Hailsham Town Football Club
Club Officials
Want to help behind the scenes at Hailsham Town FC? Contact any committee member at a home game, or email the clubPresident; Mervyn Walker
Life Vice Presidents; Sir Trevor Brooking, Phil Comber
Chairman; Chris Weller
Vice Chairman; Ian Fairweather
Treasurer; Paul Butler
Club Secretary; Dominique Corbett
Match Secretary; Stuart Fairway
Ground Coordinator; Joe Stevens
Commercial Manager; Commercial Team
2001 Club Coordinator; Lee Mewett
Bar Manager; Kate Williams
Gateman; Alan Hook
Ground Staff; Joe Stevens, Percy Cox, Terry Evenden, Roger Hayler, Ian Fairweather, Dennis Stevens, Geoff Cox, Charlie Saunders
Programme Editor; Stuart Fairway
Welfare Officer; Dominique Corbett
Webmaster; Stuart Fairway
Club Website sponsored by Invisional Hosting
Launched in May 2005, was brought about to bring high quality, valuable web hosting to home users and small-to-medium businesses
The Beaconsfield
The Beaconsfield has space for 2000, with Covered Seating for 100 and covered standing for a further 100. The Tea bar is open for all First & Reserve Team matches, serving teas, coffees, chocolate, crisps, Soup, Bovril and soft drinks, whilst the hot food bar serving burgers, hot dogs and chips is also open for First Team games.
The ground is located just off the Recreation Ground on Western Road, Hailsham, opposite the library. Nearby car parking is available within a couple of minutes walk of the ground, on Western Road, Summerheath Road, Diplocks Way Industrial Estate (footpath to ground signposted opposite SETYRES) and via the large free public car park on South Road.
Club History
Established in 1885 after a meeting at the Crown Hotel, with Dr Ernest Gould as the first club President, Francis Terry as the first Secretary/Treasurer and Alfred Smith as the first club captain, Hailsham won the Sussex Junior Cup in 1895–96, beating Worthing Athletic 1-0, and were founder members of the East Sussex League in 1896. The club finished near to or at the bottom of the league in 1901–02 (the final table is lost to history), but would reach the Sussex Senior Cup final for the first and only time to date, going down 3-0 against Shoreham, before finishing bottom for the next three consecutive seasons, and then again in 1906–07 and 1907–08, after which they left the league, instead joining the Eastbourne League.
After World War One Hailsham played one further season in the Eastbourne League before rejoining the East Sussex League in 1920. Although the club finished in the bottom two in both 1925–26 and 26-27, they shared the title with Hastings Seconds in 1927–28, before finishing bottom again in 1929–30, 1930–31 and 1931–32. After three years playing at Lovell's Field from 1934 (behind the old Courthouse), Hailsham moved to the Recreation Ground, alternating games between the outside pitch and what is now The Beaconsfield, and the club were league runners-up to Hastings Rangers in 1937–38. After finishing bottom of the table again in 1948–49 and 1950–51, they won the East Sussex League for the first time outright in 1953–54, a season which also saw them win the Sussex Intermediate Cup.
In 1955 Hailsham joined Division Two of the Sussex County League under the name Hailsham Football Club, and became the first club in Sussex to install built in floodlights, with the 'Switch On' coming on 12th January 1960 with a game against an East Sussex League XI. Hailsham would then win the Division Two Invitation Cup in their first season, but resigned from the league during the 1962–63 season. They subsequently joined the Eastbourne & District League, before returning to the East Sussex League in 1968, when they joined Division Two, this also should have been the final season in which first team games were regularly played on the outside pitch, as Hailsham Parish Council gave the club an ultimatum in April 1969 to pick one pitch – naturally we chose the one with our floodlights – however memories suggest otherwise!
Hailsham were Division Two champions in their first season back in the East Sussex League, earning promotion to Division One. They went on to win the Division One title at the first attempt. In 1972, the now-renamed Hailsham Town transferred to the Southern Counties Combination. They won the league in 1974–75 and were promoted to Division Two of the Sussex County League. After finishing as Division Two runners-up in 1980–81 they were promoted to Division One. After entering national competitions for the first time since the days of the FA Amateur Cup in the early 1900's, the club's best runs came in consecutive seasons – in the 1988/89 season Hailsham reached the fifth round of the FA Vase, where they would go out 3-2 to Hungerford Town, and the following year a spot in the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup was achieved, going out 4-3 in a replay to Dulwich Hamlet. They won the League Cup in 1994–95, beating Wick 2–1 in the final, and remained in Division One until being relegated at the end of the 1998–99 season. However, a third-place finish in Division Two in 2000–01 saw the Stringers promoted back to Division One.
In 2005–06 Hailsham won the Sussex RUR Cup, defeating Whitehawk 2–0 in the final thanks to goals from Eddie Koboah and Peter Cooper. The club were relegated again in 2010–11, but finished second in Division Two the following season to earn an immediate promotion back to Division One. In 2015 the league was renamed the Southern Combination, with Division One becoming the Premier Division. They finished bottom of the Premier Division in 2016–17 and were relegated to Division One, finishing 8th two seasons in a row, before two Covid-disrupted years followed in which the Stringers just about escaped relegation to intermediate football. The trapdoor would eventually open in 2022/23, with the Stringers falling into intermediate football for the first time in 48 years ahead of 2023/24.