Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Former Clubs
Chalke Valley
Ground
Chalke Valley Sports Centre, Knighton Road, Broad Chalke, SP5 5DE

Seasons in League (Number and period)
4 Seasons (2007-08 to 2010-11)

Status
Saturday side appears to have now folded with the demise of the Saturday section of the Salisbury & District League, but the club still has a Sunday side in the Salisbury & District League Sunday section.

League & Cup Honours (when in WSL)
Fountain Trophies Cup Winners 2008-09

Other Honours (when in WSL)
Club Secretary's Award 2009-10 (R. Nelson)
Club Secretary's Award 2010-11 (R. Nelson)


Club Notes
Chalke Valley FC was founded in 2002 as part of the Chalke Valley sports initiative, which saw a sports facility built with National Lottery funding. The club was formed by amalgamating three village football teams (Broad Chalke, Bishopstone and Ebbesbourne) and started life in the Salisbury & District League.

Whilst there were no league titles in the early years Chalke Valley twice made the Riley Cup final, losing narrowly 4-3 to Hopback in 2004 but winning the cup in Season 2005-6 which was to prove a platform for a very successful following season.

Season 2006-07, their first in the top flight of the Salisbury & District League, was to be  a momentous one for the club as they won the Premier Division league title at the first attempt and also made three cup finals, winning two of them. In the Salisbury & District League Premier Cup final they defeated Stockton & Codford 3-2, whilst they also won the South Wilts Charity A Cup.  The one blemish on what was a near perfect season was a 2-0 defeat to St Pauls in the Lord Bledisloe Cup Final. After such a tremendous season the club successfully applied to join the Wiltshire League.

The club adapted well to the challenge of higher-level football and ended the first season with a third-place finish behind KC and Intel, securing promotion to Junior Division 1. The team’s forward partnership of Thomas Judd and Robert Bronsdon led the division’s scoring charts with 23 and 19 goals respectively in all competitions and with Seb Dawes also bagging 14, the trio scored two-thirds of Chalke Valley’s league goals.

The additional challenge of Junior Division 1 was taken in their stride by Chalke Valley as their first season at the top level of Junior football in the County saw them achieve a top half finish, ending the season in sixth spot. They also bagged some silverware as they also won the Fountain Trophies Junior Cup. Thomas Judd carried on where he left off the previous season, smashing 32 goals in all league competitions to again head his division’s scoring chart. In the cup final against Greenmeadow it was a tense affair with the only goal of the game coming in extra time to give Chalke Valley their win.

Season 2009-10 saw a free scoring Chalke Valley side involved in the title race, eventually achieving an impressive third place finish behind Minety and Swindon based side SKS Blyskawica. Chalke Valley were the division’s top scorers averaging close to four goals per game in their eighteen league fixtures. Once again they had the divisions leading scorer with Seb Dawes taking the honour this time with 24 goals, with Thomas Judd in second place with 20 for the season. They also made the semi-final of the prestigious Wiltshire Junior Cup, losing narrowly 4-3 to Redlynch & Woodfalls. To cap off a fine season club secretary Richard Nelson also won the Club Secretary's Award at the league AGM.

Once again Chalke Valley showed their ambition by making the step up to Senior status for Season 2010-11. Chalke Valley more than held their own in the Premier Division securing a sixth-place finish, just two points behind New College Swindon who finished in third spot. At the league AGM club secretary Richard Nelson became only the second person to win the annual Club Secretary's Award in consecutive seasons. After achieving so much success it was no surprise that manager Steve Chalk was in demand and was appointed manager of then Western League Shrewton United. His departure, a shortage of players for the following season and the other challenges of operating at a Senior level saw Chalke Valley depart the league after just that one season in the Premier Division. They had certainly been a successful side in their short stay in the league, attaining a win ratio of over 55% in all of their league games.

For Season 2011-12 they returned to the Salisbury & District League, finishing their first season back in that league in runners-up spot in Division Two (then the third tier of the league). The following season the league decided to run with fewer but larger divisions and Chalke Valley were in Division 1 (the second tier) and had a much tougher season finishing in eighth spot. They bounced back in style the following season though taking the Division 1 championship and securing promotion to the Premier Division. 

Their first three seasons in the Premier showed gradual improvement, a sixth-place finish in 2015-16 being followed by a fourth-place achievement the following season, albeit in a shrinking league in terms of teams. They improved on this again in Season 2017-18 finishing third. The following season sadly saw the Salisbury & District League operating with just five sides, with Chalke Valley finishing the season in fourth place. This was to be the last season for the Salisbury & District League in terms of running a Saturday division as disappointingly one of our feeder leagues ceased operating after being in existence since 1892. The Chalke Valley side which did so well in our league appears to have now folded with the demise of the Saturday section of the Salisbury & District League, but the club still has a Sunday side in that league. Hopefully the demand for adult football in the South of the county will pick up in the near future, allowing Chalke Valley to possibly rekindle some of their past glories on a Saturday afternoon.

Team Record
Fountain Trophies Cup Winners 2008-9 - Chalke Valley FC
Share by: