A Football Story
Passion, heart, romance. Enough to make you fall in love with football again.
AFC Wimbledon, FC United of Manchester… Southwick 1882 FC.
Pure football stories. The type of which tugs at the heart strings of any footballing romantic. It’s what makes the game beautiful. In an age of billionaire owned football clubs plotting to protect their profit and wealth at the elite level of the sport, a tale of courage and passion in your home town has to draw your attention.
In March of 2020, just as the Coronavirus pandemic was beginning to turn the country upside down, Southwick FC'‘s owners handed the lease of the historic Old Barn Way ground, with a capacity of nearly 2000, back to the local council along with £500,000 of debt due to ‘significant breach of repair obligations’, as reported by the Argus.
This move had the potential to cripple the club. Southwick FC would no longer be able to play under their traditional name or play at the Old Barn Way ground unless they were willing to tackle the £500,000 of debt left by the previous owner. A historic Sussex club - who reached the FA Cup 1st Round in the 1974/75 season - a hub for the local community, was about to be relegated into the fine print of local history.
Backed by the supporters, players and staff, the club elected to change their name from Southwick FC to Southwick 1882 FC (the year the oldest club in Sussex was founded - the same year as Tottenham Hotspur coincidentally), instead choosing to be relegated 2 divisions and play their football at the Southwick Recreation Park. The fans stayed, the players, stayed, the staff and volunteers stayed.
The Wickers currently sit 7th in the 14 club Mid Sussex League Championship. Thanks to players like Number 7 Andy McDowell, who has scored 5 goals in 3 games, and Sean Russell who has already won 2 player of the match awards, Southwick are just 6 points off the top with 3 games in hand.
You can even sponsor individual players through the official Southwick 1882 FC website, all this to help the club achieve their goal of moving back into the Old Barn Way ground, and #BringHomeTheWickers.
If such loyalty, passion and romance doesn’t strike some sort of chord in your heart, I’m not sure what will.
Had I heard of Southwick FC until a couple of months ago? No. Am I fan? I can’t claim that, yet. Am I falling in love with the story of the club, the social media campaign to #BringHomeTheWickers and the football romanticism surrounding them? Absolutely, yes!
We created Brighton Squawk as a hub for football journalism in Brighton and Sussex. We’ll be tracking The Wicker’s progress here with regular updates, match previews/reviews, player profiles and ways to support the club. We are looking forward to embarking on this adventure with Southwick 1882, and we hope you’ll enjoy following the journey.
