WITHERIDGE FOOTBALL CLUB CURRENTLY PLAY THIER FOOTBALL IN THE SOUTH WEST PENINSULA PREMIER DIVISION.

Formed in 1920,Witheridge have come along way since the days of the Married team and Singles team. Up until the second world war Witheridge played their football in the North Devon League. After the war Witheridge didn’t rejoin the North Devon League but joined the Tiverton and District league playing clubs like Bampton and Elmore.

In 1971 Witheridge decided it was time to move on from the Tiverton League and joined the Devon and Exeter League, starting out in Intermediate Four. The 1970’s and 80’s at times were hard for Witheridge but the team kept plugging away and for a small village club managed to keep themselves going. Witheridge did have good times during this period but it wasn’t until the 1990’s that they started to make people in the Devon and Exeter League look up and take notice that the little village club was beginning to make a big stir.

In 1990 the side won the Express and Echo Shield and they soon started flying through the Devon and Exeter League. 1992 saw Witheridge promoted to Intermediate One then race through Senior Three, Two and One. Then in 1996 Witheridge won promotion to the Devon and Exeter Premier league.

In 1997 Andre Pike was appointed as first team Manager and from that point on the club went from strength to strength. The 1999/2000 season saw Witheridge finish runners up in the Devon and Exeter Premier League and also win three cups, the Okehampton Cup, Devon Premier Cup and the East Devon Senior Cup, all within two weeks of each other.

During their spell in the Devon and Exeter premier division Witheridge became one of the big teams finishing as runners up no less than 5 times in their last 7 seasons in the league. 2006 saw Withy finally promoted to the Devon County League and in their only season managed to finish a creditable 11th place which saw Witheridge promoted into the newly formed South West Peninsula League Premier Division.

Before the 2007/08 season started Andre Pike decided it was time to step down as Manager after 10 years at the helm to become Commercial Manager with the club appointing John Harkness as the new First Team Manager.

Many new faces arrived at Edge Down Park during the summer of 2007 and despite a poor start to the season Withy managed to finish in 9th place after going on a 12 match unbeaten run which ran from the beginning of February until the end of the season.

Chris Vinnicombe has now taken over the reigns at Witheridge and with his experience as a proffesional footballer the future should look bright for Witheridge Football Club.