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[Football] The Non-League Football Thread- 2023/24 Edition







Peacehaven Wild Kids

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2022
3,405
The Avenue then Maloncho
No enthusiasm for the football, or no enthiasm for beer?
I don’t really watch them much, i’ve mentioned it before, the PA announcer stirred up a bit of fake shit about me and bad mouthed me on line, it took the edge off for me and I’ve never got it back.Timing wise this tied in with me moving up a tier for away tickets with The Albion so I’m up on the deal.
 


Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,450
Oxton, Birkenhead
Ground number 11 yesterday (I am 1/5th of the way there!) was the stunning Trafalgar Ground, home of Newhaven Town for their SCFL Premier League clash with Eastbourne Town.

I. LOVE. THIS. GROUND.

This was one that had been on the bucket list for a long time, mostly, of course, due to it's preposterous two tiered stand.

We got the train to Newhaven Town, paid pilgrimage to one of Newhaven's premier tourist destinations, the memorial bench to deceased American rapper Eazy-E on Denton Island. Took in a couple of "delightful" Newhaven pubs including the Prince of Wales which felt like it was stuck in a time warp, before wandering down to the ground. Newhaven must be one of the cheapest pint towns in Sussex.

The ground is about 15 mins in total from the station I'd say and not far from the town centre really. It's quite a nice walk down the river and the ground is in a larger park with tennis courts and a massive bmx/skatepark overlooking the ground. Newhaven Fort is nearby also.

A special treat was that there was a ferry docked for the entire duration of the game, dominating the Newhaven skyline.

The ground itself is of course completely dominated by the incredible two tiered main stand. This, I believe, makes this ground the only football ground in Sussex, other than the Amex, to have a two tiered stand. Other than this beast there is an uncovered seated stand behind one goal with hard standing on the other two sides. The seats are, I believe, a remnant of the Albion's time at Withdean. Bit of a shame that they're not in Newhaven's colours but hey ho...

Entry was £7 and £1 for a programme.

Once we'd gotten over the image of the gargantuan main stand we popped into the clubhouse, which is on the ground floor of the main stand. It's pretty small to be honest with quite a limited drinks selection. Given the size of the stand there must be available space for a bigger clubhouse- I mean, for example, what it gods earth is behind the seats in the upper tier?!?! It does get a big thumbs up though as the walls are plastered with Newhaven Town memorabilia which always goes down well with me.

We spent the second half in the upper tier and it did not disappoint. A fair few people were actually standing at the back as there is even a fairly big walkway at the back of the stand. They've even provided drinks holders, it's like they were on crack when they built this stand, it's absolutely amazing. The view of the pitch from up there is almost UNPARALELLED in Sussex football. BUT WHAT IS BEHIND THE STAND?!?!?!?!

Speaking of beverages, Bovril was a reasonable £1.30.

The game was a bizarre one. Newhaven were top of the league and had only lost 1 league game all season but were absolutely torn to pieces by 7th placed Eastbourne Town who won 4-0. Don't know if Newhaven had players missing but they were pretty poor. Eastbourne Town played superbly though.

This is a proper stunner. If they could just get the finishing touches done here and get proper seating in, open up behind the top tier this place would be an elite venue for sure.

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I just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your reports from Sussex grounds. We really enjoy visiting new grounds in the North West, usually NPL or NWCFL. We will be at Marine v Bradford PA on Saturday.
 


Brovion

In my defence, I was left unsupervised.
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
19,871
I just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your reports from Sussex grounds. We really enjoy visiting new grounds in the North West, usually NPL or NWCFL. We will be at Marine v Bradford PA on Saturday.
Oooh! Going to see the mighty Avenue! :) After staring relegation in the face (even with one club, Marske, going bust) we've actually hit a bit of form recently, two wins and a draw in the last three games, but Marine will be tough. I'll settle for a point. Hope Jake Daniels is fit.

 


Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,450
Oxton, Birkenhead
Oooh! Going to see the mighty Avenue! :) After staring relegation in the face (even with one club, Marske, going bust) we've actually hit a bit of form recently, two wins and a draw in the last three games, but Marine will be tough. I'll settle for a point. Hope Jake Daniels is fit.


