Rocester club history

Rocester FC’s lengthy history dates back to 1876 when a number of friendly matches were played against teams from the surrounding area.

As founder members of the Dove Valley League, Rocester played their first competitive football in the 1892-93 season, but it wasn’t until 1911 when the Ashbourne News Cup provided the club with its first ever trophy.

Several more honours followed during the 1920s and 1930s in local competitions before the club disbanded in 1939 due to the outbreak of World War II.

Reformed in 1946, Rocester were soon among the honours again, and a move into the Stafford Amateur League in 1953 brought unprecedented success when no less than eight trophies were won in just three seasons.

The club stepped up into the Staffordshire County League (North) in 1957, and remained in membership with varying degrees of success until the formation of the Staffordshire Senior League in 1984.

The appointment of retired Black Country businessman Don Hill as chairman led to a rapid rise, and under the guidance of former player Alan Beaman the club won its first senior honours when both the Senior League title and the Staffordshire FA Vase were annexed in 1986.

Further success followed in 1987 when the Senior League title was retained, and only a penalty shoot-out defeat in the Staffordshire FA Vase Final prevented a repeat of the double achieved a year earlier. 1986-87 proved to be a memorable season in the FA Vase, which Rocester had entered for the first time. Starting in the extra preliminary round, they reached the last 16, knocking out the holders and hot favourites Halesowen Town along the way before a club record attendance of 1,026 at Leek Town’s Harrison Park ground.

During the summer of 1987 Rocester moved from their old home, in truth no more than a field with wooden changing rooms, to the present ground, named at the time as Riversfield. The new ground was built on the site of an ancient Roman fort, which led to the adoption of their nickname ‘The Romans’.

At the same time the club joined Division One of the West Midlands (Regional) League where they remained unbeaten in their first 22 games before going on to claim the championship with some ease. The Romans also won the League Cup and the Staffordshire FA Vase to complete a magnificent treble.

Rocester took their place in the Premier Division and following an initial mid-table finish they made a challenge for the title in 1989-90 only to be edged into second place by Hinckley Town on goal-difference.

In 1994 Rocester became founder members of the Midland Football Alliance, and in 1998 claimed second place behind Bloxwich Town. However the following season promotion to the Southern League was achieved as MFA Champions. The ground, now renamed ‘Hillsfield’ in memory of Don Hill who died in 1996, had already met the required grade.

The Romans reached the Staffs Senior Cup final for the first time in 2001, but struggled in the Southern League until being relegated back into the Midland Alliance in 2003 after four seasons away. However that disappointment was quickly forgotten when the Midland Alliance title was won at the first attempt, this time with promotion into the Northern Premier League. The move north signalled a big downturn in fortunes and the Romans went through a complete season without a league victory in 2004-05.

Once again relegated back into the Midland Alliance, the downward trend proved difficult to reverse and although performances improved, it wasn't until January 2006 that the team finally recorded its first league win, a 3-1 success at Quorn, to end a run of 67 league games without a win. After finishing bottom, a second successive relegation was only avoided due to league restructuring

After two disastrous years the club began to move forward again and a respectable 12th place finish was attained in 2006-07 along with a run to the third qualifying round of the FA Cup, where the Romans lost narrowly at Kettering Town in front of over 1000 spectators.

The Romans continued to improve during 2007-08, and the season ended on a high when Kidsgrove Athletic were beaten 3-0 in the Staffs Senior Cup final at Vale Park - the first and so far the only time Rocester have won the prestigious trophy.

Former player Dave Langston proved the most successful of several managers over the next seven years, but his departure in 2013 decimated the squad and a complete rebuild was required. Following a poor start the team failed to recover sufficiently, and after finishing in the bottom three the Romans were spared relegation only after Gornal Athletic were deducted points and Highgate United failed to attain the necessary ground-grading - meaning the club could begin the 2014-15 campaign in the Premier Division of the newly-formed Midland Football League.

Mark Wilson’s appointment as manager in September 2014 saw fortunes improve dramatically, and in his first season in charge his team finished 12th and reached the final of the League Cup.

Wilson resigned in January 2015, but under his successor Danny Martin the club were relegated into the MFL Division 1 in 2017. Andy O’Connor returned to steady the ship before former player Paul Wright took charge in September 2019.

Following FA restructuring in the summer of 2021, the Romans were laterally moved into the North West Counties League Division One South, and began a new chapter in their long history.