Horsham F.C.
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Horsham Football Club are a
non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...
club based in
Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
,
West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, currently playing in the .


History

The first Horsham Football Club was founded in 1871, though its existence largely depended upon enough players being available to form a side. In 1881 the club was firmly re-established, playing its first game against Dorking, and, in September 1882, helped found the Sussex County Football Association, with club official A. R. Bostock becoming one of three original Vice Presidents. Horsham became founder members of the
West Sussex Football League The West Sussex Football League is a football competition in England. It was formed in 1896. The League has eight divisions of which the highest, the Premier Division, sits at level 12 of the English football league system. It is a feeder to th ...
in 1896. They went on to win the West Sussex League championship in 1899–1900, 1900–01 and 1901–02, and claimed the Royal Irish Rifles Cup in 1900 by defeating the champions of the East Sussex Senior League, Hastings. After having played at both Hurst Park and Springfield Park, the club secured Queen Street as its permanent home in 1904, but some lean form over the ensuing years saw Horsham overlooked when 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 Div ...
was created in 1920. The club eventually became members of that competition after winning the West Sussex Senior League for the fourth time in 1925–26. This was a golden age for the club and the County League was won in 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1937 and 1938, with the team regularly scoring over one hundred goals a season. The Sussex RUR Cup was taken in 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937 and 1938, and the Sussex Senior Cup in 1934 and 1939. After the break brought on by hostilities, Horsham won the first post-war title in 1947, the RUR Cup in 1946, 1949 and 1951, and the Sussex Senior Cup in 1950. In 1947–48 Horsham reached the First Round Proper 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 competi ...
for the first time, taking a first-minute lead against Tommy Lawton's
Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...
, before losing 9–1. For many years Horsham had been looking to test themselves at a higher level but had seen their annual applications to join 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 ...
come to nothing. In 1951 the club changed tack and successfully applied to become members of the
Metropolitan League The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971.Corinthian League The League of Corinth, also referred to as the Hellenic League (from Greek Ἑλληνικός ''Hellenikos'', "pertaining to Greece and Greeks"), was a confederation of Greek states created by Philip II in 338–337 BC. The League was created ...
. In 1963 this league was disbanded, and Horsham were finally able to join the Athenian League. In 1966 they reached the First Round proper 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 competi ...
for a second time after defeating Hastings United 2–1 in the 4th Qualifying Round. Horsham played
Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...
in front of a crowd of 7,134 at Queen Street. Although they lost 0–3, the day was a 'red letter day' for the club. A special temporary stand was erected at the Queen St end of the ground for the match. In 1973, Horsham joined 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 tea ...
when it expanded to two divisions. They enjoyed little success during the 1980s and early 1990s, finishing bottom of the entire league in 1993–94, but began to turn their fortunes around with a Division Three championship win in 1995–96. In 2001–02 they finished second in Division Two and were promoted to Division One South and in 2005–06 a second-place finish in that division, finishing 2nd behind champions
Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
on
goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...
, saw them promoted to the Premier Division for the first time. That same season, Horsham reached the final of the Sussex Senior Cup for the first time since 1979, but were beaten by Lewes 3–1 after extra-time. Their first ever season in the Premier Division, in 2006–07, saw the Hornets finish in eighth and a promotion challenge in 2007–08 again fell away to see the club end up eleventh. However, the team beat Maidenhead United 4–1 to reach the Second Round Proper of the FA Cup for the first time where two matches were played against eventual League One champions, Swansea City. Having sold their ground for redevelopment at the end of the season, Horsham played at Worthing during 2008–09 and reached the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup where they took Conference side
Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...
to a replay before ending an injury-ravaged year in thirteenth place. Season 2009–10 found the club back in Horsham, having entered into a groundshare agreement with their old neighbours Horsham YMCA as their quest for a new ground continued. Financial cutbacks at the end of the 2010–11 campaign, during which they finished only 6 points clear of possible relegation back to Division One, saw Horsham part company with long serving manager John Maggs after 11 years in charge. Former Faversham Town manager, Justin Luchford, was appointed as his replacement in June 2011 but left the role in late October 2011 and was replaced by assistant, Hugo Langton. A lack of improvement in results, during which the club failed to win any of their 19 league games, saw Langton replaced by former Worthing boss Simon Colbran in March 2012 but he was unable to prevent the side from returning to Division One South. A season of stability followed, with the Hornets ending the campaign in fifteenth and claiming the Brighton Charity Cup for a second successive season but Colbran resigned his post in November 2013 with the club in 18th position. His departure led to the popular appointment of Horsham born Gary Charman, some fifteen years after making the first of more than 550 appearances for his hometown club. Charman steered the club to 16th place but a poor run of results the following season led to him being replaced by two more former players, Anthony Storey and Cliff Cant, in January 2015. Despite some impressive initial results, the pair were unable to save the club from relegation so former East Preston manager Dominic di Paola was appointed towards the end of the campaign with a view to rebuilding a side capable of competing in 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 Div ...
for the first time since 1951. After a season-long battle with Eastbourne Town, Horsham took the title by eleven points to secure a record-equalling eighth County League title, thus securing an immediate return to the Isthmian League. During that 2015/16 campaign, the club recorded a club record ninety-seven points whilst conceding the fewest goals in their history (twenty-two). After a slow start to the 2016/17 campaign, in which just three of the first thirteen matches were won, the Hornets recovered to finish in a not unsatisfactory sixteenth place in Division One South. Off the pitch the club finally got the news it longed for when, on 21 March 2017, a revised ground application was submitted and overwhelmingly approved by HDC, meaning work could finally begin on constructing a new community stadium off the Worthing Road. With the arrangement at YMCA having come to an end, Horsham moved into the Sussex FA Headquarters at Lancing's Culver Road in the summer of 2017 but a crippling injury list put paid to any pre-season expectations of improving the club's position, with the low point of the season coming in an 8-0 reverse at Cray Wanderers in what is the club's heaviest ever FA Trophy defeat. Yet that result proved the catalyst for the side to kick on and only six of the next nineteen matches ended in defeat, a run that lifted Horsham to eleventh in the table, only to fall away again in the closing months of the season before ending in fifteenth spot, one better than the previous year. Hopes that the club might start the 2018–19 campaign in the new ground went unfulfilled but the disappointment did not seem to affect the players who turned Culver Road into something of a fortress, losing just four matches in all competitions - two of them to higher-league opponents Bath City and Eastbourne Borough. Overdue runs to the latter stages of the qualifying rounds in both the FA Cup and FA Trophy bred confidence that was transferred into their league form and, from early December, the Hornets never dropped below fourth place, finally finishing as runners-up to Cray Wanderers. With automatic promotion the right of only the champions, Horsham faced a play-off semi-final clash with Haywards Heath Town - the only side to have recorded a league double over them during the campaign - and duly won 3-0 to set up a home final with Ashford United. After a tense tie, played in front of over eight hundred spectators, Horsham won through 2-1 after extra-time to return to the Premier Division after an absence of seven years. President Frank King died in May 2019; the club's new boardroom was dedicated in his memory. In the 2021–22 season, the club won the Isthmian League Cup for the first time in their history.


