History
Dorking Wanderers Football Club was established in 1999, and in a short space of time has steadily climbed the non-league pyramid from park football to the National League.
The founder members Marc White, Mark Lewington, Ian Davidson, Lee Spickett and Penny Gregg brought the club to life and entered the fledgling team into the Crawley & District League in 1999, with the home ground situated at Big Field Brockham.
The club remained at Big Field Brockham until 2007, and after several promotions it relocated to its current Westhumble home. This was a monumental project, which saw a huge off the field effort transform the once derelict site into a senior level football ground.
The promotions continued after the club relocated, and this continued in 2015 when the club finished runners-up in the Sussex County League, securing promotion to the Ryman Division One South (Step 4).
The 2015 season also saw the club progress further than ever before in the FA Cup, where they eventually succumbed to a last minute extra time goal away to Biggleswade Town in a 2nd qualifying round replay.
The club marked their first year in the Ryman Division One South by finishing runners-up (losing out in the play-offs), however they went one better in 2016-17 when they again finished runners-up (only on goal difference) and secured promotion via the play-offs following victories over Hastings United and Corinthian Casuals.
The 2017-18 season saw Dorking Wanderers line up in the Bostik Premier League (Step 3) for the first time in their history, which coincided with the building of and the future move to the newly constructed, multi million pound Meadowbank Stadium development in the heart of Dorking Town Centre.
In 2018-19 Dorking Wanderers kicked off the new season in their brand new stadium in Meadowbank Park. Following a mixed start to the season, mainly due to a number of injuries to key players, Wanderers really found their form from December onwards, and subsequently only lost one league game in 2019. The team went on to win the Bostik League Premier Division by 22 points, securing a place in the National League South (Step 2) for the first time in their history. This fantastic achievement was made even more special due to the fact that it coincided with the clubs 20 year anniversary.
Events off the field would determine the outcome of the 2019 – 20 season with the Covid-19 Pandemic bringing all sport in the UK to an abrupt halt.
The Wanderers would finish the shortened season in 7th place – a very admirable performance for their first season in the National League South. 7th place secured a play-off position for the team, and the play-offs finally took place following the lockdown in July 2020. Wanderers won their opening game at Bath City 2-1, however they went out in the semi-final following a 3-2 defeat to eventual play-off victors Weymouth FC.
Unfortunately, the following season would also be greatly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. With half the season played Wanderers found themselves five points clear at the top of the league table with a game in hand, only for the campaign to be null and voided in February 2021.
The 2021/22 season was to ultimately be Wanderers first full campaign at Step 2, and would culminate in the club securing another history-making promotion. An often injury-hit season concluded with Wanderers finishing runner’s up in the league and scoring 101 goals along the way. Oxford City and Ebbsfleet United were then defeated in the play-offs in front of bumper crowds at Meadowbank, and Wanderers secured their place in the National League Premier division for the very first time.
The Wanderers completed their inaugural season in the National League finishing in 16th place.
Wanderers’ second season in the fifth tier of English football came with an array of mixed emotions, and performances, as the club continued to battle with being one of only two part time teams in the division.
Marc White’s men kicked their season off to the eventual runaway champions Chesterfield in a thrilling match which finished 4-3 to the Spireites. The club secured their first win of the campaign at home to Southend United, a week prior to signing midfielder Dan Pybus. The acquisition of Pybus preceded a flurry of new faces at Meadowbank in the following months, as winger Tom Blair, midfielder Charlie Carter and central defender Haydn Hollis were added to a bolstered Wanderers squad.
However the story of the first half of Wanderers’ season was that of a fragmented squad due to an influx of injuries. It was revealed at the end of the season that the total games missed due to injuries across the squad was over 250, over the course the campaign.
Inconsistency in availability eventually led to an inconsistency within results, a sentiment which was well reflected in March, as Wanderers lost 1-4 at home to relegation candidates Ebbsfleet United, a week before beating champions elect Chesterfield 4-1, a historic win for the club – but one which turned out to be their final home victory of the campaign.
Dorking Wanderers were eventually relegated from the National League away at Rochdale A.F.C on their penultimate game of the season, ending their two year tenure in the division.
