The club originally played in the Spalding League and then progressed to the Peterborough League. Their first honours came in 1933 when they won the Lincolnshire Junior Cup. They repeated that in 1938 and progressed to senior level, winning the Lincolnshire Senior 'B' Cup in 1951. The Lincolnshire Senior 'A' Cup followed in 1953.
Spalding's record ground attendance came in 1952, when 6,973 people watched Spalding play Peterborough (then in the Midland League) in a qualifying round of the FA Challenge Cup. With 10 minutes remaining, Spalding led 2 - 0, but Peterborough came back to equalise and won the replay 3 - 0. On 2 occasions, the club has reached the first round proper of the FA Cup. First in 1957/8 they lost 3 - 1 to Durham Coty, and in 1964/5 were defeated by Newport County 5 - 3.
Spalding became United Counties League Champions for the first time in 1955, having been runners up in 1951, 1952 and 1953. From there they joined the Eastern Counties League, but were without success before moving on to the Central Alliance League. One season later saw Spalding transfer to the Midland League when it reformed in 1961. In 1968 they returned to the United Counties League, winning the Championship for a second time in 1975. In 1982, Spalding changed competitions again, moving to the Northern Counties (East) League, winning the Championship in 1984 but rejoined the United Counties League again in 1986. In the 1987/88 season Spalding won the title again, as well as lifting the Lincolnshire Senior 'A' Cup.
This time the promotion brought them success and they were promoted to the Southern League and there finished eighth and sixth in their first two seasons in the Midland Division. In 1989/90 Spalding enjoyed an excellent run in the FA Challenge Vase, defeating Knowle Town (3 - 0), Stamford (9 - 0 in a replay), Harrisons (3 - 1), Lye Town (1 - 0), Bourne Town (3 - 1 in a replay) and Great Yarmouth Town (2 - 0). This left them at home to Guiseley in the quarter final, who won 3 - 1 after extra time. 2,020 people witnessed that match.
Things took a down turn, when the Tulips were relegated back to the United Counties League the following season. Spalding went into liquidation, and it took a number of years before the club began to rebuild.
The team's recovery began in 1994 with the appointment of Alan Day as manager. The club won the UCL knock-out cup in 1995, and in 1997 were league runners up, as well as reaching the last sixteen of the FA Carlsberg Vase, before losing to Taunton Town.
In the 1997/1998 season, Spalding finished third in the league and again reached the quarter finals of the FA Carlsberg Vase, losing 1 - 2 to eventual winners, Tiverton Town before a home crowd of 2,038. They also reached the semi final of the East Anglian Cup, losing to eventual winners Romford, and were runners up in the Lincolnshire Senior 'A' Cup to Stamford.
The 1998/1999 has been very successful. Spalding won the league by 15 points, and also defeated Louth 5 - 1 in the Lincolnshire Senior 'A' Cup final. They were runners up in the East Anglian Cup Group Final, losing 2 - 1 to Stamford. Spalding have now won promotion to the Doc Martens South and East Division.