One from the history books

As a club that celebrated our 120th anniversary in the summer of 2023 we do love a bit of nostalgia. Recently the club was kindly sponsored by a local man and someone who had his own piece of history to share. We asked Ian Selmes (ex Alderbury player) to share his story with us….

In the 1960’s and 1970’s local football around the Salisbury area was vibrant. The Salisbury and District Football League had six divisions of eleven teams. As a child many Saturday afternoons were spent down at Alderbury recreation ground watching Alderbury’s men’s team playing in division 3 of the Salisbury and District football league.

My own football career started in the under 11 6-a-side team at Alderbury Primary School. In 1961 we won the Salisbury Schools U11 6 -a-side Cup competition at Victoria Park and had our team photo in the Salisbury Journal.

Attending secondary school in Downton i got selected to play for the Salisbury Schools U15 team. On a memorable night in October 1967, we played Swindon Schools U15 team under floodlights at the County ground in the English Schools trophy but lost 1-0 after extra time. We also played them at Victoria Park later in the year losing 2-1. A report and team photo appeared in the Salisbury Journal.

My career with Alderbury football club began a year later. George Bayford was the heart and soul of sport in the village running both the football and cricket teams. In those days most of the team lived in Alderbury. George Bayford, Bob Weeks, Tony Truckle, Jonny Gains, Arthur Vincent are names i remember.

I remember George Bayford coming up to my house one evening in 1968 to sign me on as a 16-year-old along with my next-door Neighbour Sean Jordan another 16-year-old and his school friend 16-year-old Graham Swateridge. We all made our debut together and won 6-0. The report in the Salisbury Journal had the headline ‘All 6 goals were scored by 16-year-olds as Alderbury won 6-0’.

 (Sean Jordan went onto play for Salisbury City FC in the Southern League).

Sadly, George Bayford was unable to continue running the team and as a consequence Alderbury FC fell out of the league.

Dereck Waters eventually re-formed Alderbury FC in the early 1970’s and I returned from playing youth football at Bemerton FC

 to play for the team which had 7 Alderbury residents and 4 guys from Salisbury. As a result of falling out of the league we had to

 start by playing in the bottom division – six. We won the division and the cup in the 1972-1973 season.

In November of 1973-1974 season, I broke my leg in a match against an army team which brought my footballing career to a close.

I then moved away from the area to follow my career and higher education.

Growing up in Alderbury and playing football was fantastic and important in my development into adulthood. It is for this reason that i want to sponsor the U13 team this season.