What’s your connection with Bradford PA ? Do you live in the town ? Interesting club history. I did a bit of research in anticipation of Saturday. Seems they were briefly the main Bradford club in the distant past. To be honest though we are mainly going to the game to visit Rossett Park for the first time. I will keep you posted on how your lad Jake Daniels plays though.
 




attila

1997 Club
Jul 17, 2003
2,261
South Central Southwick
Hallam FC, one of the world's oldest clubs, v Lincoln United last Saturday. 2-2, Lincoln won on penalties, nine scored, tenth saved by very well upholstered Lincoln keeper whose consumption of all the pies had been alleged all afternoon by the assembled throng. Fittingly it hit him in the beer gut. Alleged crowd 1300 or so, actual crowd FAR more.
 


Brovion

In my defence, I was left unsupervised.
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
19,871
What’s your connection with Bradford PA ? Do you live in the town ? Interesting club history. I did a bit of research in anticipation of Saturday. Seems they were briefly the main Bradford club in the distant past. To be honest though we are mainly going to the game to visit Rossett Park for the first time. I will keep you posted on how your lad Jake Daniels plays though.
Absolutely no connection with Bradford whatsoever. I am the ultimate plastic fan! (Although unlike a lot of plastics I have actually been to Horsfall to see them play a couple of times). I started taking an interest in them when they were always applying for re-election in the late 60s, then when the club re-formed they were similar to us inasmuch as they played in exile, then when they did get back to Bradford it was at a council-owned athletics stadium - where they still are.

Not sure they were ever the top club in Bradford. Ok they were from 1863 until 1903 as they were the only club in Bradford (they started off as a rugby club), but once the Manningham lot started up they soon overtook them (although for a brief period both were First Division clubs). At some stage they began to be referred to as 'Park Avenue' to differentiate them from City, but the original club's name was always just 'Bradford'.
 


jackalbion

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2011
4,936
I just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your reports from Sussex grounds. We really enjoy visiting new grounds in the North West, usually NPL or NWCFL. We will be at Marine v Bradford PA on Saturday.
Some really nice grounds in that league did a lot when I was up at university in Huddersfield
 




Slum_Wolf

Well-known member
May 3, 2021
772
Hallam FC, one of the world's oldest clubs, v Lincoln United last Saturday. 2-2, Lincoln won on penalties, nine scored, tenth saved by very well upholstered Lincoln keeper whose consumption of all the pies had been alleged all afternoon by the assembled throng. Fittingly it hit him in the beer gut. Alleged crowd 1300 or so, actual crowd FAR more.
 




stewart12

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2019
1,921
Ground number 12 was the Robert Albon Memorial Ground, home of Worthing United. This was an SCFL Division 1 top of the table clash with league leaders Roffey.

The ground is located at the top of the Lyons Farm industrial estate and has a rural charm to it. Very easy to park (I parked on Lyons Way) once you've got yourself off the most bellendy bit of the A27! With it being on top of the hill you get nice views looking south.

With it being on top of the hill the ground has two levels to it. The car park, entrance, clubhouse etc are essentially on the "ground floor". You then go up some steps to the ground itself. I liked this touch as it feels like walking up the stairs inside a concourse or something like that. From a sensory perspective it's great. Admission was £6.

Once up the stairs, the ground has 1 stand. This beauty is new and pretty big actually, taking up a fair chunk of the touchline, and most impressively has a standing area in it as well. Most of the Roffey fans seemed to congregate here creating a de-facto "away end". Otherwise there is hard standing on both sides, including a kind of wrap around standing bit which goes round and above the dugouts. The one stand is the main event here though understandably.

The clubhouse is on the smaller side but is in good condition and is well laid out. As always, it's getting bonus points for having plenty of club memorabilia on the walls, trophy cabinet etc. There's a great tribute to Matt and Jacob of course (should also mention that the stand is named in their honour and there is a sign by the entrance dedicated to them. I also saw what appears to be a memorial garden but didn't get round to looking at it).

Right, BOVRIL.......oh my word. It's £1.50 but that doesn't paint the full picture. Whilst £1.50 is about the going rate for a cup of the brown nectar, that's the price for your standard coffee cup. This came in, what I believe to be, a HALF PINT CUP. I don't know if they'd run out of smaller cups and were just winging it, but it was, perhaps, too much bovril...my insides had hot beefy liquid SLOSHING around by the end. Pound for pound this is surely the best value for money thus far on the Bovril front.

