v BOSHAM FCSaturday 9 March 2017

Macron Store Southern Combination Football League Division Two

JARVIS BROOK FC

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen andwelcome to the Limekiln Ground.

I would like to extend a warm welcome toour Match Officials this afternoon, as wellas the Management/Officers, players andsupporters from Bosham FC for this SCFLDivision 2 fixture. I hope everyone enjoystheir short stay and has a safe journeyhome.

Refreshments are available from theClubhouse before, during and after thegame.

I would like to thank all the Club’s Sponsorsfor their support of Jarvis Brook FootballClub throughout the season. Anyone

wishing to purchase an advertising boardplease contact Martin Perry on his mobileat 07773 376973.

Any supporter at any home or awaymatches seen abusing the Match Officialswill be spoken to and may be asked to leavethe ground, I am sure in the true spirit ofthe game this action should never berequired to happen.

Please enjoy this afternoon’s match andagain thank you to everyone for theirsupport of Jarvis Brook Football Club.

Phil TibbuttChairman

WELCOMEBy JBFC Chairman Phil Tibbutt

CHILD LABOURThere is a war developing in the Premier League. Away fromglare of the press and the pressure of results, there is a warbeing waged behind the scenes and away from the publiceye which is, whilst on the one hand “just” anotherconsequence of the enormous wealth in the game, trulyshocking on many levels. The competition – war is a betterword – to attract young players into the academies ofPremier league clubs has reached astonishing lengths, withthe bigger clubs continually devising new and moreenterprising ways to make their club more attractive thantheir competitors.

All of us who have been involved in youth football havewitnessed at some point the pain of heartless rejection, asthe academy manager who a few weeks ago filled a kid’shead with dreams, is now dismissing him as inadequatewith a callous wave of the hand, and no heart. Even in afootball backwater like Sussex we’ve seen it, so try toimagine the equivalent in London, or Manchester, whereinner city kids have their hearts broken before they’ve leftjunior school.

Stories are rife surrounding the lengths the larger clubs gotoo; each age group can have over 100 academy “players”,and up to nine age groups. It isn’t a difficult piece ofmathematics to calculate the failure rate. Numbers are onething, but the methods and incentives are ever changing,with clubs offering contracts to 9-year olds, that being theyoungest age at which a club can obtain the family’scommitment, free replica kits to all, free entry to homegames, discount agreements with retailers, and so on.Stories abound of families being offered “bottomless” freeaccess to local taxi firms, and spending spree vouchers formothers.

At the forefront of the battle, predictably, are ManchesterCity. Spurred on by the oil billions, City have developed anacademy which sets a new standard for state-of-the-art;Google the aerial shots of the area behind the Etihad to seejust what the raised bar looks like. City though mayconceivably have another more intriguing incentive, havinglagged behind United in the home grown player stakes forsome considerable time, and there are some noteworthystatistics supporting this.

The last academy product to represent City in theManchester derby was Michael Johnson ten years ago; thelast one to score in one was Andy Hinchcliffe in 1989. Bycomparison Marcus Rashford scored on his derby debutlast season. Incredibly, the last time United had no homegrown player in their first team squad was 1939, and upuntil the arrival of the oil money, United dominated thelocal recruitment scene for generations. All the way from

FROM THE EDITOR

CHILD LABOURThere is a war developing in the Premier League. Away fromglare of the press and the pressure of results, there is a warbeing waged behind the scenes and away from the publiceye which is, whilst on the one hand “just” anotherconsequence of the enormous wealth in the game, trulyshocking on many levels. The competition – war is a betterword – to attract young players into the academies ofPremier league clubs has reached astonishing lengths, withthe bigger clubs continually devising new and moreenterprising ways to make their club more attractive thantheir competitors.

All of us who have been involved in youth football havewitnessed at some point the pain of heartless rejection, asthe academy manager who a few weeks ago filled a kid’shead with dreams, is now dismissing him as inadequatewith a callous wave of the hand, and no heart. Even in afootball backwater like Sussex we’ve seen it, so try toimagine the equivalent in London, or Manchester, whereinner city kids have their hearts broken before they’ve leftjunior school.

Stories are rife surrounding the lengths the larger clubs gotoo; each age group can have over 100 academy “players”,and up to nine age groups. It isn’t a difficult piece ofmathematics to calculate the failure rate. Numbers are onething, but the methods and incentives are ever changing,with clubs offering contracts to 9-year olds, that being theyoungest age at which a club can obtain the family’scommitment, free replica kits to all, free entry to homegames, discount agreements with retailers, and so on.Stories abound of families being offered “bottomless” freeaccess to local taxi firms, and spending spree vouchers formothers.

