History
Founded in 1887, the club has resided at various locations including, Dickson’s Meadow & Brunning’s Meadow, both part of Framlingham College, moving onto Red House Farm before setting up at Hayning’s Meadow in 1932, now known as ‘The Pageant Field’. The club became a member of the newly formed Framlingham Sports Club in 1951 and have been at our Badingham Rd ground ever since.
In its 135yr history, ‘The Castlemen’ as we are also known, have played in various Leagues. The Framlingham League in its early years but better known now as The Ipswich & District League. The Woodbridge League was next before progress to The Leiston League at the end of WW2 until 1966. The club gained admission into The Ipswich & District Premier League (now SIL Senior) and competed there for many decades.
Many years followed with ups & downs in the form of promotion and relegation with even a spell in Division 2 but eventually Senior status was regained in 1989. There then followed some very successful years winning ‘The McNeil Cup’ in 1990 and were SIL Senior runners-up in 1991. 1992 saw us lift the SIL Senior League title and ‘The McNeil Cup’ double and in 1996 we reached the SCFA Senior Cup Final and were again, League runner-up in 1997.
With that very successful period etched in our history, the club’s fortunes have varied with relegations & promotions since but eventually, we regained Senior status and with a workman like season gained promotion to the Thurlow Nunn Div 1 League in 2016/17 & Step 6 of the National League pyramid.
After a very successful inaugural season, finishing in the top half of the table an even better 2017/18 season saw us finishing League runners-up & promotion into the TN Premier League and Step 5 of the National League pyramid, whilst also competing in the FA Cup for the very first time and having a superb run in the FA Vase. The clubs highest ever achievements!
The 2018/19 season in the TN Premier League proved to be very tough for the club and although there were many good battling performances, we succumbed to relegation with the Thurlow Nun Div 1 North League beckoning for the 2019/20 season start.
With a midtable position secured, the infamous Covid-19 pandemic struck, wiping out the rest of the 2019/20 season! Hopes were high that the 2020/21 season would go ahead, however, apart from success in reaching the SFA Senior Cup Semi’s and our Reserves reaching the SFA Reserve Cup Semi’s, Covid-19 continued to disrupt the season and ultimately ended it once again.
With Covid-19 in decline, the 2021/22 season got underway and for ‘The Castlemen’ was a very successful year culminating in a 5th place League finish and a Semi-final play-off match at Harleston Town, losing 2-1 at the final whistle after a tight game.
FTFC is built on solid foundations formed from the hard endeavours of its committee, volunteers, sponsors & supporters, and the standard of our facilities & grounds are testament to those people and their continued hard work both past & present, establishing a strong & stable club over many years and beyond.
We are honoured to have many local legends within the club who are known and respected throughout the Suffolk footballing fraternity. Namely, Bryan Parker, Sydney & Christine Vice, Fiona & Keith (Curly) Whatling amongst others, all of which have received 50yr Service Awards over recent years. 2019 saw Bryan step down as President after some 27 years in the role and was replaced by Iain Smith who in 2023 decided to step down after 5 years in the role.
Sydney accepted his Long Service Meritorious Award way back in 1991 and after decades of dedication to FTFC, has recently stepped down from all duties after his wife, Christine, sadly passed away in 2021.
2022/23 saw the ‘Castlemen’ enjoy one of their most successful seasons in recent years including numerous Semi-Finals, Cup/Trophy Finals & play-off Semi-Finals. Our A’ Team won the SIL Div 4 League and promotion to Div3, while our Reserves narrowly missed out in the TNL Chell Trophy Final and our Veterans ending the season as League Runners-Up. However, the season culminated at Colchester Utd’s JobServe Stadium with the First team beating AFC Sudbury Reserves to win the Suffolk Senior Cup Final for the very first time in the club’s 135yr history.
2023 has seen the club carry out some restructuring within the management committee. The main sponsor, TMP Carpentry Ltd continues to support the club and in addition, Tom Palmer has been appointed as our new Chairman. While, after 9 years in the Chair previously, Dean Warner has been appointed as club President. Numerous other appointments have been agreed as we continue to enhance our management, playing staff, volunteers, sponsorship & facilities, future proofing our progressive improvement plans moving forward.
#UpTheCastlemen