We all know football has the habit of conjuring up amazing stories, be it heartwarming, emotional or freak results, just like Leicester City winning the Premier League, Wimbledon's Crazy Gang defeating the might of Liverpool to lift the FA Cup in 1988, 42-year-old Roger Milla coming out of retirement to score in the World Cup for Cameroon, David's beating Goliath's in the 3rd round of the Cup or Jamie Vardy getting an England call up just 4 years after playing non-league football for Halifax.
But one such story happening right now which is at least on a par with those if not above and wouldn't look out of place in a Roy of the Rovers annual is that of Dorking Wanderers.
Dorking with a population of around 20,000 is a Market Town in Surrey, South East England, situated by the River Mole, between the escarpment of the chalk hills of the North Downs and the wooded heights of Leith Hill and known for the beauty of its countryside and National Trust nature reserves of Holmwood Common and Box Hill.
'The Wanderers' were the brainchild of the current owner, chairman and manager, Marc White, who back in 1999 when he was 25 years young along with some friends had become completely disillusioned with the direction of Wimbledon FC who they followed home and away and were heading for relegation from the Premier League amidst loud whispers of relocation to another part of the country.
So they decided to set up a Saturday football team to occupy their time, have fun and satisfy their football fix.
Life began at the bottom in the 5th tier of the Crawley and District League with 14 mates paying five pounds each to play on a council-owned pitch costing £50 to play on a time.
Now, that is nothing remarkable, but what is is that they now sit mid-table in the top tier of the National League, the fifth tier in the Football pyramid after racking up 12 promotions in 22 completed seasons!
'Timeline of events'
After Switching to Division Four of the West Sussex League they rapidly moved up through the Leagues to the Premier Division and In 2006–07 the Wanderers won it by clinching the title with a victory on the last day of the season.
As a result, the club was promoted to Division Three of the Sussex County League which they went on to win in 2010–11 and by the end of the 2014–15 season they won the First Division earning promotion to Division One South of the Isthmian League.
2015/16 saw them make the playoffs but sadly lose out but the following season they went one better by winning the playoffs to gain yet another promotion to reach the Isthmian Premier and finally In 2018–19 the club won the Premier Division by a margin of 22 points! earning promotion to the National League South for the first time in history!
Nothing seemed like it could stop the promotion-eating machine that is 'The Wanderers' but It took a worldwide pandemic to stop them in their tracks, the curtailed Covid affected 2019/20 season saw them placed into a finishing position of 7th and into a playoff spot where they made the semifinals before losing out, and the following season brought more cruel heartbreak as the season was called null n void with Dorking sitting 5 points clear with a game in hand after 18 matches, but last season they finished runners up and navigated their way through the playoffs to gain promotion to the National League!
Dorking Wanderers are most definitely a modern-day fairy tale and just like all the children's stories where there are ups and downs with difficult times and heart-wrenching moments, like having to leave their beloved picturesque Westhumble ground which was home to them from 2007-to 2018 where hard work, sweat, passion and undivided loyalty had seen it developed to fit the different league's criteria, to a twist of fate and good fortune when Dorking FC, the towns more established side hit hard times and had to fold which offered 'The Wanderers' a timely opportunity to take over their Meadowbank stadium that now holds 3,000 fans.
Something that is lost on many big football clubs is the value of loyal fans, the sense of a community working together and a feeling of belonging that is priceless, Dorking Wanderers and the majority of Non-League clubs offer this in spades.
We can only hope that this fairytale continues and gives hope to many others, this quote from Cinderella, one of the most famous fairytales of all sums it up perfectly.
“They can’t order me to stop dreaming.”