At the forefront of the battle, predictably, are ManchesterCity. Spurred on by the oil billions, City have developed anacademy which sets a new standard for state-of-the-art;Google the aerial shots of the area behind the Etihad to seejust what the raised bar looks like. City though mayconceivably have another more intriguing incentive, havinglagged behind United in the home grown player stakes forsome considerable time, and there are some noteworthystatistics supporting this.

The last academy product to represent City in theManchester derby was Michael Johnson ten years ago; thelast one to score in one was Andy Hinchcliffe in 1989. Bycomparison Marcus Rashford scored on his derby debutlast season. Incredibly, the last time United had no homegrown player in their first team squad was 1939, and upuntil the arrival of the oil money, United dominated thelocal recruitment scene for generations. All the way from

the Busby babes through at least until the class of ’92,United found and nurtured the cream of the local crop and,what’s more, mentored them through to the first team.

There are of course precious few academy productsanywhere near the star studded City first team squad thesedays, the acquisition of world stars being a different waraltogether. So just how many of the thousands ofyoungsters destined to pass through City’s academy willever pull on a first team shirt; or is that not the aim of theinvestment by City and others. If there is in fact not a singleambition to fill the first team with one’s own product, thenhow exactly do you measure the success of an academy, inthis modern, moneyed era? The answer to that is morethan a little shocking.

Amongst the junior feeder clubs in Manchester, there is ahierarchy, with, at the top, those clubs at which thePremier scouts are regular visitors, and who consequentlyattract the better players and the more ambitious parents.Whilst City and the others are not permitted to engage achild until age nine, they do of course tap the shoulders oflads and Dads, and fill their heads with dreams andpromises, sometimes at training sessions for 4-year olds.There is of course no way in the world that anyone couldgauge whether a 4-year old will make the grade, so, again,what is the ultimate aim here?

Perhaps City’s most noteworthy tactic is playing theeducation card. There exists in the leafy Cheshire suburbs aprivate school, St Bede’s, which sets parents back some£3,600 per term, but results show that it’s worth theexpense, with 42% of all GCSE exams resulting in A or A Stargrades. Every single player in City’s academy at the age ofeleven is now offered schooling at St Bede’s at the club’sexpense, and, moreover, they are funded and supported bythe club right through to GCSEs at 16, even if their footballtalent falls short and they are discarded by the club beforethen. This is all very laudable of course, the age old criticismbeing that teenagers were thrown out by clubs and hadnothing to fall back on in life, so it’s churlish to criticise,especially when many of these kids are from an underprivileged background. Yet it is clear that the colossalinvestment in the academy and its trappings is completelydisproportionate to the first team squad make up; with theability to sign players from across the globe, why invest somuch in youngsters who will never make it at all, let alonemake it with their own club?

The answer borders on sinister, and is certainly exploitative.I have used City as my example; I could just as easily haveresearched Chelsea, or Arsenal, or others, with similarresults, but I chose City because their real ambitions behindthe investment were revealed in a throwaway comment in

FROM THE EDITOR

their annual report, which stated that their youthrecruitment policy had “brought enormous success inraising brand profile” and had thus contributed to a boostin brand awareness and sales on a global scale. And so itseems that the real driver for this huge investment ismarketing, it’s brand awareness, it’s sales, it’s money. Winfavour, get liked, sell shirts. Even if in the process you stealthe dreams and break the hearts of thousands of kids.

RUNNING COMMENTARYIf you aren’t at a match on a Saturday afternoon, then of allthe other options available, being with Jeff Stelling and theboys is far and away the next best. The format hasremained unchanged for seasons now, for once a TVcompany has not tried to fix something that isn’t brokenand has let the winning formula continue, with the resultthat there can’t be a football fan in the land who doesn’tinstantly recognise and understand the fact filled screen.

I once interviewed the creator of Soccer Saturday, and wasfascinated to learn how it evolved from the originalembryonic idea. The concept of the original Director wassimple; in the early years of Sky, the “other” place to be ona Saturday, if you weren’t at a game, was with your earglued to Radio 5. The aim therefore was to prise thoseradio football fans away and plonk them in front of a TVscreen instead, and so Sky set about creating a visualreplica of the Radio 5 experience; the whole concept ofreporters at many games, the sound of the crowd in thebackground, instantaneous updates as the day’s dramaunfolded, are all, if you think about, exactly that – a visualre-creation of the fondly remembered radio programme.

Of course, appointing Stelling was a masterstroke, and theinterplay and camaraderie between the ex-pros in thestudio has evolved to become almost as big a part of theentertainment as the football itself and the programme hasbecome essential viewing for those of us, well, outside theground.

Of course some of the commentators are as irritating orclueless as Robbie Savage – step forward Paul Jewell – butfor the most part these Grade C footie folk are relegated tothe midweek equivalent and the big hitters cling on to theSaturday spot. In truth of course, one has to admit thateven shouting disagreement at a dunderhead like Jewellstill has an edification score for the viewer, even if we don’twant to admit it.

