[Football] The Non-League Football Thread- 2024/25 Edition

[Cowfold Seagull]

Hasting/Bognor. That's a VERY good attendance for a 7th tier match

It's an insane attendance! We did very ell too at Horsham YM, where unofficially anyway, a crowd of near on 300 watched our FA Cup tie against local rivals Broadbridge Heath.

A bitter sweet afternoon in the sunshine really, as despite performing very well, our young lads at YM were, aided by some dubious refereeing, out fought and out muscled by our near neighbours from the Isthmian South. succuming to a 3-1 defeat.

Oh well there is still the Vase to play for, starting next Saturday the 24th, with a 1st round home tie, with East Preston.

 

[Change at Barnham]

A 2-3 FA Cup Preliminary Round defeat for Littlehampton Town at home to Faversham Town.
The Sussex side were reduced to 10 men in the 24th minute when Matthew Astle received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle.

Played on a Sunday afternoon because cricket takes priority on Saturday's during the cricket season.
Attendance 310.

Click here for a link to a Flickr album of match photos

 

[LANGDON SEAGULL]

Ticked off ground number 37 with TD Shipley vs Ferring today in the SCFL Division 2.

This place is in the middle of nowhere. It's not in Shipley, which in itself is tiny, but in the hamlet of Dragon's Green (hence the clubs nickname of the dragons).

It's very easy to miss it when you come off the a24 as the sat nav doesn't take you there and you'll easily miss the turning. The entrance is up a little gravel track which is barely signposted.

It's actually not a bad ground for division 2. Entrance is free with pitchside parking.

There's a small stand which they appear to be adding seats to. There are also plenty of benches and a small wooden patio area. The clubhouse is small but it's pretty decent.

I was laughed at when I asked for bovril- it was pretty sweltering to be fair

TD Shipley (wait, does TD stand for "The Dragons"?!) absolutely massacred Ferring 7-2. They had a good front 3 and Ferring just couldn't defend to save their lives.

Anyway, this place has a nice rural feel and is probably one of the better Division 2 grounds actually

 

[BevBHA]

A 2-3 FA Cup Preliminary Round defeat for Littlehampton Town at home to Faversham Town.
The Sussex side were reduced to 10 men in the 24th minute when Matthew Astle received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle.

Played on a Sunday afternoon because cricket takes priority on Saturday's during the cricket season.
Attendance 310.

Click here for a link to a Flickr album of match photos

View attachment 187438

Saw a video of one of Faversham’s goals, a free kick. What a belter

 

[Roadrunner]

Saw a video of one of Faversham’s goals, a free kick. What a belter

Yes, that made it 2-2, just when 10-man Littlehampton looked to have done enough to sneak through. Absolute arrow of a free kick, gave the keeper no chance. Thought the red card looked a little harsh, foot was high but certainly not the stamp that the Faversham players seemed to be suggesting. Both home goals were from new signing Alex Laing, but we definitely missed fellow newcomer Rob O'Toole up front. Potential prize money notwithstanding, I dare say LA weren't overly bothered to lose the game after being pulled back to 2-2 - saves a trip to north Kent on Tuesday night. Got a tough looking Trophy game against Rayners Lane next Saturday before they can properly settle in to the new league campaign with a home game against Lancing.

Oh, and I can't have too many compaints about the Sunday scheduling - means I can go to both Albion and LA games at this time of year. Plus it'd be pretty hypocritical given my son plays cricket for Littlehampton.....

 

[The Lemming Stomper]

Fancy doing a few non-league matches this season ( trying St Francis Rangers on Tuesday )

Noticed that Infinity play in SCFL Div 1 but won't bother as takes forever to get there

 

[BN9 BHA]

Noticed that Infinity play in SCFL Div 1 but won't bother as takes forever to get there

 

[AZ Gull]

...
The Sussex side were reduced to 10 men in the 24th minute when Matthew Astle received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle.

...

Astle is a former Albion academy player.

 

[carlzeiss]

Fancy doing a few non-league matches this season ( trying St Francis Rangers on Tuesday )

Noticed that Infinity play in SCFL Div 1 but won't bother as takes forever to get there

I believe that Infinity FC are playing at Sidlesham with Sidlesham FC playing at Fishbourne , anyone know if that is correct ?

 

[stewart12]

I believe that Infinity FC are playing at Sidlesham with Sidlesham FC playing at Fishbourne , anyone know if that is correct ?

Infinity certainly play in Sidlesham. Potentially going to go there tomorrow night

 

[Arthur]

A 2-3 FA Cup Preliminary Round defeat for Littlehampton Town at home to Faversham Town.
The Sussex side were reduced to 10 men in the 24th minute when Matthew Astle received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle.

Played on a Sunday afternoon because cricket takes priority on Saturday's during the cricket season.
Attendance 310.

Click here for a link to a Flickr album of match photos

View attachment 187438

Loving this guy having a piss in the bush whilst celebrating a goal (I assume). True non league!