2007–08 FA Cup run

Horsham's
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 competi ...
run started with a 7–1 defeat of
Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...
in the 1st qualifying round and in the 2nd they came from 2–0 down to beat Bury Town 3–2. After a goalless draw at
Kingsmeadow Kingsmeadow is a football stadium in Norbiton, Kingston upon Thames, London, which is used for home matches by Chelsea Women and Chelsea U21s. It was formerly the home of Kingstonian F.C. and AFC Wimbledon and has a capacity of 4,850, with 2, ...
Horsham then saw off
AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...
5–4 on penalties in a 3rd qualifying round replay before booking their place in the First Round Proper for only the third time in their history with a 3–2 win at Chippenham Town. Horsham drew
Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously ...
of the
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 ...
at home and, in front of a crowd of 3,379, Horsham won 4–1 with goals from Nigel Brake, Lee Carney (2) and Lee Farrell, with Brake's long-range goal nominated in ''
Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary L ...
s goal of the month competition. Horsham then drew
Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...
in the 2nd Round, holding the then
League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
leaders to a 1–1 draw at Queen Street on 30 November 2007 when an 85th-minute penalty from Lewis Taylor cancelled out
Guillem Bauzà Guillem Bauzà Mayol (born 25 October 1984) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Welsh club Merthyr Town as a striker, second striker or attacking midfielder. He spent most of his career in Wales and England, in representation of several clu ...
's 41st-minute opener. Their replay at Swansea was played on 10 December 2007, the first ever FA Cup tie to be held at the Liberty Stadium, and a shock result was on the cards when Lee Farrell scored twice to put Horsham 2–1 ahead but Swansea recovered to win the tie 6–2. Both matches against Swansea were shown live on
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
, the first time in the club's history that a match had been televised live.