Away from Soccer Saturday though, TV football is still fartoo guilty of a crass delivery which seems to place the IQ ofthe average football fan somewhere lower than TonyCottee’s shoe size.

Will the BBC for instance ever realise that we’ve hadenough of “would you have let the defender get away withthat Alan?” type of questioning, let alone the smugnesswhich seems to be an essential quality to be allowed to sitat Lineker’s table.

My personal biggest rants though are reserved for thoseex-pros who sit alongside the main commentator,supposedly providing a tangibly real viewpoint on what’sreally going on down on the pitch. In reality, the platitudesof these so called summarisers are more often than notworthless, simply describing to us the thing we have all justseen for ourselves. Currently top of my irritation Leaguetable is the phrase “for me”, just listen out for how oftenyou hear it next time you watch a live game.

The insertion of those two words is designed to make usthink we are about to have bestowed upon us, a pearl ofwisdom from someone who really knows, but in reality isthe precursor for something blindingly obvious to us all. Forinstance, the summariser might be asked for his opinion onHarry Kane, and will respond “for me, John, he’s currentlyone of the top English strikers around”. Wow, thank you,Don Goodman, you’ve rocked my world. Or, in the courseof the slow motion replay of a through ball to a striker sixor seven yards offside, we will be treated to “for me, theref’s got that one right”. Oh really.

It reminds of a dinner I attended a few years ago, whereour guest speaker from the football world was PaulMortimer, formerly of Charlton and Palace. The dinnercoincided with the emergence of Theo Walcott, around thetime that Walcott was first being mooted as an Englandplayer despite still being in his teens, and Mortimer’s firstquestion from the floor was along the “just how good is he?”line.

Mortimer took a sagacious deep breath, paused for effectand delivered his Earth shattering report from inside thegame. “Well, my contacts tell me” he drooled, “he’s veryyoung and he’s very quick”. I went to the bar and listenedinstead to my London Pride, which was equally insightful ithas to be said.

Soccer Saturday though continues to stand above all of this,and manages to appeal to all football fans without everinsulting our intelligence even during its periods of blokeybanter. And, let’s face it, most of us would love to wake uptomorrow and find that we’d become Jeff Stelling.

The club was formed in 1947 and originallyplayed in the Littlehampton and DistrictLeague before joining several seasons laterthe West Sussex Football League.

The club moved up the divisions of theWest Sussex Football League divisions, andunder manager Dominic Di Paola, who hassince managed East Preston to the DivisionOne title, and more recently guided Hor-sham to the Ryman South this season, atthe end of the 2007–08 campaign after fin-ishing as Runners-up in the Premier Division,were promoted to Division Three of the Sus-sex County Football League.

Their first season in the Sussex County Foot-ball League saw them become championsof Division Three, and gain promotion toDivision two.

After finishing sixth at their first season inDivision two, manager Dominic Di Paolaleft to join Worthing United, and the clubappointed Darren Prior as his replacement.

After the departure of Di Paola the club fin-ished bottom of Division Two and were rele-gated back to Division Three.

The club have since remained in DivisionThree, which was renamed Division Two ofthe Southern Combination Football Leaguelast season.

IN OPPOSITION

worthless, simply describing to us the thing we have all just

the precursor for something blindingly obvious to us all. Forinstance, the summariser might be asked for his opinion on

coincided with the emergence of Theo Walcott, around the

question from the floor was along the “just how good is he?”