 

[Arthur]

Crowborough 0-1 South Park

Game was settled by a very bizarre goal after a couple of minutes. If you've seen "the" Crawley goal against Palace pre season it was basically that except it was the keeper and not a defender making the huge rick. Innocuous back pass with absolutely no danger whatsoever. Crowborough keeper has 2 tons of lead in his boots and plays a delightfully weighted ball out to the on coming striker in his haste slips and end up on his knees leaving said striker to walk the ball into an empty net.

Crowborough did hit the post in first half and South Park missed a penalty in the second half but that was pretty much all the happened. Both teams really cancelled each other out and neither really threatened troubling the scorers again.

Bit of a shame to go out to a freakish goal but taking the positives Crowborough more than held their own against a team from the step above.

 

[ManOfSussex]

FA Cup first round qualifying draw has been made:

Burgess Hill Town v AFC Croydon Athletic
Harefield United v Lewes
Kingstonian v Chichester City
Harrow Borough or Ashford United v Saltdean United or Three Bridges
Horsham v Virginia Water
Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Bognor Regis Town
Hendon v Whitehawk
Steyning Town Community v Merstham
Hastings United v Redhill
Carshalton Athletic v Haywards Heath Town
Broadbridge Heath v Faversham Town

Ties scheduled for 31/08, £2250 to the winners, £750 to the losers.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

View attachment 187453

Loving this guy having a piss in the bush whilst celebrating a goal (I assume). True non league!

Oh l don't know, l have to admit to doing similar in a Third Division game back in the eighties, when watching the Albion at Chester City's old ground, Sealand Road.

Only because l was instructed to by a steward mind you. When asked where the toilets were he simply replied, oh go up against the back of the stand mate, everyones else does.

I duly obliged.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Infinity certainly play in Sidlesham. Potentially going to go there tomorrow night

I hope you don't get too lonely.

 

[Crispy Ambulance]

FA Cup first round qualifying draw has been made:

Burgess Hill Town v AFC Croydon Athletic
Harefield United v Lewes
Kingstonian v Chichester City
Harrow Borough or Ashford United v Saltdean United or Three Bridges
Horsham v Virginia Water
Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Bognor Regis Town
Hendon v Whitehawk
Steyning Town Community v Merstham
Hastings United v Redhill
Carshalton Athletic v Haywards Heath Town
Broadbridge Heath v Faversham Town

Ties scheduled for 31/08, £2250 to the winners, £750 to the losers.

Thanks for this.

The Burgess Hill v Croydon tie conjures up memories of the FA Cup game at their place during our fantastic run during the 2014/15 season, which included that famous 3-1 win at Sutton.

 

[Sirnormangall]

Fancy doing a few non-league matches this season ( trying St Francis Rangers on Tuesday )

Noticed that Infinity play in SCFL Div 1 but won't bother as takes forever to get there

Unless St Francis have repaired the lane to their ground, if you don’t want to lose your exhaust I suggest you park at the top and walk down!

 

[stewart12]

Ground number 38 last night was the slightly ridiculously named "Infinity" of SCFL 1 for their Sussex RUR Cup game with SCFL Premier side Midhurst & Easebourne.

Having dug around a bit on this club, seems like they originated in Hampshire and bounced from town to town like a nomad before settling in Sidlesham in 2022 and moving into the SCFL at the start of this season.

As a result it's a bit of an odd set up, Sidlesham is tiny so who is supposed to follow this lot?!

Anyway, entry was £6 which included yet another example of pitchside parking. In fact due to the blustery weather a fair few people were watching from the comfort of their cars. The ground is just off the road that links Chichester and Selsey so it's quite easy to get to. Being on that peninsula it's all very flat and open. On two sides it's surrounded by open fields and then a few houses on the other two sides

It's essentially a recreation ground that they've hastily converted to get it up to standard. There's a fence around the pitch which separates it from the rest of the park and a small stand on one side. Not sure what the minimum amount of seats is for this level but I bet it's the exact amount that they have here as it's only a few and the rest is standing.

The clubhouse is basically what appears to be the village hall. It's quite big therefore but VERY dated and there is absolutely no mention of Infinity in there at all. There was a few beers on tap but the whole thing just doesn't feel very football-y. No sign of Bovril either

To be honest, this whole place feels like they're just squatting here. If they're going to stick around they need to find some way of imprinting their identity on it. Just feels very weird

Anyway they held their own against a team from the league above but Midhurst won 1-0. Infinity had plenty of chances to score but couldn't convert.

They did have a player with 1 arm who was absolutely brilliant though, a really skilful player

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Fancy doing a few non-league matches this season ( trying St Francis Rangers on Tuesday )

“Yeah, I’ll let you know when I’m doing some new grounds, I don’t mind driving” - The Lemming Stomper - May 2024

 

[The Lemming Stomper]

“Yeah, I’ll let you know when I’m doing some new grounds, I don’t mind driving” - The Lemming Stomper - May 2024

Apologies I did indeed say that and will be in touch next time....

The match at ( not my words ) 'The loonies' ended 5-0 on a pitch that made Whithawk look like they play on a spirit level...Thanks for @Sirnormangall for the heads up about the lane...Leccy must have missed 5 sitters so could have been closer...£3.50 a can of Fosters so innovated by drinking a cup of my own piss...

Good evenings footy all round