As the Men’s First Team prepares to return to the Isthmian League, we are running a series of articles about the clubs they will face back at Step 4, starting with a club with a similar colour scheme to our own, although AFC Portchester play in orange, rather than tangerine.
The club was founded in 1971 as Lloyds Sports and started out in the City of Portsmouth Sunday League, Division Six. Switching to Saturday football in 1998, the club worked its way up through the Hampshire and Wessex Leagues, becoming AFC Portchester in 2000.
The Royals – a nickname Portchester acquired after merging with a local youth club called Castle Royals – won a remarkable quadruple in 2024-25, just a season after winning the Hampshire Senior Cup. The Wessex League Championship secured promotion, while the Wessex League Cup, Russell Cotes Cup and Portsmouth Senior Cup also ended up in Portchester’s trophy cabinet.
Last season, AFC Portchester marked their debut season in the Isthmian League by finishing fifth, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, where they were beaten on penalties away to Westfield.
The OnSite Group Stadium has five function areas and an accessible seating area for wheelchair users and spectators with other mobility issues. The ground-to-ground road journey from the RPS is around 68 miles, or approximately an hour and twenty minutes. The National Rail Enquiries website suggests starting a journey to Portchester at Staines, travelling from there to Reading, then going from Reading to Southampton Central and changing trains a final time, for a local service from Southampton to Portchester.
Ashford Town (Middlesex) and AFC Porchester have never met in a Men’s First Team fixture.
With the play-offs in the Isthmian League including clubs ranked second to seventh from 2026-27 onwards and an average home attendance of 395 in 2025-26, the Royals will be considered by many to be play-off contenders. You can be at the Robert Parker Stadium to see AFC Portchester’s first-ever visit to our club for the equivalent of just £3.13 by buying a Season Ticket. Because the ticket includes 21 home Men’s First Team League matches and 11 Women’s First Team League matches, anyone present at all 32 fixtures would have paid just £3.13 per match AND got 20% off purchases in the Clubhouse and at the Tea Bar for the entire season.