Soccer Saturday though continues to stand above all of this,

13 AUG ALFOLD H SCFL 2 84 GORDON KING 1 COOPER SAUNDERS BROOME

20 AUG FERRING H SCFL 2 75 GORDON KING COOPER LAWRENCE BROOME 2

27 AUG ROFFEY A SCFL 2 39 GORDON KING 1 COOPER SAUNDERS BROOME

29 AUG UPPER BEEDING A SCFL 2 55 GORDON KING 1 HOLMAN SAUNDERS BROOME

03 SEP SIDLESHAM A SCFL 2 35 GORDON KING FREEMAN SAUNDERS BROOME

10 SEP PORTSLADE ATHLETIC A INT CUP 1 21 LIMBERGER LAWRENCE HOLMAN CLIBBENS BROOME

17 SEP RUSTINGTON A SCFL 2 29 GORDON KING HOLMAN BROOME 1 LAWRENCE

24 SEP CLYMPING H SCFL 2 75 GORDON FREEMAN HOLMAN 1 SAUNDERS BROOME

01 OCT COWFOLD A SCFL 2 38 GORDON FREEMAN BROOME WRIGHT HOLMAN

08 OCT EASTBOURNE TOWN U21 H INT CUP 2 55 LIMBERGER KING 1 RUSE BROOMFIELD WRIGHT

15 OCT ROTTINGDEAN VILLAGE H SCFL 2 63 GORDON KING HOLMAN FREEMAN WRIGHT

22 OCT WORTHING TOWN LEISURE A SCFL 2 35 GORDON KING HOLMAN LAWRENCE WRIGHT

29 OCT LANCING UNITED H SCFL 2 59 GORDON KING 1 HOLMAN LAWRENCE WRIGHT

05 NOV ROFFEY H SCFL 2 58 GORDON KING FREEMAN WRIGHT TSAUNDERS

12 NOV BROADBRIDGE HTH RES H INT CUP 3 51 GORDON KING LAWRENCE 1 TSAUNDERS FREEMAN

19 NOV MONTPELIER VILLA A SCFL 2 25 GORDON KING HOLMAN LAWRENCE BROOME

26 NOV RUSTINGTON H SCFL 2 45 LIMBERGER FREEMAN HOLMAN 1 SAUNDERS TSAUNDERS

03 DEC ALFOLD A SCFL 2 31 GORDON WRIGHT LAWRENCE TSAUNDERS HOLMAN

10 DEC EASTBOURNE RANGERS H INT CUP 4 42 LIMBERGER WRIGHT 1 HOLMAN LAWRENCE TSAUNDERS

17 DEC CLYMPING A SCFL 2 16 LIMBERGER KING 1 RUSE SAUNDERS WRIGHT

26 DEC WESTFIELD H SCFL 2 82 LIMBERGER KING 2 RUSE SAUNDERS WRIGHT

02 JAN UPPER BEEDING H SCFL 2 58 LIMBERGER KING 1 FREEMAN SAUNDERS WRIGHT

07 JAN BOSHAM A SCFL 2 75 LIMBERGER KING 1 LEPPARD FREEMAN WRIGHT

28 JAN COWFOLD H INT CUP SF 45 LIMBERGER KING RUSE SAUNDERS TSAUNDERS

04 FEB WORTHING TOWN LEISURE H SCFL 2 41 LIMBERGER FREEMAN RUSE SAUNDERS TSAUNDERS

11 FEB LANCING UNITED A SCFL 2 28 LIMBERGER KING 1 LEPPARD FREEMAN BROOME

18 FEB BOSHAM A D2LC R2 60 GORDON KING 1 RUSE FREEMAN BROOME

25 FEB ROTTINGDEAN VILLAGE A SCFL 2 23 LIMBERGER KING TSAUNDERS BROOME FULLER

04 MAR FERRING A SCFL 2 18 LIMBERGER KING 1 RUSE BROOME WRIGHT

11 MAR BOSHAM H SCFL 2

18 MAR COWFOLD H SCFL 2

21 MAR SIDLESHAM N D2LC SF @ LOXWOOD FC

25 MAR MONTPELIER VILLA H SCFL 2

JBFC STATISTICS 2016-17

BROOME LAWRENCE FULLER 1 ANDERSON MILLROY 1 FRAMPTON 1 RAWLINS HOLMAN, CLIBBENS 1, LEPPARD 1

BROOME 2 SAUNDERS ANDERSON 1 FRAMPTON 1 RAWLINS 2 FULLER 4 MILLROY 7 CLIBBENS, SALES, J COOPER

BROOME LAWRENCE T SAUNDERS ANDERSON 2 MILLROY 1 FRAMPTON RAWLINS OVERTON, HOLMAN, CLIBBENS

BROOME LAWRENCE FULLER 1 ANDERSON MILLROY 2 FRAMPTON RAWLINS T SAUNDERS, CLIBBENS, COOPER

BROOME LAWRENCE HOLMAN MILLROY 1 FRAMPTON RAWLINS FULLER LEPPARD

BROOME FRAMPTON 1 ANDERSON 1 FREEMAN SAUNDERS 1 TSAUNDERS 1 FULLER LEPPARD, KING 1, GORDON

LAWRENCE FREEMAN SAUNDERS FRAMPTON TSAUNDERS 1 FULLER 1 LEPPARD 3 MILLROY 1, RAWLINS

BROOME LAWRENCE LEPPARD FRAMPTON WRIGHT TSAUNDERS 1 RAWLINS BASTIN, BROOMFIELD, SALES

HOLMAN ANDERSON FRAMPTON LEPPARD RAWLINS SAUNDERS 1 TSAUNDERS KING, FULLER

WRIGHT HOLMAN FULLER FREEMAN MILLROY 1 TSAUNDERS RAWLINS BASTIN, ALEXANDER, THOMAS 1

WRIGHT LAWRENCE FULLER FRAMPTON TSAUNDERS 1 ANDERSON RAWLINS BROOM, RUSE 1, THOMAS 1

WRIGHT FREEMAN BROOME ANDERSON 1 TSAUNDERS FULLER 2 RAWLINS RUSE, THOMAS, LEPPARD

WRIGHT ANDERSON FREEMAN LEPPARD FULLER 1 TSAUNDERS BROOME MILLROY, FRAMPTON, THOMAS

TSAUNDERS ANDERSON 1 BROOME FRAMPTON FULLER RUSE 2 MILLROY 1 RAWLINS, CLIBBENS, THOMAS

