Millwey Rise AFC

About Millwey Rise AFC

Millwey Rise Football Club has its roots in a tight-knit community that grew out of a former World War Two American military hospital. After the war, many families moved into the vacated 315th American Hospital buildings on Millwey Rise as squatters, forming a self-sufficient community distinct from the wider town of Axminster. The nucleus of players who would eventually form the football club had been kicking footballs around those old hospital buildings for years beforehand.

Founded in 1958, Millwey Rise FC started life in the Perry Street and District League Division Two. The idea of a club was first mooted at the Trout Inn, the birthplace and hub of all things Millwey Rise in those early days. In their inaugural season the club topped the league and carried off all the silverware on offer. During the 1960s they gained promotion from Division Three, winning the cup that accompanied it, and in May 1966 clinched promotion from Division Two (in the same summer that England won the World Cup!). After their original pitch was vacated, the club moved to the much-maligned “Slope” — a steeply inclined pitch on First Avenue — where they would play for over 50 years, earning themselves the nickname “The Slopers.”

The move away from the Slope came through a significant development at Cloakham Lawn Sports Centre. Discussions between the cricket club, Cloakham Lawn’s management, and Millwey Rise FC led to a successful application for Section 106 grant funding, which enabled a comprehensive drainage scheme to be installed on Harry’s Field. This allowed cricket to be played there in the summer and football on the outfield in winter. In September 2011, Millwey Rise announced their move to Cloakham Lawn with a celebratory match, and began playing competitive league football there from 2012.

The move was followed by a productive run of silverware: in 2012 the Reserves won the Daisy Hutchings Cup, and in 2013 the first team won the Devon Intermediate Cup, beating Northside Atlantic 5-1, with a hat-trick from Sam Dibling. The same year also brought a 3-1 victory over Crewkerne in the Coronation Cup final. In 2015, the club moved to the Devon and Exeter League, joining Division Six, and a runners-up finish in that first season brought immediate promotion to Division Five.

Today, Millwey Rise AFC are members of the Devon & Exeter Football League, with senior sides competing in Divisions Five and Eight. The club plays in blue and white and is based at Cloakham Lawn Sports Centre. The club also runs a thriving youth section, with teams catering for children across a range of age groups, welcoming players of all abilities.

One notable product of the club’s youth setup is Premier League winger Tyler Dibling. Born in Exeter, Dibling joined Millwey Rise FC at the age of five, spending two years with the youth side before joining Southampton in 2012. He went on to sign a professional contract with Southampton in October 2021, and made his Premier League debut in August 2024. In August 2025, he joined Everton on a four-year contract for a reported initial fee of £35 million.