Roffey had the best of this top of the table clash and came out with a 3-0 win. Both sides had some pretty good players, Roffey however seemed a bit older and experienced, led, of course by the exotic Ricardo Fernandes.

This was my first time to Worthing United and it's a really nice club and great little ground.
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Deanbha

Well-known member
Mar 27, 2008
2,324
Living in the real world.
Ground number 12 was the Robert Albon Memorial Ground, home of Worthing United. This was an SCFL Division 1 top of the table clash with league leaders Roffey.

The ground is located at the top of the Lyons Farm industrial estate and has a rural charm to it. Very easy to park (I parked on Lyons Way) once you've got yourself off the most bellendy bit of the A27! With it being on top of the hill you get nice views looking south.

With it being on top of the hill the ground has two levels to it. The car park, entrance, clubhouse etc are essentially on the "ground floor". You then go up some steps to the ground itself. I liked this touch as it feels like walking up the stairs inside a concourse or something like that. From a sensory perspective it's great. Admission was £6.

Once up the stairs, the ground has 1 stand. This beauty is new and pretty big actually, taking up a fair chunk of the touchline, and most impressively has a standing area in it as well. Most of the Roffey fans seemed to congregate here creating a de-facto "away end". Otherwise there is hard standing on both sides, including a kind of wrap around standing bit which goes round and above the dugouts. The one stand is the main event here though understandably.

The clubhouse is on the smaller side but is in good condition and is well laid out. As always, it's getting bonus points for having plenty of club memorabilia on the walls, trophy cabinet etc. There's a great tribute to Matt and Jacob of course (should also mention that the stand is named in their honour and there is a sign by the entrance dedicated to them. I also saw what appears to be a memorial garden but didn't get round to looking at it).

Right, BOVRIL.......oh my word. It's £1.50 but that doesn't paint the full picture. Whilst £1.50 is about the going rate for a cup of the brown nectar, that's the price for your standard coffee cup. This came in, what I believe to be, a HALF PINT CUP. I don't know if they'd run out of smaller cups and were just winging it, but it was, perhaps, too much bovril...my insides had hot beefy liquid SLOSHING around by the end. Pound for pound this is surely the best value for money thus far on the Bovril front.

Roffey had the best of this top of the table clash and came out with a 3-0 win. Both sides had some pretty good players, Roffey however seemed a bit older and experienced, led, of course by the exotic Ricardo Fernandes.

This was my first time to Worthing United and it's a really nice club and great little ground.
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Thank you so much for coming along. I will pass on your kind words to the club. Shame we never really got going last night but Roffey were very good
 


Arthur

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
8,761
Buxted Harbour
Crowborough 3-1 Peacehaven

Frantic start to this one, could have been 1-1 after about 90 seconds. The game did settle down after that but was a pretty scrappy affair which suited the visitors and they were by far the more dangerous team for the first half an hour. They deservedly took lead after a bit of a gift from the Crowborough defence. Defender got caught in about 5 minds on what to do and ended up heading the ball directly down into the ground which gave the Peacehaven centre forward time to slot it past the keeper.

Just as I was thinking it was going to be one of those nights Crowborough scored a cracker from absolutely nowhere. In three touches it went from the half way line to the back of the net. Pinged out wide, first time cross and headed in at the back stick. This woke Crowborough up and they dominated the final few minutes of the half adding another and having another disallowed for reasons I'm still not sure about.

Second half carried on how the first had finished. Was pretty much one way traffic but credit to Peacehaven they defended very well and it took another cracker to make it 3-1. Feasey vollied a cross in from about 12 yards with what I think was his first touch having come on 30 seconds earlier.

That is how it finished and most of the 266 crowd went home happy. Crowborough go back to the top of the table with 10 games to go. Haywards Heath won again and they are coming with a wet sail but I think a bit like both the Eastbourne teams who are in great form they've probably left it a bit late. Looks like it's going to be a four way shootout between Crowborough, Newhaven, Hassocks and Steyning.
 


BevBHA

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2017
2,454
Looks like it's going to be a four way shootout between Crowborough, Newhaven, Hassocks and Steyning.
I agree may be too late for the Eastbourne teams but wouldn’t write of Haywards Heath just yet. They have 2 games in hand over Steyning and Hassocks and a game in hand on both Crowborough and Newhaven. They also still have Newhaven and Hassocks to play…

They’ve already beaten Hassocks in the cup a few weeks ago.