FREEMAN ANDERSON FRAMPTON 1 MILLROY BROOME RUSE RAWLINS BROOMFIELD, HOLMAN, THOMAS

BROOME ANDERSON FRAMPTON SAUNDERS THOMAS 1 RUSE RAWLINS FREEMAN, FULLER

TSAUNDERS LAWRENCE KING ANDERSON THOMAS BROOME FRAMPTON 1 FULLER, WRIGHT, GORDON

HOLMAN SAUNDERS ANDERSON 1 FRAMPTON 1 MILLROY 1 RUSE KING 1 FULLER 1, THOMAS, RAWLINS

TSAUNDERS SAUNDERS ANDERSON FRAMPTON MILLROY RAWLINS 1 KING 1 BROOME, FULLER, THOMAS 1

WRIGHT LAWRENCE 1 FULLER 1 ANDERSON MILLROY 1 FRAMPTON RAWLINS 1 THOMAS, HOLMAN

WRIGHT LAWRENCE FRAMPTON 1 TSAUNDERS FULLER 1 MILLROY ANDERSON FREEMAN, BROOME, RAWLINS

WRIGHT LAWRENCE FRAMPTON 1 TSAUNDERS FULLER MILLROY 1 BROOME HOLMAN, RAWLINS, THOMAS

WRIGHT LAWRENCE 1 BROOME TSAUNDERS 1 FULLER 1 MILLROY ANDERSON RAWLINS, HOLMAN

TSAUNDERS LAWRENCE FULLER ANDERSON 1 LEPPARD MILLROY FREEMAN HOLMAN, RAWLINS, THOMAS

TSAUNDERS LAWRENCE ANDERSON FULLER LEPPARD MILLROY 1 BROOMFIELD 1 FRAMPTON 1, BROOME, RAWLINS

BROOME LAWRENCE SAUNDERS FULLER 1 FRAMPTON ANDERSON THOMAS GORDON

BROOME LAWRENCE FRAMPTON FULLER LEPPARD 2 MILLROY 1 ANDERSON SAUNDERS

FULLER WRIGHT FREEMAN SAUNDERS FRAMPTON MILLROY 1 LEPPARD ANDERSON, HOLMAN

WRIGHT FRAMPTON SAUNDERS FREEMAN 1 LEPPARD 4 MILLROY 2 FULLER 2 HOLMAN 1, GORDON

Shoreham missed the chance to go four pointsclear at the top of the Macron Store Southern Com-bination Premier Division table after being held toa draw by Eastbourne Town.

With only five fixtures scheduled in the top division,the Mussels lead Haywards Heath Town by twopoints with a game in hand having drawn 2-2 withthe Saffrons side.

After a goalless first half, Evan Archibald gave JohnLambert’s side the lead at Middle Road. However,the hosts scored twice in seven minutes to go infront, with Joe Dryer and then Rob O’Toole on tar-get. Despite that, Aaron Capon put Town back onlevel terms moments later to earn his side a shareof the spoils.

Chichester City are five points behind Shoreham inthird spot after coming from behind twice beforeeventually seeing off Hassocks at Oaklands Park.

Michael Death and then James Westlake were ontarget either side of Scott Jones’ effort to give theRobins the lead on two occasions, but only for Kei-ran Hartley, Dan Watts and then Jones to all scoreand give Miles Rutherford’s men a 4-2 win.

Broadbridge Heath recovered from back-to-backdefeats to win at Arundel. Harry Russell had putsecond-bottom Arundel ahead, only for a bracefrom Jake Holmes to give the Bears a 2-1 win – awin that moves them up to sixth spot.

Wick have fallen into the bottom three as a resultof their defeat at Loxwood and Worthing Unitedwinning at Hailsham Town.

Dan Simmonds had cancelled out Max Bickell’sopener to see Lee Baldwin’s side level at the breakat Plaistow Road, only for Ollie Gill, Byron Napperand then Charlie Pitcher to score in the second halfand give Loxwood a convincing 4-1 win.

At the Beaconsfield, Simon Funnell’s men movedout of the bottom three after a 3-0 win at bottomof the table Hailsham.

Tadley Bromage, Alfie Gritt and then Paul Elliottwere on target for the Mavericks for a much-need-ed win against Dave Shearing’s side, who stay onfour points.

In Division One, it’s as you were at the top end ofthe table after the top six all won.

Saltdean United stay a point clear of East Prestonafter coming from behind to win at Billingshurst.Paul White had given the hosts a 12th-minute leadat Jubilee Fields, only for Danny Turner, Andy Mc-Dowell and new signing Ryan Warwick to score forDamian Freeman’s men in a 3-1 win.

