If you asked any National League fan who Swaythling Athletic are, you would likely get a blank stare. In fact, if you asked most football who they were, most fans wouldn’t have a clue.
Well, that may be an unfair question, as you won’t be able to find Swaythling Athletic in the football pyramid. However, the club still exists by a different name and occupies a place in the National League.
Swaythling Athletic Morphs Into Eastleigh FC
Swaythling Athletic was formed in 1946 by a group of friends in a pub in Swaythling, Southampton. The club first started playing their games on Southampton Common and then at Westfield.
In 1950, they joined the Hampshire League and moved to a new ground seven years later called Ten Acres. In 1977, they got rid of the Athletic part of their name, and three years later, they were renamed to Eastleigh FC, a name that will be more familiar to fans, especially those of the non-league game.
They gave a good showing of themselves in the Hampshire League, finishing in fourth place on three occasions in 1982, 1984 and 1985.
Then, for the 1986/87 season, the Spitfires were one of the founding members of the Wessex League.
A rise up the football pyramid
The club took a while to get to grips with the new league. In fact, they didn’t manage a finish higher than seventh in the league until season 1995/96, when the team hit the lofty heights of fourth place in the table.
The arrival of Paul Doswell as manager in 2002 was pivotal in the club’s rise up the lower levels of the English football pyramid, as he helped the club to three promotions.
In season 2002/03, Eastleigh won promotion to the Division One East of the Southern League. In their first season in the new division, they finished fourth place.
However, due to the formation of the Conference North and South, they ended up in the Premier League of the Isthmian League.
Their first season in the Premier League of the Isthmian League proved to be highly successful. They finished third in the league and qualified for the play-offs.
Doswell’s team saw off Braintree Town 2-0 in the semi-finals before sealing promotion to the Conference South for the first time with a 2-1 final win over Leyton.
After a 1-0 opening gameweek defeat against Hayes, Eastleigh went on to claim a respectable eighth-place finish in the Conference South table.
The following season, Eastleigh finished sixth place in the table, narrowly missing out on the play-off berths courtesy of a final day 4-1 loss against Thurrock.
In season 2008/09, they once again made the play-offs, this time finishing third place in the table. However, they exited the play-offs at the semi-finals stage to Hayes and Yeading United.
The following season, Eastleigh made history by making it to the first round of the FA Cup for the first time. Unfortunately, they exited the competition at that very round, suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat against Barrow.
In May 2012, Eastleigh claimed their first piece of silverware in seven years as they defeated Totton 2-0 in the Hampshire Senior Cup.
In the 2012/13 season, the club finished fourth place in the Conference South and qualified for the play-offs. However, they suffered a 4-2 aggregate defeat against Dover Athletic in the semi-finals.
Promotion to the fifth tier for the first time in their history
However, in season 2013/14, Eastleigh earned their first-ever promotion to the Conference Premier, now the National League. In fact, they finished the season as Conference South champions.
A solid start to their historic first season in the fifth tier saw them earn a fourth-place finish in the table. Despite finishing the regular season with five straight wins, Eastleigh suffered a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Grimsby Town in the play-off semi-finals.
In the same season, the club reached the second round of the FA Cup for the time, only to exit the competition courtesy of a 2-1 defeat against Southport.
The following season, Eastleigh came to national attention as they made it to the third round of the FA Cup for the first time. They earned a 1-1 home draw against Bolton Wanderers in the first game, but suffered a 3-2 defeat in the replay.
At the time of writing, Eastleigh’s highest league position in the fifth tier was in their debut campaign in the Conference Premier in season 2015/16 when they finished fourth and suffered that aforementioned defeat against Grimsby.
While they haven’t yet made it to the EFL, they have rarely looked out of place in the National League. Their only real brush with the threat of a return to the fifth tier came in season 2021/22 when they finished 19th in a 23-team league.
Since that poor campaign, Eastleigh has finished in ninth and 13th place, respectively, in the league table. In the current campaign, 2024/25, they are midtable in the standings, having experienced a mixed season in the fifth tier.
From where the club started out as Swaythling Athletic, Eastleigh has made incredible strides up the English football pyramid.
To think that they are now just one promotion away from playing in the EFL is incredible, and who knows, in the next few seasons, Eastleigh could well make history once again by featuring in the fourth level of English football for the first time.