Dorking Wanderers

The club was formed in 1999 by businessman Marc White and friends Peter Buckland, Mark Lewington, Ian Davidson, Lee Spickett, and Penny Gregg. White described at the time of the formation of the club he and his friends were a season ticket holders at Wimbledon and had become disillusioned with how the club was being run coming to the end of its Premier League tenure. The group decided to do something else with their weekends and so Dorking Wanderers were formed as an amateur recreational team. The club initially played in the Crawley & District League. After their first season in the Crawley League they switched to Division Four of the West Sussex League, winning the division at the first attempt. In 2001–02 the club finished as Division Three runners-up, earning a third consecutive promotion. After winning Division Two in 2003–04 they were promoted to Division One, and a third-place finish in Division One in 2005–06 saw them promoted to the Premier Division.

In 2006–07 Wanderers won the West Sussex League's Premier Division, clinching the title with a victory on the last day of the season. As a result, the club were promoted to Division Three of the Sussex County League. They went on to win Division Three in 2010–11, earning promotion to Division Two. A third-place finish in Division Two the following season was enough to see them promoted to Division One. Although the league initially denied them entry to the division as their ground was not deemed to meet the requirements, the club appealed to the Football Association, who overruled the decision after an independent ground grading visit confirmed that the ground reached the mandatory standards for Division One football. The team initially struggled in Division One, finishing third-from-bottom in 2012–13. However, they finished second in 2014–15, earning promotion to Division One South of the Isthmian League.

In Wanderers' first season in the Isthmian League they finished as runners-up in Division One South, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, going on to lose 2–1 to Faversham Town in the semi-finals. The following season saw them finish second again; in the play-offs they beat Hastings United on penalties in the semi-final after a 1–1 draw, and then won again on penalties against Corinthian-Casuals in the final following a 0–0 draw, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In 2018–19 the club won the Premier Division by a margin of 22 points, earning promotion to the National League South for their first time in history. Following the curtailment of the 2019–20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were placed seventh in the league table (decided on a points-per-game basis), qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Bath City 2–1 in the quarter-finals, the club lost 3–2 to Weymouth in the semi-finals. The 2020–21 season was made null and void following a vote by member clubs of the National League, with Dorking top of the National League South at the point the season was ended.

In the 2021–22 season Wanderers finished second in the National League South, going on to defeat Ebbsfleet United 3–2 in the play-off final, earning promotion to the National League for the first time in the club's history. They also won the Surrey Senior Cup, beating Kingstonian 5–4 on penalties after the final had ended in a 1–1 draw. In Wanderers' second season in the fifth tier, the club suffered a first ever relegation, a 1–1 draw with Rochdale in their penultimate match of the season sealing their fate.

Season-by-season record

Reserve team

In 2015 the club's reserve team were promoted from the Suburban League to Division One of the Combined Counties League. However, they left the league at the end of the season as the club were set to groundshare with Dorking during the 2016–17 season. The reserve team rejoined the Combined Counties League at the start of the 2018–19 season. In 2021 they were transferred to Division One of the Southern Combination.