VS AFC WHYTELEAFE
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE | SOUTH EAST DIVISION SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2025 | KICK OFF 3.03PM
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FC
The Vistavis Community Stadium College Lane | East Grinstead | RH19 3LS
Tel: 01342 325885
BUZZ FROM THE NEST
Good afternoon and welcome to the players, officials and supporters who have travelled down the A22. In our last home game, and for 45 minutes at Margate, there were some small signs of improvement. Grant and Andy are working hard to bring in the calibre of player we will need if we are to climb the table, and it could be another few games before everything settles down, the team doesn't change much and we can turn the corner. Certainly no one at the club is giving up on the season!
For inspiration think back just a year when we were struggling near the bottom and welcomed a Ramsgate team who had won 14 of their first 15 games (drawing the other). We won 2-1arguably our best result as a Step 4 club. So it can be done!
OWNERSHIP STATEMENT
In accordance with the Football Association's Rule 2.13 (publication of ownership) in relation to Step 1 to Step 6 Clubs within the National League System East Grinstead Town FC is an unincorporated association / members club and a Community Amateur Sports Club (reg no CASC 02270).
Followuson:
FROM THE Dugout
WE'RE WORKING HARD TO BRING IN BETTER PLAYERS
On behalf of everyone at East Grinstead Town, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to you all for today's game against AFC Whyteleafe. We also extend greetings to the players, staff, and fans of Whyteleafe who have made the journey to join us at the Vistavis Community Stadium.
Results have been hard, but we have seen improvements on the pitch. We are all working very hard to bring in a higher standard of player who will improve the results and also add something to the changing room.
Next week, you will see some new faces through the door, and they will 100% improve us and help get points on the board. Your support has been great, and we thank you for that. We will turn things around. As always, we need the fans' support to get behind the team. Some new additions to the squad and some who have played for the club, so they need little introduction. Steve Smith rejoins from Crowborough, Dan Thompson rejoins from AFC Croydon, having played in the National League, and Ridwan Euba joins us from Marlow, having previously played for Three Bridges. We all welcome them to the Wasps' nest.
Joe Stone is nearing his return from injury, and Tommy Seale picked up a knock at Margate last Saturday and is a doubt for today's game. Callum Donaghy has left the club after a short spell with us. We wish him all the best at his next club.
Let's support the team today and make it a memorable match. Your support has been tremendous, and great support always energises the players. Together, we can push for the result we need. Enjoy the match!
Grant&Andy
AFC WHYTELEAFE TheAwayEnd
A BIT ABOUT THE LEAFE
AFC Whyteleafe was formed in 2021 by Kelly Waters, replacing another club, Whyteleafe FC, which had existed immediately before. Waters had hoped to purchase the Church Road premises before it was sold to Irama Sports in February 2021, but he discovered the auction a week too late, and the sale to Irama went through. Following the withdrawal of Whyteleafe FC from the Isthmian League, and inspired by the story of AFC Wimbledon in 2002, AFC Whyteleafe was born.
The new club was granted a position in the Surrey South Eastern Combination League for the 2021/22 season, having formed a merger of registration with the Balham B team. This still left the club with less than one month to build a squad from scratch, ready for their debut match on 4 September 2021 at home to Earlsfield.
A crucial part of the successful formation of the club was securing a ground. Church Road was the preferred choice, and a four-year deal was reached with Irama to play there.
Following a successful first season, AFC Whyteleafe merged with Whyteleafe Youth FC and Whyteleafe Women ahead of the 2022/23 season to form one AFC Whyteleafe club comprising a men's first team, U23s, women's team, and 30 Youth teams from U7 to U18.
In May 2022, the club was admitted into the Southern Counties East League Division One, which sits at Step 6 in the National League System. The club achieved a respectable eighth-place finish in its debut season at Step 6. The following season, Whyteleafe was promoted as champions. In the following season, 2024/25, Whyteleafe won the Combined Counties South league, gaining promotion to Step 4 in the Isthmian South East league and making a historic appearance in the FA Vase Final at Wembley, where they narrowly lost 2-1 in extra time to Whitstable Town.
