Nadder Valley League History

The Nadder Valley Football League was founded in 1920 by a small group of football enthusiasts who gathered in a Dinton Inn to bring organisation to the football in the area. The league grew out of a need for a competition in the south Wiltshire district at a time when transport difficulties limited village teams in their efforts to participate in the leagues already formed in the area. Horse drawn waggonettes and bone shaking cycles carried teams for miles up and down the Nadder Valley in search of ninety minutes of Saturday afternoon rivalry, culminating in the final game of the season for the Lord Bledisloe Cup.
Whole villages turned out for the annual presentation game for the coverted trophy presented by the first president of the league, namely Viscount Bledisloe. The league champions met a representative side drawn from the rest of the league for a showpiece of the best of local football. However brief the moment of glory for the victors, it was a time to be remembered in the villages such as Barford, Tisbury, Fovant, Dinton and many other around the area.
Despite many differculties the leage survived tha changing times and was greatly assisted by the continuity of service given by its earlier members. Lord Bledisloe's presidency was to last 38 years until 1958, and another of the orginal members of the league Bill Stokes serviced 23 years as secretary. Life member, Charles Austin serviced as Chairman for 23 years and the late Lord Margadale was the president as was his father the late Hugh Morrison MP.
Still servicing today we have our Chairman Tony Glasson and our vice chairman Brian Ford who each have served 33 years. Also Don Foster completes his 20 years service and becomes a life member. Reg Pritchard 43 years and Norman Mortimer 40 years have both recently retired.
The WC Stokes Memorial Cup Competition was fomred in 1974 in memory of the late Bill Stokes. The purchase of this cup was by donations from clubs, officers and members of the management committee. We have now introduced the Nadder Valley Challenge Cup which was purchased in the memory of the late Jack Holdham by his sons.
Presently the three competitions we run are the Lord Bledisloe Cup (Junior), WC Stokes (Under 13's) and the NV Challenge Cup (Under 11's).