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 evening and a very warm welcome The Rotherfield for this evening's match against Wick.
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 evening.
Since our last programme, we’ve played Jarvis Brook in the Sussex senior challenge cup, gone to Guernsey, played the Sussex principal RUR Charity cup against Roffey, and then we travelled to Hamworthy for the FA VASE game on Saturday. We’ve been very busy travelling and are looking forward to playing a home game tonight.
Our clubhouse bar will be open this evening, along with our kitchen so please enjoy a drink and refreshments while backing the team, as always, your backing makes a real difference so let's get behind the lads and cheer them on to what we hope will be a successful a 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.
Wick became founding members of the West Sussex Football League in 1896, joining the Junior Division.
Wick joined Division Two of the Sussex County League in 1964–65 and then spent the next eighteen seasons in Division Two, eventually winning promotion in 1983 after finishing as champions. They then spent three seasons in Division One before being relegated, but bounced back the following season (1985–86) after winning Division Two for a second time.
From then until the end of the 2002–03 season, Wick were ever-present in Division One of the County League, winning the League Challenge Cup in 1987–88.
In 1989–90 they lifted the Division One title, as well as the RUR Charity Cup.[2] In 1992–93 they won the Sussex Senior Cup for the only time, beating Oakwood at the Goldstone Ground, 3–1. The 1993–94 season they won the championship for the second time, finishing 14 points clear of runners-up Whitehawk.
The league cup was won in the 1996–97 season and finished runners-up to Burgess Hill Town. The following season under manager Jimmy Quinn, Wick finished third in the League, but reached the semi-finals of the Senior Cup, and won the RUR charity Cup, which they retained in the following 1998–99 season.
In 2000–01, the club finish third, but two seasons later in the 2002–03 campaign the club was relegated to Division Two.
The club finished as runners-up to Crowborough Athletic in 2004–05 to move back into the top division of the Sussex
league.
Carl Stabler joined as manager in 2006–07 with the remit of rising Wick Football Club out of the County League and after 3 seasons stepped up to Chairman and handed over the reins of the football side of the club to manager Vic Short.
Prior to the 2013–14 season, they merged with near neighbours Barnham and to become members of the Southern Combination Football League Premier Division.
However, the clubs split again at the end of the 2015–16 season, with Wick taking the place of the first team in the Southern Combination Football League Premier Division. The following season saw them relegated to Division One for the 2017–18 season.
The club appointed David Phillips as chairman and in March 2020 and a new committee was formed which has seen great improvements made both on and off the pitch led by Sue Knight Secretary, Terry Doyle Football Chairman, Lee Baldwin First Team Manager. The 22/23 season was even more successful both on and off the pitch with the club making the league playoffs but losing to Epsom & Ewell in the final. The 23/24 Season proved to be a successful one and the club reached the SCFL Prem via the playoffs when they beat Seaford on penalties. 24/25 Season and the clubs first for many years in the top division was a great success, finishing a very respectable mid table finish. The club remains in good hands, and the future is looking just as good on and off the pitch.
Johnny Akoto
Adam Brice
Lawson Bright
Edward Caporn
Kayode Conteh
Eric-Georges Michel Dellaud
Samuel Devlin
Horatio Fowler
Jack Fowler
James Hubble
Ciaran Judd
Ezekiel Ndhlovu
Matthew Rylance
Mohssine Sabek
Kaliam Vat-Kanda Safou-Mboumba
Mason Taylor
Harry Tremlett
Jermaine Junior Young
Christopher Coulibaly
Seamus Griffin-Tilley
Noah Kelo
Maxwell Allen
Roje Grant
Prince Aderogba
Conor Manderson
Felix Hills
Tim Nguyen
Dan Nguyen
Nathaniel Williams
Jamie Smith
Keelan Belcher
James Thurgar
Charlie Robinson
Josh Irish
George Bingham
Ryan Singers
David Crouch
Ryan Barratt
Carl Brown
Daniel Simmonds
Max Matlock
Aaron Tester
Lee Newell
Teddy Stairs
Issac Glanfield
Matt Whitehead
Oli Cowdrey
R: Neil Sutherland
A: Peter Shepherd
A: Alex Wadey