Ground

The club sold their ground at Queen Street, which had been their home since 1904, to property developers and moved out in 2008. A two-season groundshare with
Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...
was terminated after one season. The club hoped to return to Horsham and build a new ground in Holbrook, North Horsham, but despite the club having bought the site, planning permission was refused at a council meeting held on 1 July 2008. The club withdrew their appeal against the decision on 15 April 2009, and turned their focus instead to building a new ground at the "Hop Oast" area to the south of Horsham. The initial proposal, which would have seen the installation of two 3G pitches and a two-storey clubhouse, returned a majority verdict of 13-9 in favour of rejecting the application at a council hearing on 20 Jan 2015, citing issues such as safety concerns and the perceived construction of a 'business in the countryside', despite the site already hosting a golf club and fitness centre. On 21 March 2017 the submission of a revised plan for a single-storey clubhouse and suitable for a FA Grading Category “C” with a capacity of 1,950 was overwhelmingly accepted by 19 votes to 1. A separate application to sell off part of The Holbrook Club site for housing to help finance the building of the new ground, as well as securing the long term future of the Sports Club, was also passed. With Horsham YMCA announcing their intention to end the groundshare arrangement at the end of the 2016-17 season, Horsham FC signed a contract to play their home matches at the headquarters of the Sussex FA at Culver Road, Lancing, an arrangement that lasted for two seasons while the new ground was built. Following its completion in June 2019, a minimum three-year sponsorship deal was agreed with Camping World for naming rights. The first match at The Camping World Community Stadium was played on 13 July 2019, a friendly fixture versus
Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart (district), Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet, Hampshire, Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of ...
, with the official opening of the stadium taking place a week later when
Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...
were the visitors. The first competitive fixture saw Horsham and Leatherhead draw 1-1 in an
Isthmian League Premier Division 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 teams ...
match on 10 August 2019. In March 2020, the stadium was named Best New Non-League Ground by ''Groundtastic'' magazine.


Honours


League and Cup honours

*West Sussex Senior League ** Winners (4): 1899–1900, 1900–01, 1901–02, 1925–26 *
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 Div ...
** Winners (7): 1931–32, 1932–3, 1934–35, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1946–47 *
Southern Combination Football 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 ...
** Winners (1): 2015–16 (Premier Division) *
Metropolitan League The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971.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 ...
** Winners (2): 1972–73 (Division One), 1969–70 (Division Two) *
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 tea ...
** Winners (1): 1995–96 (Division Three) ** Runners-up (2): 2005–06 (Division One), 2018-19 (Division One South East) ** Play-off final winners: 2018-19 (Division One South East) * Sussex Senior Cup ** Winners (7): 1933–34, 1938–39, 1949–50, 1953–54, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1975–76 ** Runners-up (8): 1947–48, 1954–55, 1960–61, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1978–79, 2005–06 * Isthmian League Cup ** Winners: 2021-22 *Sussex Floodlight Cup ** Winners (2): 1977–78, 2001–02 * The Sussex Royal Ulster Rifles Charity Cup ** Winners (13): 1899–1900, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1933–34 (shared with
Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...
), 1934–35, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1937–38 (shared with Southwick), 1945–46, 1948–49, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1956–57 ** Runners Up (3): 1900–01, 1901–02, 1947–48 *Brighton Charity Cup ** Winners (6): 1967–68, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2012–13


Club records

*Best league performance: 8th in Isthmian League Premier Division, 2006–07 *Best
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 competi ...
performance: 2nd round, 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 compet ...
performance: 2nd round, 2002–03 *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 footbal ...
performance: 4th round, 1986–87 *Record attendance: @ Queen Street: 7,134 v Swindon Town 26 November 1966 @ Hop Oast 1,972 v Woking (FA Cup) 16 October 2021 *Record transfer fee received: £10,000 from Tonbridge Angels for Carl Rook (December 2008) *Record transfer fee paid: Undisclosed to
Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originally ...
for Lucas Rodrigues (August 2021) *Most appearances: Gary Charman 616 (1998-2022) *Most goals in a match: Mick Streeter (9
v Portslade (Sussex Senior Cup) 17.11.1962
*Record victory
16-2 v Southwick (Sussex County League) 03.11.1945
*Record defeat
0-12 v Worthing (West Sussex County League) 13.02.1909


References


External links


Official Site
nbsp;– with pictures of the day Swansea played Horsham * {{coord, 51, 02, 49.00, N, 0, 20, 26.60, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Isthmian League Football clubs in West Sussex Association football clubs established in 1871 Horsham Metropolitan League Corinthian League (football) Athenian League 1871 establishments in England Football clubs in England West Sussex Football League