page_title: Swindon Town F.C.
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Swindon Town F.C. / History / Early history
context_page_description: Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground since 1896, which now boasts a capacity of 15,728. Known as the "Robins", their home colours are red and white. Hall of Fame inductee John Trollope played 770 league games for the club between 1960 and 1980, a professional record in English football.
  Founded as Swindon AFC in 1879, they became Spartans the next year, before finally settling on the name Swindon Town in 1883. The club turned professional in 1894 as a founding member of the Southern League, later also entering the Western League between 1897 and 1902. They were crowned Western League champions in 1898–99 and Southern League champions in 1910–11 and 1913–14, before they were elected into the Football League in 1920. They remained in the third tier for 43 years, finally securing promotion into the Second Division in 1962–63, where they remained for just two seasons.
context_section_description: Swindon Town Football Club was founded by Reverend William Pitt of Liddington in 1879. The team turned professional in 1894 and joined the Southern League which was founded in the same year. During this period Septimus Atterbury played for the club.
  Swindon reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in the 1909–10 season, losing to eventual winners Newcastle United. Barnsley and Swindon were invited to compete for the Dubonnet Cup in 1910 at the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris. The result was a 2–1 victory for Swindon with Harold Fleming scoring both of the club's goals.
  The following season, 1910–11, Swindon Town won the Southern League championship, earning them a Charity Shield match with the Football League champions Manchester United. This, the highest-scoring Charity Shield game to date, was played on 25 September 1911 at Stamford Bridge with Manchester United winning 8–4. Some of the proceeds of this game were later donated to the survivors of the Titanic. In 1912 Swindon Town reached the semi finals of the FA Cup for a second time in 3 years, losing to Barnsley after a replay 1–0.
  Swindon's exploits at this time owed a lot to the skilful forward H.J. Fleming who was capped by England 11 times between 1909 and 1914 despite playing outside the Football League. Fleming remained with Swindon throughout a playing career spanning 1907 and 1924 and went on to live in the town for his entire life.
  Swindon entered the Football League in 1920 as a founding member of Division Three and defeated Luton Town 9–1 in their first game of the season. This result stands as a record for the club in League matches.
  After the outbreak of World War II, the War Department took over the County Ground in 1940, where for a while POWs (Prisoners of War) were housed in huts placed on the pitch; for this the club received compensation of £4,570 in 1945. World War II affected Swindon Town more than most other football clubs and the club was almost disbanded; the club needed a large amount of time to recover and for this reason it failed to make any real impression in the league and would not climb into the second division until 1963 when they finished runners up to Northampton Town. The club was relegated back into Division Three in 1965, but it was about to create a sensation.
caption: The Swindon Town team for the 1909–10 season
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