Historic football club comes back from the brink
Tunley AthleticA village football team, once branded the worst in the country, has gone from the verge of extinction to a thriving community club.
Tunley Athletic was selected to star in a YouTube series called The Best Worst Team, after losing every single league game in 2023/24.
The club had inspirational visits from Harry Redknapp, Gary Neville and Ella Toone which increased its profile and sponsorship.
After years of struggling to attract players, it will field three teams next season including an under-18s.
There has been a football club in Tunley, a small village south of Bath, since 1912. Like many at grassroots level, it has struggled in recent times because of a lack of players and finances.
'We thought we would have to fold'
"For four years we've been thinking that we would have to fold," said secretary Yvonne Dix, whose family has been involved at the club for four generations.
"But then last season, all the the media coverage, not just locally but across the nation gave us extra boost, a lease of life. The profile of the club's just gone up.
"I went into my butcher's shop today and he said 'I've been watching you on YouTube!'"
"Hopefully this will help the club go forward. Hopefully we'll be winning games again, going further within the league, and getting extra profile."
Club captain Tyler Davis, who secretly applied to The Best Worst Team, said the turnaround has been incredible.
"At one point we had six people at training" he said.
"Now we've got points, we're not bottom, we've won games, drawn games, and we haven't lost 26 in a row which is a bonus!
"There's no fear of not having a club anymore, it's going to be here for many more years hopefully."
American links
The club has grown quickly off the pitch as well, attracting supporters from around the world.
Denise Cooke recently moved to the village from Texas, and now helps with the club's social media. She also set up links with friends and family back in America having shown them the series on YouTube.
"The man I was watching it with, called Matt, went 'Oh my gosh they're amazing, do they need shin pads, or goal posts? We'll get them!'," she said.
"So I came back home after Thanksgiving in America and started talking to everybody and it just grew from there, and now I'm a football fanatic.
"It's really made the move to England so much more joyful to me - not that I didn't want to be here, I did - but I never expected this to happen."
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