Chairman
Tom Merrit-Smith
Vice-Chairman
Barry McMahon
Club/Matchday
Secretary
Donna Laycock
Assistant Secretary
Gavin Laycock
Treasurer
Barry McMahon
Groundsman
Bernie Penny Social Media
Libby Adey
Bar Manager
Heather Good Café Manager
Lucinda Davis
Photographer
Teresa Bright Manager
Tylan Borachan
Assistant Manager
Adam Brice Lead Coach
Ollie Maynard Physio
Lewis Sandy
Matchday Programme
JMA Programmes
Welcome to The Rotherfield
Good afternoon and a very warm welcome to The Rotherfield for today's SCFL fixture against Shoreham FC.
We would like to give our best wishes to the players, management, supporters and our Match Officials, we trust that you all enjoy your visit with us this afternoon and enjoy a good game of football..
Our Peter Bentley Cup game, we bowed out of the cup after a loss to Dorking Wanderers B, we managed a goal in the first half to put us in the lead but unfortunately Dorking came out stronger than us in the second half and got the deserved win, We look to bounce back today and we are in good positive form.
As always, the clubhouse bar will be open this afternoon, along with our kitchen so please enjoy a drink and refreshments. Having your support means a lot to us and the players, so let's get behind them and cheer them on to what we hope will be a great game.
Up the Stags!
Tylan Borachan
The club has 2 senior teams, and we currently have 7 youth teams. The First Team are currently members of the Southern Combination Football League and compete in Premier Division, whilst the Community Team play in the West Sussex League Division 2.
The club was established in 1946 by a merger of Midhurst, whose ground had been used to build a school on, and Easebourne, who had lost several officials and players during the World War II. They joined the West Sussex League and went on to win the title in 1955–56, 1962–63 and 1964–65, as well as the Malcolm Simmonds Memorial Cup in 1959–60. After the top division was renamed the Premier Division, the club won the league again in 1967–68, the Bareham Cup in 1970–71 and the Malcolm Simmonds Memorial Cup in 1973–74. They won the Premier Division and Malcolm Simmonds Memorial Cup double in 1976–77 and retained the cup the following season, before winning another league and cup double in 1979–80. Although an application to join the Sussex County League was rejected in 1980, they were accepted into the league the following year, becoming members of Division Two. In their first season in Division Two, Midhurst & Easebourne were runners-up, earning promotion to Division One. The club finished bottom of Division One in 1986–87 and were relegated back to Division Two. They won the Division Two Cup in 1988–89, beating Newhaven 5–3 on penalties in a replay. The club returned to Division One after finishing second in 1991–92 but were relegated back to Division Two at the end of the following season. A second successive relegation in 1993–94 saw them drop into Division Three. Although they won Division Three at the first attempt, the club were relegated back to the division at the end of the 1997–98 season.
In 1998–99 Midhurst & Easebourne finished bottom of Division Three and were relegated to the Premier Division of the West Sussex League. They were Premier Division champions and Centenary Cup winners in 2001–02 and were
promoted back to Division Three of the Sussex County League. The following season saw them win the Division Three title and the Division Three Cup, earning promotion to Division Two. Although they finished bottom of Division Two in 2009–10, the club avoided being relegated to Division Three. In 2015 the Sussex County League was renamed the Southern Combination, with Division Two becoming Division One. Midway through the 2018-19 season, the club found themselves bottom of Division One and appointed Liphook United Manager, Andrew 'Lemmy' Ewen as First Team Manager, who subsequently saved the club from relegation to Division Two. The 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons were both ended early and deemed null and void due to COVID-19, with the club sitting 6th and 4th in respective seasons.
The 2021-22 saw a return of success to the club. With the first team winning promotion to the premier division via the playoffs and winning the league cup. A real triumph for Lemmy and his team after having the two previous seasons curtailed when in strong positions. The reserve team also enjoyed success with a second-place finish, securing promotion to their respective premier division.
With that season's achievements, and subsequent promotion to step 5 football we found ourselves competing in the FA Cup for the first time in our history. 2022-23 was sure an exciting historical season for everyone involved in the club and town.
