HISTORY isn’t everything for Long Wittenham Athletic, but it’s certainly been a comfort to the club’s passionate band of players and volunteers through the lean years, writes MATTHEW BRUCE.

Founder members of the North Berks League, the club won the inaugural North Berks Cup in 1907 and have since gone on to land the competition more times than any other side.

But despite boasting 15 North Berks Cup triumphs and ten league titles, successes have been rare for Long Wittenham in recent years.

The club endured a protracted slump from the late 1970s onwards, but their fortunes have since been reversed and after winning the North Berks Cup last season – the first time since 1977.

Athletic are now eyeing a return to former glories.

“We had waited an awfully long time for it, so that was definitely a highlight,” said chairman Derek Meadham.

“The cup’s been around for more than 100 years now, but it’s been won by relatively few clubs and we’ve won it more than anyone else, so we were desperate to do it again.”

Club president Bill Symonds added: “We’ve been through a poor couple of years, but we’re getting back to where we used to be at our peak in the 1950s and 60s, though we’re not there yet.

“We’re doing our best to maintain the standards of our past.”

But despite the lengthy list of past achievements, first team manager Phil Lynch said he hadn’t felt under pressure to bring success back to the club when he took the job in 2005.

“When I took over as manager, we were struggling in Division 3 and I always thought that any success at all would be a bonus,” he said.

“I didn’t realise it meant so much to people until after we’d won the Cup.

“It was a really big thing for the chairman and secretary and for weeks afterwards I had phone calls from former players who I hadn’t heard from in years.”

Lynch has developed a taste for success following last season’s North Berks Cup triumph and is keen to see it continue.

He added: “We’d like to push on and get some consistency. The league would be great to win.

“It won’t be this year, but I think if we could get some consistency we could dominate this league.

“That’s the club’s next challenge, along with improvements to the facilities.”

However, Long Wittenham have no ambitions to go on and play any higher than the North Berks League in the near future after having their fingers burnt in the past.

Meadham said: “The North Berks League is where we want to be, we’re a village club.

“We did dally with the Hellenic League in the 1970s and, to be honest, it was a disaster. The club nearly folded.

“At step seven we’re bottom of the football pile but the standard isn’t too bad.

“It’s village football at its best.

“Because it’s all very local we all know each other.

“Every club has its stalwarts who have been there for years and we’re all fiercely proud of our own clubs, but it’s all very friendly.”