East Preston kept the pressure on the Tigers aftercruising to a 5-0 win against bottom of the tableRingmer. Joshua Etherington scored twice in thesecond half for EP, after Jacob Parazo and Ryan Hal-lett goals had put the hosts on course for victory.Connor Bull then completed the scoring in stop-page time for Bob Paine’s men.

Little Common are hot on the heels of the top twohaving thrashed Langney Wanderers, 7-1, at theRec. Wes Tate scored a hat-trick for Russell El-dridge’s side, with Jamie Crone scoring twice. Tho-mas Climpson had given Common the lead, withLewis Hole completing the scoring for the hosts.Paul Weatherby was on target for Andy Good-child’s side in the second period, but it was nothingmore than a consolation.

After three defeats in a row in all competitions,Steyning Town returned to winning ways at AFCVarndeanians. Ross Adams scored twice in the firsteleven minutes to put the visitors in the drivingseat, only for Ahmed Shaker to half the deficit be-fore the break. However, Charlie Romain restoredthe two goal lead for Gerry Murphy’s side in thesecond half to give them a 3-1 win.

Michael Gould and Joseph Benn both scored twicefor Mile Oak as they came from a goal down to winat home to Oakwood. Jordan Mace had given MarkGilbert’s side the lead in the first half, only for Oakto bounce back to win all three points and stay lev-el on points with Little Common in third.

SCFL ROUND-UP

Seaford Town move above Oakwood to 13th afterproducing a great comeback to win at St. FrancisRangers. Simon Boddie’s side looked on course forthree points after goals from Stephano Guagliomeand Stuart Goodwin had put them two goals to thegood with just eighteen minutes to go. However,the double change of Casey Ham and Joey Poutproved influential for the visitors, with Pout scor-ing his second goal of the game to equalise twominutes from time before the midfielder headedhome a winner in stoppage time for Scott Osborn’sside.

The ever-green Gary Norgate stunned Bexhill Unit-ed as Midhurst & Easebourne ran out impressive4-2 winners against the Pirates at Rotherfield. Nor-gate scored a second half hat-trick, with LewisHamilton also on target for the Stags, who camefrom 2-0 down after Gordon Cuddington and Con-nor Robertson efforts looked to had put RyanLight’s side on course for victory.

Elsewhere, Joe Manners and Bradley Dean goalsgave Selsey a 2-0 win at home to Southwick,whilst Lingfield stay in sixth spot despite winningat Storrington. George Gomez got the only goal ofthe game just before the hour at Storrington Recto give managerless Lingfield a 1-0 win.

With Bosham and Sidlesham in Intermediate Cupaction, Jarvis Brook missed the opportunity toclose the gap on the table-topping Robins after los-ing at fourth-place Lancing United in Division Two.Neil Munday, Mark O’Regan and Josie Stakim wereall on target in the second half for the hosts, whowon 3-2 at the Croshaw Ground.

Upper Beeding move up to fifth after an emphaticwin against bottom of the table Ferring. HarrySmith scored six of his side’s 17 goals at the Glebe-lands, which included a hat-trick in the first eightminutes. Adam Skinner, Tim Tapscott, Jack Whit-tington and Dan Clayton all scored twice, with fur-ther goals from Kieron Stevens, Nathaniel Rowlandand substitute Ian Bond for the visitors.

Montpelier Villa move above Rustington in the ta-ble after beating the Blues at Sussex University.Eddie Noel, Tod Brennan, Simon Whitney, BenThasarathar and an own goal gave the hosts a big5-2 win.

In the division’s other game, Steve Kirkham scoredtwice to help Worthing Town Leisure win 4-0against Rottingdean Village. Lloyd Carter and Char-lie Gay were also on target for the hosts at Palen-tine Park.

Saturday 11 February 2017

CLUBS are getting twitchy, and not just because we’rehurtling towards the business end of the season.

The Football Association are dusting down their clipboardsand in little over a month their pencils will be freshlysharpened ready for some good old-fashioned box ticking.It’s almost ground grading time and the suits, they area’comin. Roll out the red carpet? No amount of tea andbiscuits on arrival is going to save you if your to-do list isn’tcomplete. It’s a place where if your square footage isn’tquite right, or you haven’t got that third turnstile that youwill need to use just in case you get a big cup draw one day,then your world can blow up in front of you.

This time of year always frustrates me. We’re forever told ifclubs throw money around on players then there’s a blackmark against their names as they play Russian Roulettewith their futures. But the FA demanding they write acheque to attach 100 more seats to a stand which at besthas been a third full in the past seven months? That, theysay, is pure necessity. Some clubs are having to make bigdecisions. North Ferriby United have done well to keepthemselves within sight of safety in their first season inNon-League’s top division.

