HANTS SOCCER ARCHIVE

ABOUT THIS WEBSITE
Breaking down the web address into three components.

HANTS  
This is the shortened name for Hampshire, a county in southern England (all shire counties having abbreviated names).  It is bordered by the English Channel to the south and the counties of West Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Dorset. The county town is Winchester.  The county’s arms are a rose and crown and it has had its own flag since 2019.  In association football terms, Hampshire has its own county FA (Football Association), also depicted by a rose and crown emblem incidentally, and six local associations, Aldershot, Bournemouth, North Hants, Portsmouth, Southampton and also the Isle of Wight are within its remit.   The Island, a fairly short hop across a stretch of water known as The Solent, has been a county in its own right since 1890 but comes within the auspices of the Hampshire FA.  Bournemouth too is no longer within the county of Hampshire, having been moved to Dorset on local government reorganisation in 1974 but the local FA remains within the Hampshire district and many clubs within that area are affiliated with the Hampshire FA. Incidentally, the county map on the website logo is loosely designed on the pre-1974 county boundary (therefore including Christchurch and Bournemouth).

SOCCER 
This term is now not fully understood by many English football enthusiasts.  With apologies to website viewers from across the pond, it is now considered to be an ‘American’ term to the degree that it is seldom used in the UK.  However, the term ‘soccer’ came following the split between the rugby and association codes in England at the end of the nineteenth century.  The term soccer became popular having derived from the ‘soc’ in ‘association’ due to an Oxford University habit of slurring its names by adding the suffix ‘er’ with the terms ‘rugger’ and ‘soccer’ being quickly adopted (‘muggers’ and ‘toggers’ being other examples).  Some very senior UK pundits do not seem to appreciate the history of the term soccer and, as such, their comments (such as when an American coach takes over at a Premier League club) make it even less popular.  The term should be respected, and this website is keen to bring it back to where it originated!!  There is no reason why the term shouldn’t also be used around the world but most certainly where it commenced!

ARCHIVE
An accumulation of historical records (now that description is far briefer!).

So, putting the three terms together, this website is a historical record of football within the Hampshire Football Association area and other related football matters.

Note that initially, the site is about Saturday men’s football, but it is hoped to develop it over time to include women, veterans and other age groups.

ABOUT ME
My name is Gary Day and I have carried out a lot of football history research in the Hampshire area over the course of time.  Not particularly adept at playing the game, I initially watched Southampton FC with my dad, commencing in the late 1960s but gradually moved on to watching Swaythling FC by the mid/late seventies and gradually started watching non-league football in the local area.  Not forgetting my roots, I had visited all ninety-two professional football grounds (which have got a little out of date since the pandemic).  I have also co-written a book, Eastleigh FC The Story So Far 1946-2017 (Eastleigh, of course, having been the Swaythling club) and have also compiled a book called – Southampton Senior Cup The Finals 1908-2022 – for the Southampton Divisional Football Association.  I note that not a lot of local football history is retained and feel that information gathered over time should be shared and, along with a fair bit of help from my friends, it should be ‘put out there’ just in case someone, somewhere finds it of any interest.  Note that this site doesn’t intend to duplicate information that might already be available. 

I sincerely hope that you, the reader, will find something that fulfils your football curiosity and, if so, why not share it by completing a contact form?  Perhaps you can contribute to the site too, so do please get in touch with Hants Soccer Archive as your feedback is important to me.