Yeovil is a market town in Somerset with a population in 1991 of 38,805. One of it's main industries being glove making, hence the nickname for the football club. In the 1830's there were several schemes to provide a direct railway link between London and Exeter. That is a route that did not go via Bristol. Yeovil, being about 45 miles east of Exeter could expect to be on any such route. Eventually during the Railway Mania in the mid-1840s, matters came to a head as the Great Western Railway announced it's proposed direct broad gauge line. Rival narrow schemes were also proposed but it was the London and South Western Railway who retaliated by announcing it would go against a previous agreement not to go west of Salisbury or Dorchester by proposing a standard gauge line called the Central scheme which would go to Exeter and on to Falmouth. The line would link to Yeovil via a small branch line. However all these schemes were thrown out by Parliament and by the time new proposals were put forward the Railway Mania bubble had burst and the schemes lanquished for lack of investment.
Parliamentary approval for the LSWR's Salisbury to Yeovil part of the line had been received in 1848 and it wasn't until 1856 that approval for the Yeovil to Exeter section was obtained. Building of the line started in piecemeal sections on the cheap. Also as per the original LSWR plan, Yeovil was bypassed from the main line, to be served by a small branch line. The line through from Salisbury was eventually opened in sections starting in 1859 and reaching Yeovil in 1860. The people of Yeovil were greatly disappointed not to be directly on the main line and the town did suffer although other lines radiating out from the town were also built.
South West Wiltshire is a large sheep farming area and links to urban centres were seen as being important. Following the turbulent events of the 1840's, the GWR proposed a small railway interest in the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, which eventually foundered and the GWR had to step in to revive it. A broad gauge line from Frome to the North East of Yeovil, eventually arrived at the town in 1856.
The Bristol and Exeter Railway proposed a branch line from Durston to approach Yeovil from the North West. This too suffered from lack of investment and was eventually completed in 1853. This would soon be extended to link end on to Wilts Somerset and Weymouth Line. The LSWR also extended their branch line to connect to the line to Durston. The GWR remaking some of their lines in the area as mixed gauge.
The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth originally stopped at Yeovil although earthworks were built to continue the route south to Weymouth. It wasn't until 1857 that this line was completed as a broad gauge line. Eventually in 1874, the GWR admitted defeat in the "Gauge Wars" and converted all their lines to standard gauge.
With the expanding railways came the change from football being a local entertainment for local people to a regional sport. Yeovil Casuals formed in 1895 and merged with Petters United in 1920, the combined club being called Yeovil and Petters United. That same year the club moved to a ground in Huish, joining the Western League Division Two. A few years later they also joined the Southern League and would play in both Leagues up to the Second World War. In 1946 the name changed to the simpler Yeovil Town and they entered just the Southern League. In 1979 they became founder members of the Alliance Premier League. With a move to Huish Park in 1990 and after a couple of spells in the Isthmian League, the club returned to the Conference in 1997 and from there they achieved League status in 2003.
Last season Yeovil started by storming the League Division Three, but were unable to keep the momentum and slipped out of the promotion places and eventually missed out on a play-off spot on goal difference. Macclesfield's Town game at Huish Park was notable for the home side's equalizing goal that never was. Sky Sport's Goals On Sunday showing how the ball could not of crossed the line. With the Silkmen suffering a run of similarly bad refereeing in recent games (Southend, Hartlepool, Chester, Kidderminster and now Notts County) maybe this is where the bad luck genie gets laid to rest. Although the way things are going for the Silkmen with referee's it wouldn't be surprising to see the man in black actually get up and head in the winner for the Glovers! We've seen refs do just about everything else.
Yeovil Town have the current League Two's top scorer in Phil Jevons who has nine goals, three more than Jon Parkin has managed in the League. Jevons arrived at the club on a free from Grimsby Town. The Polish player Bartosz Tarachulski also has three goals for the Glovers. Manager of the team is Gary Johnson, who had a spell managing Latvia before becoming the Glovers's manager.
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