Road-Sea Southampton F.C.
Football club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
R.S. Southampton were a semi-professional football club, based at Marchwood - a village near Totton in Hampshire.
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| Full name | Road-Sea Southampton Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1970 | ||
| Dissolved | 1987 | ||
| Ground | Road-Sea Park, Marchwood | ||
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Commonly referred to locally as Road-Sea, they were best known for directly moving from Sunday parks football into the semi-professional Southern League.
History
The club was originally known as Echo Social and played in the City of Southampton Sunday League with great success. In 1973, they were re-named Road-Sea for sponsorship reasons - after the freight shipping company owned by player-manager Peter Price.[1] In 1976–77 they reached the semi-final of the national FA Sunday Cup.[2]
With considerable financial backing, the club purchased some land at Marchwood, and soon developed the site into an impressive facility. This resulted in an ambitious application to join the semi-professional Southern League being surprisingly accepted in 1982, despite having no previous history of playing Saturday football.[3]
The club then became known as RS Southampton and soon silenced their critics as they pushed for promotion from the Southern Division. After finishing a creditable 3rd in their debut season behind Fisher Athletic and Folkestone, they were champions in 1983–84.[4] They also enjoyed a fine run in the FA Vase, reaching Round 5 before being eliminated 1–2 away at Leyton Wingate.
Road-Sea continued to thrive in the highly competitive Premier Division as they then finished 5th in 1984–85. The following season was much tougher and they finished mid-table.[5]
In 1986 Road-Sea became founder members of the newly created Wessex League, and just missed out on the inaugural title after finishing runners-up to Bashley. [6] This was mainly due to a huge fixture backlog caused by their cup exploits, which saw them reach four finals. In the Hampshire Senior Cup they lost 0-2 against Portsmouth Reserves at Fratton Park - but won both the League and Russell Cotes Cups, defeating Sholing Sports in both finals. There was further success on 19th May when they won the South-West Counties Transformer Vase, defeating Clump Inn 4-1 in the second-leg of the final at Marchwood. [7]
However, this would soon prove be their last ever game as Price suddenly disbanded the club and retired.[8]
Honours
- Southern League
- Southern Division Champions 1983–84
- Wessex League [3]
- Hampshire Football Association [9]
- Senior Cup Finalists 1986-87
- Russell Cotes Cup Winners 1983-84 and 1986-87
- Other
- South West Counties Transformer Vase Winners 1979-80, 1983-84 and 1986-87
Playing records
League
| Season | Division | Position | Significant events |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982/83 | Southern League Southern Division | 3/18 | |
| 1983/84 | Southern League Southern Division | 1/20 | Champions, Promoted |
| 1984/85 | Southern League Premier Division | 5/20 | |
| 1985/86 | Southern League Premier Division | 16/20 | Left competition |
| 1986/87 | Wessex League | 2/17 | Runners-up - left competition |
FA Cup
| Season | Round | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982/83 | Did not enter | ||
| 1983/84 | Preliminary Round | H v Oxford City | W 4–1 |
| 1st Qualifying Round | H v Waterlooville | D 0-0 | |
| Replay | A v Waterlooville | L 1–2 | |
| 1984/85 | 1st Qualifying Round | A v Melksham Town | W 3–0 |
| 2nd Qualifying Round | A v Chippenham Town | D 2-2 | |
| Replay | H v Chippenham Town | L 1–2 | |
| 1985/86 | 1st Qualifying Round | A v Redditch United | D 1-1 |
| Replay | H v Redditch United | W 3–2 | |
| 2nd Qualifying Round | H v Clandown | W 2–1 | |
| 3rd Qualifying Round | A v Ton Pentre | D 1-1 | |
| Replay | H v Ton Pentre | L 1–2 | |
| 1986/87 | 1st Qualifying Round | A v Littlehampton Town | W 7–1 |
| 2nd Qualifying Round | A v Devizes Town | W 2–0 | |
| 3rd Qualifying Round | H v Fareham Town | L 0–3 |
FA Trophy
| Season | Round | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984/85 | 1st Qualifying Round | A v Taunton Town | L 0–2 |
| 1985/86 | 1st Qualifying Round | A v Andover | W 3–0 |
| 2nd Qualifying Round | H v Bridgend Town | D 1-1 | |
| Replay | A v Bridgend Town | L 0–3 |
FA Vase
| Season | Round | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982/83 | Did not enter | ||
| 1983/84 | Preliminary Round | A v Pagham | W 3–1 |
| Round 1 | A v Chobham | W 5–0 | |
| Round 2 | H v Maidenhead United | W 4–2 | |
| Round 3 | H v Exmouth Town | W 3–0 | |
| Round 4 | H v Exmouth Town | W 3–0 | |
| Round 5 | A v Leyton Wingate | L 1–2 | |
| 1986/87 | Preliminary Round | A v Warminster Town | W 5–0 |
| Round 1 | A v Lymington Town | D 1-1 | |
| Replay | H v Lymington Town | D 1-1 | |
| Replay | H v Lymington Town | L 0–2 |
Ground
Road-Sea Southampton played at the self-titled Road-Sea Park, Long Lane in Marchwood, near Totton.[10]
Following their demise, the ground was renamed 'Staplewood' and later sold to Southampton F.C., who initially used it for reserves and youth team games.[11] The venue has since been redeveloped in to a large training complex with world class facilities. [12]
Notable players
Local rivalries
Road-Sea had a number of local rivals during various stages of their unusual career, ranging from Sunday park sides to the likes of the regions semi-professional Southern League clubs. Their closet neighbours were AFC Totton who they met during their solitary season as members of the Wessex League.[13]