MERIT

But even if they pull off a great escape, it could be fornothing. Ferriby need to do a lot of work on Grange Lane tosecure a second season in the league, if they do stay up onmerit. Now the club, who average just 574 people throughtheir gates each week, must roll the dice. Do they get thework done by March 31, paying out well over £60,000, andhope the team survive? Problem is, the ground must be upto scratch before they know what’s happening. Do they runthe risk, get things sorted and hope for the best? Whatkind of a message does it send out to their excellentmanager Steve Housham and his young squad if they say

it’s not worth the money on the off chance they avoidrelegation. If Ferriby do go down, they won’t return forquite a while. That work would have been a total waste ofmoney.

Poole Town fans don’t know if they are going to bewatching their team in the National League, NationalLeague South or the Southern Premier next season.Some will argue that if they are happy to spend money onplayers then they should on their ground too, but it’simportant to remember not every club can boast asupportive council.

GUARANTEE

Then there’s other issues. In the Combined CountiesLeague, Hartley Wintney are running away with it. They didthe same last year, but couldn’t go up because theirground wasn’t up to the sky-high levels of the SouthernLeague South & West…. despite hosting Hereford’s manyhundreds in a vital FA Vase tie.

Guess what? They are walking the league again. And youguessed it, there is no guarantee that their ground will passthe inspection this time either. It ruins things for everyone.The players who have earned two promotions, the coacheswho work hard to get them up and want to progressthemselves, and also the other clubs in the CCL who knowthey’ll probably storm the league next year again.

You can’t tell me that there are many genuine safety issuesinvolving the clubs under the microscope. This is Non-League football, so let’s stop overblowing the situation.

The FA need to relax their ground grading standards andre-write their list of demands.

By Anthony Scott

We have been advised by the Sussex County FA that it is an offence for any spectator to enter thefield of play at any time. Failure to comply may have serious consequences.

This restriction applies one hour prior to kick off, whilst the match is in progress, the half timeinterval and for one hour after the game’s conclusion.

Only players, match officials, management, team mascots and ground staff are allowed to enter thefield of play during these times.

GROUND GRADING NON-LEAGUE PAPER

FOR YOUR INFO

THE LEAGUE is ‘bread and butter’ for most clubs, or sothey’ll have you believe, but there’s not much better thana good cup run for management, players and fans alike.If you’re reading this on Saturday, we’ve got a fantastictrio of FA Competitions to look forward to today with theFA Cup, FA Trophy and FA Vase all being contested.

Of course, the FA Cup is the most prestigious. It is knownaround the world and creates such fantastic momentsyou rarely see in any other competition, or any othersport for that matter.

Now the dust has settled and the sour mouth has beenfinally removed from our mouths following THAT pieincident, we can finally concentrate back on the football.There have been two world wars since the last time aNon-League side played in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

While Arsenal will go into the game as huge favourites,and a Lincoln win would be one of the biggest upsets infootball history, you simply can’t count out the Imps andtheir fantastic boss Danny Cowley.The fact that Lincoln have also managed to hold on to topspot in the National League, as well as make it into the FATrophy semis, is quite remarkable.

Cowley’s men were supposed to be playing their Trophysemi-final first leg at York City on Saturday - I think wecan forgive the schedulers for not assuming a Non-Leagueside would make it into the FA Cup’s last eight!The winner of Macclesfield and Dulwich Hamlet’s replay,which was played on Tuesday, will take on Tranmere as180 minutes separates four clubs from Wembley.

While the Trophy might not be the number one priorityfor some Non-League clubs, especially promotion chasing

League, Hartley Wintney are running away with it. They did

guessed it, there is no guarantee that their ground will passthe inspection this time either. It ruins things for everyone.The players who have earned two promotions, the coaches

You can’t tell me that there are many genuine safety issues

GROUND GRADING NON-LEAGUE PAPERTHE LEAGUE is ‘bread and butter’ for most clubs, or sothey’ll have you believe, but there’s not much better thana good cup run for management, players and fans alike.If you’re reading this on Saturday, we’ve got a fantastictrio of FA Competitions to look forward to today with theFA Cup, FA Trophy and FA Vase all being contested.

Of course, the FA Cup is the most prestigious. It is knownaround the world and creates such fantastic momentsyou rarely see in any other competition, or any othersport for that matter.

Now the dust has settled and the sour mouth has beenfinally removed from our mouths following THAT pieincident, we can finally concentrate back on the football.There have been two world wars since the last time aNon-League side played in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

While Arsenal will go into the game as huge favourites,and a Lincoln win would be one of the biggest upsets infootball history, you simply can’t count out the Imps andtheir fantastic boss Danny Cowley.The fact that Lincoln have also managed to hold on to topspot in the National League, as well as make it into the FATrophy semis, is quite remarkable.

