Dorking Wanderers rise from a pub football team to the cusp of the English Football League

Dorking is deep in the heart of Surrey, surrounded by an Area of Natural Beauty and overlooked by the towering Box Hill. It is currently home to National League side Dorking Wanderers, but how did this side go from pub team to the edge of the football league?

Dorking Wanderers were founded back in 1999 by a group of mates after their beloved Wimbledon was moved to Milton Keynes in controversial circumstances.

With no team to watch after Wimbledon’s move, Dorking Wanderers was born, with founder and current manager Marc White at the heart of it all.

The club started out paying £50 a week to rent a pitch at the local Big Field facility. A true Sunday league venue that hosts rugby and football games each weekend.

Dorking started as nothing more than a group of mates playing together at the weekend, but after a few years, and a few promotions, they found themselves rising through the ranks of Surrey football.

Following these promotions, Dorking needed a new pitch that would fulfill certain criteria for the higher leagues in Surrey.

After finding a suitable patch of land on a nearby National Trust plot, White roped in players, family and friends to transform the club into a suitable venue.

Marc White spoke to The Guardian back in 2019, telling them about his experience as the driving force behind Dorking. When asked about the ground transformation he said, “There was no power, no water, nothing there.”

As Dorking kept rising through the ranks, they once again needed a new stadium. With the collapse of local side Dorking FC, Marc saw an opportunity to utilise Meadowbank Stadium. Meadowbank was falling into disrepair and the local council saw the Wanderers as a chance to make the most of the space.

Meadowbank was developed into a 3,000-capacity stadium with a fan zone and is also host to the Surrey FA. Marc White and Dorking Wanderers are in talks to buy the stadium outright and build a new away end.

Promotion after promotion saw Dorking reach the National League South for the first time in 2019. The National League South is Step Two on the football pyramid, just two promotions away from the Football League.

Wanderers' first season in the National League South saw the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the season cut short as the team finished in a very respectable seventh place.

Unfortunately for Marc White and his charges at Dorking, their second season in the Nationa League South finished in much the same way as they found themselves five points clear before the ongoing pandemic once again saw the season voided before its completion.

After finishing the 2021-22 season in second place, Dorking had to overcome Oxford City and then Ebbsfleet if they were to secure promotion. After comfortably seeing off Oxford, it took two extremely late goals, in the 97th and 99th minutes, to put away Ebbsfleet in front of a packed Meadowbank stadium.

Dorking completed its first season in Step One in April of 2023. After a bright start, the team struggled as they played some of the biggest names in the lower leagues such as Wrexham and Notts County.

After a brutal run, Marc White was able to secure some defensive reinforcements which secured them National League survival for one more year at least.

White isn’t happy to settle for the National League, however, as he told The Mirror, “What we’ve done so far has been very difficult, so I wouldn’t write us off doing a few more promotions yet.”

Dorking will be kicking off their second season in the National League on the 5th of August away at Chesterfield. There is a fantastic YouTube series called Dorking Uncovered by the Bunch of Amateurs channel to follow along with the ups and downs of their seasons.