons before the Wiltshire League went back to one division before the outbreak of World War II.

After the war Holt re-started in Division 1 of the Trowbridge & District League. After finishing bottom for the second time in the first four seasons after the war, they were relegated to Division 2 ahead of Season 1951-52. They returned to Division 1 as champions in 1952-53 but were relegated back to Division 2 in 1955-56 after finishing bottom of the table. Back in Division 2 they were runners-up in their first season and then champions the following season, but they struggled to adapt to Division 1. They were back in Division 2 by the start of the 1960’s but were runners-up again in Division 2 in Season 1960-61. This time round they adapted well to life in the top Division of the Trowbridge & District League and started a second golden period which saw them secure the double of the Division 1 title and Knockout Cup in 1963-64 and then defend the cup the following season, but edged out in the title race by Coleford Athletic, having to settle for runners-up spot. After much success, as can often be the way, the team appears to have then folded for a period from 1967-68 to 1972-73 as it has not been possible to trace them in any league.

They were back in the Trowbridge & District League for Season 1972-73 with the league having now expanded to four divisions. A runners-up spot in Division 4 that season was repeated in Season 1974-75. When the Wiltshire County League was formed in Season 1976-77 Holt were playing in Division 3 of the Trowbridge & District League but were relegated to Division 4 that season. They remained in Division 4 until the end of Season 1978-79 when they were promoted back to Division 3. They were to spend five seasons in Division 3 before gaining promotion to Division 2 for the start of Season 1984-85. They were to spend the next thirteen seasons in Division 2 before folding once again in Season 1997-98. The period encompassing the 1970’s through to the team folding in the 1990’s had seen just those two runners-up spots in Division 4 and a win in the 1977-78 Spring Cup as the honours won by Holt.

A side from Holt reformed as the world entered a new century but this was as a Sunday side in the Chippenham & District League. It was not until Season 2010-11 that there was again a Saturday side in Holt and that season saw them achieve immediate success finishing second behind Boomsbury in Division 3 of the Trowbridge & District League. Promoted to Division 2 they found the going tough at the higher level and after finishing second from bottom they pulled out of the league.

They re-formed back in Division 3 of the Trowbridge & District League in Season 2013-14 and repeated the runners-up spot achieved the last time they were in the Division. This time round they found Division 2 to their liking and they were champions of the Division winning 16 of their 18 games as they finished seven points clear of Heytesbury. Once again though, the club had not achieved any long-term sustainability and folded for a second time in the decade. 

Holt were again re-formed in Season 2017-18 in the Trowbridge & District League.  The latest incarnation had a highly successful first season in the Trowbridge & District League, winning the Division 2 title and gaining promotion to the top division. This early success was followed in Season 2018-19 by another championship winning season as they took the Division 1 title in style, finishing six points clear of second placed Freshford United and losing just two league games all season. This title success saw them promoted to the Wiltshire Senior League under the league’s pyramid arrangements, with Holt having agreed a ground sharing arrangement with Westbury United to enable them to achieve Senior status.

They had an inauspicious start to life in the Wilshire Senior League when their opening fixture against Wroughton was postponed in August due to a waterlogged pitch. Once they did get underway they made a reasonable start with a win over Frome Collegians and a draw with Malmesbury Vics Development.  Defeats against Shrewton Utd and Purton followed but Holt returned to winning ways against Marlborough Town, who they also beat in the Wiltshire Senior Cup.  They made an early exit from the Fountain Trophies Cup, losing to holders Kintbury Rangers and their last game in the league was to be a 2-2 draw with struggling Ludgershall Sports, who they had beaten 5-0 in the league earlier in the season. 

Despite efforts by the league to see if Holt could continue it was confirmed at the January 2020 Management Committee that they had withdrawn from the league. With Holt having played only ten league fixtures, lower than the 75% threshold, their record has been expunged from the league table in accordance with FA rules. In the end the whole was to be declared “null and void” by the FA but by the time that decision was made Holt had withdrawn from the league already.

Team Record
Holt FC from Season 2019-20 (pictures courtesy of Martin Pearce)
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