Cowley’s men were supposed to be playing their Trophysemi-final first leg at York City on Saturday - I think wecan forgive the schedulers for not assuming a Non-Leagueside would make it into the FA Cup’s last eight!The winner of Macclesfield and Dulwich Hamlet’s replay,which was played on Tuesday, will take on Tranmere as180 minutes separates four clubs from Wembley.

While the Trophy might not be the number one priorityfor some Non-League clubs, especially promotion chasing

Lincoln, Tranmere and Macclesfield, no football fan willturn their nose up at a trip to the national stadium!

We’re also at the semi-final stage in the Vase - acompetition very close to my heart and one I followextremely closely from the get go. It wouldn’t be the Vaseif there wasn’t a North East representative late in thecompetition and in South Shields, they have the favourite.

The Mariners squad is full of experience from the very topof the Non-League Pyramid and in Julio Arca, they have aformer Premier League ace up their sleeves.They’ll have to get past Coleshill Town if they want torepresent the Northern League at Wembley.The Warwickshire minnows won’t be fancied by many butin great form themselves, the Colemen could cause someproblems - just like Morpeth did for Hereford in lastseason’s brilliant final.

Fellow Midland League side Bromsgrove Sporting aresecond favourites despite being the only Step 6 clubremaining. Over 3,000 are expected for their home legwith Cleethorpes Town and that crowd could be pivotal.

Rouslers boss Paul Smith has certainly done hishomework this season, travelling hundreds of miles to getthe lowdown on each of his club’s opponents this season.

Cleethorpes, Northern Counties East League leaders, havelost only twice in the league this term so it really could goeither way.

Good luck to all clubs left in the FA competitions, The NLPwill see you at Wembley on Sunday, May 21, for the Non-League Finals Day!

SATURDAY 4 MARCH 2017BOSHAM 4-1 ALFOLD

FERRING 2-11MONTPELIER VILLA 1-1 ROFFEY

ROTTINGDEAN VILLAGE 0-1 CLYMPINGRUSTINGTON 1-0 LANCING UNITED

WESTFIELD 1-3 SIDLESHAMWORTHING TOWN LEISURE 0-3 COWFOLD

SATURDAY 11 MARCH 2017COWFOLD v LANCING UNITED

FERRING v ROFFEY v BOSHAM

MONTPELIER VILLA v SIDLESHAMROTTINGDEAN VILLAGE v ALFOLD

UPPER BEEDING v WESTFIELD

TUESDAY 14 MARCH 2017 | DIVISION TWO LEAGUE CUP SEMI-FINALLANCING UNITED v WESTFIELD @ HANBURY PARK, HAYWARDS HEATH

SCFL DIVISION TWOP W D L F A GD PTS

1 BOSHAM 22 19 2 1 93 18 75 5923 SIDLESHAM 21 16 2 3 74 21 53 504 LANCING UNITED 22 14 3 5 69 32 37 455 WESTFIELD 23 12 4 7 69 38 31 406 UPPER BEEDING 22 11 6 5 73 26 47 397 MONTPELIER VILLA 22 8 5 9 61 40 21 298 RUSTINGTON 26 8 5 13 38 53 -15 299 ROFFEY 17 7 7 3 56 27 29 28

10 CLYMPING 26 7 5 14 58 71 -13 2611 COWFOLD 18 7 3 8 59 33 26 2412 ROTTINGDEAN VILLAGE 23 7 3 13 46 66 -20 2413 WORTHING TOWN LEISURE 24 7 2 15 55 60 -5 2314 ALFOLD 24 5 1 18 45 91 -46 1615 FERRING 27 0 0 27 14 293 -279 0

ManagerRob Gordon

ManagerAndy Probee

PROGRAMME DESIGNED BY 442 DESIGNS - antscott7@hotmail.co.uk

RUSSELL ANDERSON

ROSS FRAMPTON

SAM SAUNDERS

JOSH RAWLINS

JORDAN BROOME

RICHARD CLIBBENS

DANIEL LAWRENCE

BILLY RUSE

REECE COOPER

KIERAN THOMAS

BEN FREEMAN

LUKE LEPPARD

NATHAN MILLROY

MICHAEL FULLER

JAKE BROOMFIELD

BEN LIMBERGER

TEAM SHEET

DARRYL KING

ROB GORDON

Match OfficialsReferee: NICHOLAS BAKER

DANIEL WRIGHT

TOMMY OVERTON

GEORGE HOLMAN

TOM SAUNDERS

JAY COOPER

MAX KINAHAN

BRADLEY MILES

JAMES WILSON

LOUIS BELL

NEIL REDMAN

CALLUM FEWELL

MATT DOCHERTY

JAMES COLINESE

ANDY PROBEE

MARCO GIAMBELARDINI

ALEX BARNES

JAKE LAFFERTY

GRAEME DOWDEN

CHARLIE COOPER

PAT BULBECK

SAM JOYCE