Lewes Football Club is a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a conside ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club based in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of t ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

, England. The men's first team are currently members of the and play at

the Dripping Pan The Dripping Pan is a football stadium in Lewes, England. It has been home to Lewes F.C. since their foundation in 1885. It had previously been used by Lewes Priory Cricket Club, though the ground itself had been used by the people of Lewes a ...

History

The club was established in a meeting at the Royal Oak pub on 23 September 1885.History
Lewes F.C. In 1896 they were founder members of the East Sussex League.East Sussex League: 1890s
Hastings Football History The club finished bottom of the league in 1898–99 and again the following season. The league was expanded to two divisions in 1899, with Lewes placed in the Senior Division, going on to finish last for a third consecutive season. After finishing bottom of the Senior Division again in 1900–01 without winning a match, the club left the league.
Hastings Football History They later joined the Mid-Sussex League, entering its Senior Division in 1905.Part one - pre war
Crawley Town History The club were Senior Division runners-up in 1907–08 and again in 1909–10 before winning the league in 1910–11. Lewes then left the Mid-Sussex League for a reformed East Sussex League,
Hastings Football History and were runners-up in 1912–13. Although they finished bottom of the East Sussex League the following season, the club also played in the Mid-Sussex League and won the league title.League Honours
Mid-Sussex League. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

they spent the 1919–20 season in the Brighton, Hove & District League. In 1920 they were founder members of the

Sussex County League The Macron Southern Combination Football League is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of eight divisions – three for first teams (Premier Di ...

. The club were runners-up in 1924–25 and again in 1933–34 and 1958–59, also winning the League Cup in 1938–39. After finishing as runners-up in 1963–64, Lewes won the Sussex County League title the following season and moved up to Division Two of the

Athenian League The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...

. They were Division Two champions in 1967–68, earning promotion to Division One. After a third-place finish in their first season in Division One, the club won the division the following season (on goal average) and were promoted to the Premier Division. In 1977 they transferred to Division Two of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 t ...

, in which they finished as runners-up in 1979–80 to earn promotion to Division One. Lewes remained in Division One of the Isthmian League until being relegated to Division Two at the end of the 1990–91 season. Although they were promoted back to Division One the following season after finishing as runners-up in Division Two, they were relegated again in

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

and again in 1993–94, dropping into Division Three. The club were Division Three runners-up in 2000–01 and were promoted to Division Two. The following season saw the club reach the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

for the first time; drawn at home to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, the match was moved to the

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...

with Stoke winning 2–0. The club finished the season by winning the Division Two title to secure promotion to Division One South; After winning the Division One South title in 2003–04, Lewes entered a series of play-offs for promotion to the newly formed

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

; they defeated

Yeading Yeading ( ) is a settlement in west London, forming part of the London Borough of Hillingdon, having been developed after the Second World War. Etymology Yeading is very early Saxon and was originally ''Geddingas'' or ''Geddinges'', meaning "the ...

1–0,

Basingstoke Town Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward' ...

4–1 and

Kingstonian Kingstonian Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London which currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was founded in 1885 by YMC ...

1–0 to earn a place in the new sixth tier division. Although the club finished fourth in the Conference South in its inaugural season, they were prevented from taking part in the promotion play-offs as the Dripping Pan did not meet the standards required for the Conference National. Another fourth-place finish in 2005–06 saw the club again denied the opportunity to participate in the play-offs. In 2006–07 Lewes reached the first round of the FA Cup again, losing 4–1 at home to

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...

. The following season saw another first round appearance, ending in a 3–0 defeat at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ye ...

. After winning the Conference South title at the end of the season, the club were promoted to the Conference National, having carried out works on the Dripping Pan. However, after winning the title, manager Steve King and all-but-one of the first team squad left the club. The following season saw them finish bottom of the Conference National, resulting in relegation back to the Conference South. In 2010 the club was bought for £1 by six fans and turned into a community-owned initiative. In

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Lewes were relegated to the Premier Division of the Isthmian League, where they played until being relegated to Division One South at the end of the 2015–16 season. In July 2017 the club became the first professional or semi-professional football club to pay its women's team the same as its men's team. They were Division One South runners-up in 2017–18, earning promotion back to the Premier Division.

Stadium

The club have played at

since their formation, although they temporarily relocated to the Convent Field adjacent to the Dripping Pan for the two seasons immediately before

Current squad

(on loan from Aldershot Town) (on loan from Crawley Town)

Club officials

*Manager: Tony Russell *Assistant Manager: Joe Vines *First Team Coaches: Nathan White, Grant Hall *U18s Manager: Dale Hurley *Chair: Stuart Fuller *Board members: Ed Briggs, Scott Currie, Andy Gowland, Stuart Fuller, Lucy Mills John Peel, Sally Taplin, Trevor Wells *Non-Executive Director: Willa Bailey, Tim Bradshaw *Club Secretary: John Peel *Club President: Terry Parris

Honours

*Conference South **Champions 2007–08 *Isthmian League **Division One South champions 2003–04 **Division Two champions 2001–02 *Athenian League **Division 1 champions 1969–70 **Division 2 champions 1967–68 *Sussex County League **Champions 1964–65 **League Cup winners 1938–39 *Mid-Sussex League **Champions 1910–11, 1913–14 **Montgomery Cup winners 1908–09, 1910–11 *

Sussex Senior Challenge Cup The Sussex Senior Cup is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in the English county of Sussex and is the county senior cup of the Sussex FA. Its official name is the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup. ...

**Winners 1964–65, 1970–71, 1984–85, 2000–01, 2005–06 *

Sussex RUR Cup The Sussex Royal Ulster Rifles Charity Cup is the original Cup which was presented to the Sussex County FA in 1897 by the Officers and men of the Royal Irish Rifles (subsequently Royal Ulster Rifles). The 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles won th ...

**Winners 1961–62, 1962–63, 1964–65RUR Cup
Sussex County League *Sussex Floodlight Cup **Winners 1976–77 *Supporters Direct Shield **Winners 2012–13

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 2001–02, 2006–07, 2007–08 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The com ...

performance: Third round, 2002–03, 2003–04 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footb ...

performance: Quarter-finals, 2001–02 *Record attendance: 2,500 vs Newhaven, Sussex County League, 26 December 1947 *Most appearances: Terry Parris, 662 *Most goals: Pip Parris, 350 *Record transfer fee paid: £2,000 for Matt Allen

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Football clubs in England Football clubs in East Sussex Fan-owned football clubs in England Association football clubs established in 1885 1885 establishments in England Lewes East Sussex Football League Mid-Sussex Football League Brighton, Hove & District Football League Southern Combination Football League Athenian League Isthmian League National League (English football)