Clevedon Town Football Club, nicknamed “The Seasiders,” is a non-league football club based in Clevedon, Somerset.
Established in 1880, they currently compete in the Jewson Western League Premier Division, which is part of the ninth tier of English football. The team calls The Everyone Active Stadium their home ground.
The club first entered organised competition as a founder member of the Western League in the 1890s but soon returned to local football before rejoining just prior to the First World War. Their early years were spent at Dial Hill before a move to Old Street, later known as Teignmouth Road, where they would remain for almost a century. After the war they competed in a variety of Bristol and Somerset competitions before settling into the Somerset Senior League during the 1930s, remaining active through wartime football in the Weston-super-Mare League against sides bolstered by servicemen.
Following the Second World War the club rejoined the Western League, where they developed a strong record in national cup competitions. They reached the proper rounds of the FA Amateur Cup on several occasions, and enjoyed notable ties in both the Amateur and FA Cups, including a record home attendance against Bath City in 1951. League success was more limited and financial issues led to resignation from the Western League in the late 1950s, after which they spent 15 years in the Bristol & District League. A merger with Ashtonians United in the early 1970s brought them back into the Western League, the club adopting the name Clevedon Town and moving into the professional ranks. Financial struggles during the 1980s were eased through the eventual sale of their ground, which enabled the building of the new Hand Stadium in the early 1990s.
The move to their new home coincided with a revival in fortunes, as the club won the Western League in their first season at the Hand Stadium and gained election to the Southern League. They achieved further success in the 1990s, including a divisional championship and Somerset Premier Cup wins, before relegation in 2001. Managerial changes followed, with Kevin Hodges and then Phil Bater overseeing a return to the Premier Division and a historic FA Cup First Round appearance in 2006. Later years brought further relegations and a return to the Western League in 2015 after ground grading issues, though the side stabilised under Micky Bell and later Alex White, culminating in a play-off final appearance in 2024. The Hand family, who provided generations of secretaries and administrators, played a central role in the club’s survival and development, their legacy marked by the naming of the Hand Stadium.