2025-2026 Started with us looking for a new Chairman and Team Manager as Mark Broughton and Lemmy Ewen stepped down from their roles, which leads us to now where we welcomed Tom Merritt –Smith as our new Chairman and Tylan Borachan as our First Team Manager and we did a rebrand for our reserve team into our new Community Team which is co -managed by Sean Brockhurst and Wayne Hyde. Their will to succeed and passion of the game hope to propel the club forward to a successful future.
Shoreham FC, nicknamed The Musselmen, was founded in 1892 and gained its first major honour in 1902, winning the Sussex Senior Cup, a feat that was repeated four years later.
In 1920 Shoreham became founder members of the Sussex County League, only to resign seven years later after picking up just five points over the entire season and finishing bottom of the twelve club League.
In 1932 however the club re-joined and ended the 1934/35 season as runners up to Horsham. After a difficult period during the 1940’s, Shoreham took the County League title for the first time in 1951/52 and retained it the following year. In 1960/61 Shoreham were relegated but made an immediate return as Division Two champions the very next season.
The Musselmen were relegated once more in 1966/67 to Division Two, where they spent six seasons before finishing as runners up to Portfield in 1972/73. Unfortunately, they survived just one season before being relegated again. True to form, Shoreham bounced back, winning the Division Two title in 1976/77, and adding the Division One championship in 1977/78.
Over the past twenty years Shoreham have continued to alternate between the two top divisions of the County League, with frequent relegation and promotion seasons at Middle Road. The best season in recent years came in the mid-1990’s, when they twice finished in the top four of Division One and won the League Cup in 1996. Shoreham were promoted back to Division One as runners up in 2001/02 following relegation two seasons earlier.
However, a now familiar pattern followed as, after narrowly avoiding relegation in
2002/03, the club finished bottom in 2003/04 and returned to Division Two.
In the 2004/05 season Shoreham finished third in Division Two to gain promotion at the first time of asking, so for joint managers Fred Proto and Jason Rutherford to gain promotion in their first season in charge was an extraordinary effort.
Given our previous history of moving back between the divisions, everyone at the club were very pleased to consolidate in 2005/06. That season saw Middle Road continue to be favoured as a neutral venue for cup ties, and The Musselmen were to collect some silverware of their own, defeating Whitehawk 2-1 in the final of the John O’Hara Challenge Cup.
Shoreham won the SCFL Premier League in 2016/17 and were promoted to the Bostik South League for the first time in their history, only to be relegated the same season back to the SCFL Premier, and then straight through to Division One.
Last season, 2021/22, was much more successful for the club, finishing in 5th position and progressing to the divisional play-offs. A semi-final victory at Seaford Town was followed by a single goal defeat at Midhurst & Easebourne. Shortly after this final game, manager Mark Pulling left the club by mutual consent after three seasons in charge.
Michael Death was appointed first team manager for the 2022/23 season. Micheal Deaths team won division one and was promoted to the SCFL Premier Division. Michael Death parted with the club twice over the next two seasons and then Lawrence Edwards was appointed manager for the season 2025-26.
Harry Adey
Johnny Akoto
Adam Brice
Lawson Bright
Edward Caporn
Kayode Conteh
Eric-Georges Michel Dellaud
Samuel Devlin
Horatio Fowler
Jack Fowler
Angelo Harris
James Hubble
Ciaran Judd
Ezekiel Ndhlovu
Matthew Rylance
Mohssine Sabek
Kaliam Vat-Kanda Safou-Mboumba
Mason Taylor
Moussa Traore
Harry Tremlett
Jermaine Junior Young
Elliot Cannon
Christopher Coulibaly
Seamus Griffin-Tilley
Noah Kelo
Maxwell Allen
Roje Grant
Prince Aderogba
Conor Manderson
Felix Hills
Tim Nguyen
Dan Nguyen
Elliot Dailly Tykhon Berlizov
Charlie B-Adams
Taylor Edwards
Charlie Farmer
Joshua Gould
Taylor Harding
James Lyon-Monk
Alfie Marchant
Josh Gould
Jesse Burbridge
Alfie Mitchell
Theo Maryon
Scott Packer
Oscar Pinnock
Alfie Proto-Gates
Tony Timms
Shay Tobin
Michael Donavon
Kai Burhly
R: Steven Fogden
A: Paul Rowe
A: Noah Philby