WE LOVE TO BE BESIDE THE SEA

SWANAGE Town & Herston can rightfully be referred to as a sleeping giant of Dorset foot ball but their new manager hopes he can be the man to lead them back to their previous glories

- Matt Nash

The Swans, 11th in the Dorset Premier League last season, won the Wessex League in 1991 and the county cup as recently as 2012 but have found success less forthcoming in the last few years, a 2016 League Cup triumph aside.

The club was formed in 1898 as Swanage Albion, who won the Dorset Junior League and Dorset Junior Cup double in their first season, before moving from Swanage Middle School to the present base at Day’s Park in the Ulwell area of the town.

In that great English footballing year of 1966, Swanage Town and Herston Rovers merged to form the current club.

In their heyday of the 1980s and 90s, the club reached the second round of the FA Vase four times and the FA Cup second qualifying round on another four occasions.

In March, Tony Parrott left his role as first-team boss, with Swanage appointing Jamie Smith – who runs the Dorset Regional Talent Centre – as his successor and he has signed his son Brad, who spent 2022-23 with Step 6 Ringwood Town.

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