STANDINGS LEAGUE
FIXTURES & RESULTS
AUGUST
Sat 2 AugHEastbourne UnitedFA Cup EP1-4195Rawlins
Sat 9 AugAWhyteleafeIsthmian South East0-5321
Tues 12 AugHThree BridgesIsthmian South East1-4190Daniel
Sat 23 AugASittingbourneIsthmian South East1-2262Rawlins
Mon 25 AugHSevenoaks TownIsthmian South East0-2219
Sat 30 AugHEastbourne TownIsthmian South East1-2192Rawlins
SEPTEMBER
Sat 6 SepHBinfieldFA Trophy 1st Q3-3 (4-2142Wooster, Saniel, Laws
Sat 13 SepHHassocksIsthmian South East0-3134
Sat 20 SepHVCD AthleticFA Trophy 1st rd1-2133Rawlins
Sat 27 SepAHassocksIsthmian South East1-0302Daniel
Tue 30 SepABroadbridge HeathVelocity Trophy2-491Folkes, Rawlins OCTOBER
Sat 4 OctABeckenham TownIsthmian South East0-4218
Tue 7 OctHHaywards Heath TownSussex Senior Cup 20-5135
Sat 11 OctHCrowborough AthleticIsthmian South East3-4241
Sat 18 OctHAshford UnitedIsthmian South East0-6181
Tue 21 OctAFavershamIsthmian South East1-2401Nouble
Sat 25 OctASheppey UnitedIsthmian South East0-2335
Tue 28 OctHDeal TownIsthmian South East1-2147Faber
NOVEMBER
Sat Nov 1HHastings UnitedIsthmian South East1-4195Pamment
Tue Nov 4ABroadbridge HeathIsthmian South East0-5102
Sat Nov 8AVCD AthleticIsthmian South East0-374
Tue 11 NovAThree BridgesIsthmian South East0-5189
Sat Nov 15HMersthamIsthmian South East2-4241Own goal, Folkes
Sat Nov 22AMargateIsthmian South East1-5352Lawson
Sat 29 NovHAFC WhyteleafeIsthmian South East3pm DECEMBER
Sat 6 DecAAFC Croydon AthleticIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 13 DecHHerne BayIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 20 DecAEastbourne TownIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 27 DecHJersey BullsIsthmian South East3pm JANUARY
Sat 3 JanASevenoaks TownIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 10 JanHErith TownIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 17 JanHBroadbridge HeathIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 24 JanACrowborough AthleticIsthmian South East3pm FEBRUARY
Sat 7 FebADeal TownIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 14 FebAAshford UnitedIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 21 FebHSheppey UnitedIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 28 FebAHastings UnitedIsthmian South East3pm MARCH
Sat 7 MarHVCD AthleticIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 14 MarAHerne BayIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 21 MarHAFC Croydon AthleticIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 28 MarAErith TownIsthmian South East3pm APRIL
Sat 4 AprHSittingbourneIsthmian South East3pm
Mon 6 AprAJersey BullsIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 11 AprHFavershamIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 18 AprAMersthamIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 25 AprHMargateIsthmian South East3pm
TEAM LINE UP
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C.
Daniel O'Donovan
Tommy Seale
Olubiyi Shobowale
Dan Thompson
Arron Hopkinson
Curtis Gayler (C)
Scott Faber
Dan Perry
Kieron Pamment
Camron Lawson
Steve Smith
Tariq Richards
Omar Folkes
Jhon Murillo-Castillo
Leo Vowles
Mohamed Wahaleye
WHYTELEAFE
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN HISTORY
PROGRAMMES FROM THE PAST BY LESTER MEDCALF
We’ll have a look at a couple of programmes for matches we played in the past at the end of November. First up is East Grinstead v Southwick on Saturday 29 November 1997 in division 2 of the Sussex County League.
Chairman Paul O’Donnell starts his notes by telling us that he has just accepted the resignation of our first team manager Kevin Moyes. Kevin had recently moved jobs to Farnborough and not surprisingly he was finding it difficult to do everything that a team manager needs to do. He had been our manager for about six months and had brought a number of good players to the club.
Bruce Talbot in his “Talk of the Town” notes welcomes our visitors and reminds us that we had already played them twice earlier in the season - in the Sussex Floodlight Cup (not a competition that takes place anymore). Southwick had beaten us twice - 1-0 in our away match and 2-0 here at East Court.
Bruce also talks about Kevin Moyes and his time at the club, but more importantly perhaps he tells us that we need to look out for three events that are coming. Firstly, tickets were now on sale for our Grand Christmas Raffle, secondly our next popular Quiz Night in the clubhouse would take place in January, and thirdly we should keep a date in February free - though he didn’t say why we should! We have three match reports from recent games, though we only managed to get one point from the three. That single point did in fact come from a 1-1 draw away to the league leaders East Preston. Steve Banks had scored our goal.
Back to the game v Southwick. The league table shows us in fifth place with Southwick one place above us. Lots of goals saw us 2-0 up (an own goal plus a goal from Mark Archard together with a saved penalty by our keeper Kevin Page) at half time. Southwick came back in the second half to draw level before Steve Banks put us back in front at 3-2. However, Southwick weren’t finished and they scored twice more to go home with a 4-3 win.
LEADERS TOO GOOD
Next up we’ll have a look at the programme for East Grinstead v East Preston on Saturday 30 November 2013 in the County League’s top division.
Much is made of our league game on the previous Tuesday evening away to Crowborough. If you were six or seven minutes late in arriving you would have missed Crowborough’s opening two goals. We gradually got back into the game and just before half-time we had a penalty which Matt Geard smashed home. Halfway through the second half we had another penalty (for which a Crowborough player was sent off) and Matt Geard was successful again. And shortly after Matt Geard completed his hat-trick (though not a penalty this time!). There was still time for Crowborough to have another player being shown a red card and the match ended with us winning 3-2.
The Crowborough win was our sixth league win in our last seven league matches - though we had lost five cup matches in the middle of that league run.
Let’s get back to the East Preston game. The programme’s league table shows us in fifth place while our visitors were top by some margin - and were unbeaten so far. They included one player who had played successfully for us - Liam Baitup. Richard Tramontin hoped that he had left his boots at home. But East Preston were too good for us and won 3-0. I don’t know if Liam Baitup did play or, if he did play, whether or not he scored.
EAST
GRINSTEAD TOWN 2, MERSTHAM 4
There was no lack of fighting spirit against Merstham, where we got it back to 3-2 before conceding again in injury time. Photos: Stuart Gibson.
MATCH ACTION
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