Seaford Town FC - Record-Breaking Day In The FA Cup!

Another football season has rolled around!

The summer break is over, and football clubs and supporters up and down the country are eagerly awaiting their football fix as the beautiful game returns with hopes and dreams for the new campaign, and the anticipation of excitement and the unknown.

It was quite apt that my first game of the 25/26 season would be the FA Cup extra preliminary round, as my last was the FA Cup final back in May, watching Palace lift the trophy of the oldest club football competition in the world!

My choice of destination was quite an easy one after learning that Seaford Town football club would be playing in the FA Cup for the first time in 114 years, which is a record for the longest time away from the tournament, with 104 campaigns in between.

After doing a bit of research on the East Sussex club, I became aware that they are a club run completely by volunteers and have a vast network of youth teams of boys and girls, and pan-disability sides as well as walking football and vets teams, and appeared to be a big part of the community.

So it was time to dust off my camera and get on the road for my first Proper Football awayday of the season and see what Seaford Town Football Club were all about!

First impressions are always important and I wasn't disappointed! the welcome on the gate was super friendly and after paying £7 to get in I asked a steward to point me in the direction of Seaford Town Chairwoman, Sarah Scott, he went above and beyond to track her down for me on what was clearly a very busy day for all involved and Sarah kindly gave up her time to talk to me.

The ground, which is called The Crouch, has a stunning backdrop of the rolling hills and cliff tops along the East Sussex coast, and the pitch itself has a visible slope from right to left that evokes memories of Yeovil Town's old Huish ground and adds a sense of charm and uniqueness to the club.

The Crouch recreation ground is believed to have a capacity of about 1,000 and their record attendance was 931 in the 2023/24 season, their is one seated stand on one side of the pitch between the dugouts and a very modern looking bar and clubhouse which has a covered decking area outside which over looks the pitch along with a place to buy food and refreshments, I still cant get the song out of my head that was playing when the players came out, that was a catchy punk tune about Seaford Town!

Before kick off I had the pleasure to talk to one of the many youth coaches at the club who gave me a great insight into what Seaford Town Football Club is all about and how they play a vital role in the community,

The players were now going through their final warmup routines before heading back into the changing rooms ahead of the match and Seaford Town player and club accountant! James Kendall kindly stopped and had a quick chat with me to tell me about the club and what a momentous occasion it was for the players to play in the FA Cup.

There was a fantastic crowd of 554 on the day, and it was great to see a queue of people filtering through the main gate, young, old, families and groups of mates and of course, a great assortment of non-league dogs!

The bar, which had a good choice of beverages and the kitchen area, which sold delicious burgers, were buzzing, and even though you had to queue, you were served very quickly by the volunteers who were clearly pulling out all the stops to make everyone happy and offer a great service!

It was great to see a programme on sale which you could purchase from the merchandise stall outside the bar and I took the opportunity to have a quick chat with Sharon and Ann, two of the many friendly volunteers on the day.

First-half

The first half was very much dominated by the away side, Sutton Athletic, who controlled the game and looked like the only team who was going to break the deadlock, but full credit to Seaford Town, who defended resolutely and kept the score level going into the break.

At half time, I spoke to a Sutton Athletic supporter to get his take on the first 45 minutes, he actually turned out to be the owner of the South East London club!

Second-half

The start of the second period carried on in the same vein as the first, with Sutton on the front foot and creating chances, but they still couldn't break the deadlock and the home team's resilience and never-say-die attitude were abundantly clear!

With the clock running down, you could sense Seaford gaining a bit more confidence, and in the 84th minute, Tyler Capon was bundled over in the box, which resulted in a penalty and a red card for the Sutton defender!

Tyler then took the ball and slotted home the penalty to the keeper's left and scored the first ever FA Cup goal in Seaford Town's history! And what proved to be the winner!

The scenes at the full-time whistle as the players and staff came off the pitch were a joy to witness, the togetherness of everyone at the club really shone through, with the team embracing Sarah, the Chairlady and Jon Holmes, the volunteer coordinator, celebrating a famous victory for the club!

I caught up with Sarah once again after the game had finished and asked her what it meant for the club.

Finally, I just want to say a big thank you to everyone at Seaford Town Football Club for making us feel so welcome, and it was an honour to be a witness to one of what we hope will be many more historic days for the club going forward.

Seaford Town are a credit to not just non-league football but football as a whole, and the Town of Seaford are blessed to have such a wonderful group of people doing so much good for the local community.

Best of luck for the rest of the season and may your FA Cup run continue when you take on AFC Whyteleafe in the next round on August 16th at The Crouch!