With reportedly the biggest budget in the league they seem to have finally clicked, wouldn’t be surprised if they won most of if not all of their remaining games.
 




Arthur

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
8,761
Buxted Harbour
I agree may be too late for the Eastbourne teams but wouldn’t write of Haywards Heath just yet. They have 2 games in hand over Steyning and Hassocks and a game in hand on both Crowborough and Newhaven. They also still have Newhaven and Hassocks to play…

They’ve already beaten Hassocks in the cup a few weeks ago.

With reportedly the biggest budget in the league they seem to have finally clicked, wouldn’t be surprised if they won most of if not all of their remaining games.
I haven't written anyone off to be honest. It's great that with a handful of games to go you can still make a case for any of the top 7 hence why I mentioned all of them.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the introduction of the play offs has made the league more competitive this season.
 


stewart12

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2019
1,921
how do the play offs work in the SCFL?

I was imagining there was an inter-league play off at some point between the various leagues that filter into the Isthmian South East?

Are there play offs in SCFL 1 and SCFL 2?

As an aside, SCFL 2 is quite mad. They're only playing 22 games in total and some teams have only got a few games left whilst mid table Ferring are only halfway though their games, with 7 games in hand over some teams. Doesn't look like there are any games in the whole of March either.
 


BevBHA

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2017
2,454
I haven't written anyone off to be honest. It's great that with a handful of games to go you can still make a case for any of the top 7 hence why I mentioned all of them.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the introduction of the play offs has made the league more competitive this season.
It’s quite a strange league. It’s almost 2 leagues. The top 9 down to Peacehaven are all a decent standard. But the standard of the teams from 10th to 20th is pretty poor and not too dissimilar to the league below. You don’t seem to get many of the bottom half teams beating the top half teams across the course of the season. The only exception to that is Eastbourne town, who seem to do very well against the top teams and lose to the strugglers
 


Arthur

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
8,761
Buxted Harbour
how do the play offs work in the SCFL?


Are there play offs in SCFL 1 and SCFL 2?

I don't believe so.

As an aside, SCFL 2 is quite mad. They're only playing 22 games in total and some teams have only got a few games left whilst mid table Ferring are only halfway though their games, with 7 games in hand over some teams. Doesn't look like there are any games in the whole of March either.

It was muted a while back that they may do away with the second division. No idea if there are any legs to that rumour or not.
 




jackalbion

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2011
4,936
how do the play offs work in the SCFL?

I was imagining there was an inter-league play off at some point between the various leagues that filter into the Isthmian South East?

Are there play offs in SCFL 1 and SCFL 2?

As an aside, SCFL 2 is quite mad. They're only playing 22 games in total and some teams have only got a few games left whilst mid table Ferring are only halfway though their games, with 7 games in hand over some teams. Doesn't look like there are any games in the whole of March either.
They've changed it this season. Top 1 gets promoted from SCFL to Isthmian South East and unlike last year, there will be a traditional play off with 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. Due to restructuring there will only be one relegation this season from the Premier. Similar in Division 1, however Dorking Wanderers B, cannot get promoted so they will be discounted from any promotion details. Third and second bottom of Div 1 should get a reprieve due to Restructuring then teams coming up from various feeder leagues depending on their location will be placed into Division 1. Could be possibly three new teams at the moment, with it most likely being Storrington from SCFL 2, Reigate Priory for the Mid Sussex League and Infinity from the Hampshire Premier League.

EDIT: Someone has made a helpful spreadsheet tracking all the projections so it looks like SCFL 1 might gain Clanfield as well who ground share in Havant, and SCFL Prem may gain Horley Town.



There's also a helpful spreadsheet to track the promotions.

 
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seagull over sevenoaks

Active member
Jul 14, 2003
398
I agree may be too late for the Eastbourne teams but wouldn’t write of Haywards Heath just yet. They have 2 games in hand over Steyning and Hassocks and a game in hand on both Crowborough and Newhaven. They also still have Newhaven and Hassocks to play…

They’ve already beaten Hassocks in the cup a few weeks ago.

With reportedly the biggest budget in the league they seem to have finally clicked, wouldn’t be surprised if they won most of if not all of their remaining games.
What is a big budget at that level?
 


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