THE STAGS
THE OFFICIAL MATCHDAY PROGRAMME OF
MIDHURST & EASEBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB
MIDHURST & EASEBOURNE VS LITTLE COMMON
SATURDAY 22 MARCH 2025 KICK-OFF 3PM
MIDHURST & EASEBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB
Full Name Midhurst & Easebourne Football Club Nickname The Stags Founded 1946 Ground The Rotherfield
Chairman
Mark Broughton
Secretary
Mark Broughton
Treasurer
Barry McMahon
First Team Manager
Andy Ewen
First Team Assistant Dan Trussler
First Team Coach
Jamie Angell
First Team Coach
Arnie Miron
First Team Physio
Lewis Sandy
Reserve Team Manager
Mark Broughton
Reserve Team Physio
Maddie Mantel
Groundsman
Tom Merritt-Smith
Bernie Penney
Stephen Ewen
Matchday Programme JMA Programmes
The club has 2 senior teams and 8 youth teams. The First Team are currently members of the Southern Combination Football League and compete in Premier Division , whilst the Reserves play in the Premier Division of the Hampshire Development League.
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 also 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 last seasons achievements, and subsequent promotion to step 5 football we now find ourselves competing in the Fa Cup for the first time in our history. 2022-23 is sure to be an exciting historical season for everyone involved in the club and town.
MANAGER’S MESSAGE
LEMMY
Good afternoon welcome to The Rotherfield for this Southern Combination League fixture against Little Common,
I extend a warm welcome to our visitors their officials, players, supporters along with the match officials.
Little Common are in a relegation battle and will be looking to back the good win they had midweek up here. Since I’ve announced I’m stepping down, as I expected our results have dropped off, I’m hoping the lads have had the few weeks to deal with it and we can step back up and finish strong. The atmosphere is back where I expect it to be so we now need to carry that onto the pitch.
Squad wise we have a lot of injuries and a suspension to deal with. Harry, Marcus, Rolfey, are all injured Bowza is suspended. Rusty is with Chi which is brilliant for him I’m hoping he can step up and show what he’s about.
Duncs in unavailable at the moment with the birth of his son, congratulations to him and Jade.
We have Aaron back today from Horndean which will be a big plus along with Lidds who has been out since August, he has been playing with Liss these last 8 weeks so he comes back fit which is great news.
Last week we made the long trip to Bexhill we played well in spells we had a lot of youngsters and made mistakes defensively and didn’t take our chances the other end. If you’re not good in both boxes you won’t compete in games of football. I’m expecting a good reaction today.
Enjoy the game.
Lemmy
FIXTURES & RESULTS LEAGUE AND CUP 24/25
TODAY’S VISITORS
CAPACITY N/A
CHAIRMAN
DANIEL ELDRIDGE
MANAGER
RUSSELL ELDRIDGE
Little Common Football Club formed originally as Albion United in 1966, when Ken Cherry had a vision for youth football in the area. Initially two youth teams were formed one at Under 16 level and one at Under 14 level. However, the two teams grew like topsy and today the club runs sixteen youth and four senior teams.
Albion United started life in the Hastings League and was very soon running two sides instead of the planned one and they moved to the East Sussex league. That league held no bounds for the highly successful United sides and after the double winning success of the 1977/78 season the club successfully applied to join the Sussex County League Division Two.
In 1974 the club committee decided to provide the club with its own club house and changing rooms, to include showers and a bar after spending eight years on grounds which did not have such facilities. The club obtained two prefabricated houses which were built in Fulham at the end of the Second World War. They cost £250 each and the necessary planning permissions were given. The club erected these two buildings, joined together, to make one large building; half was changing rooms, showers and toilets and the other half lounge and bar.
This became the clubs home on entry to the Sussex County League and their first season saw them finish in the top five and they reached the Division 2 Cup Final only to be beaten by Crowborough Athletic. Subsequent seasons saw the club occupy a mid to lower position in the table, actually finishing bottom in 1980/81 and 1981/82 (Division Three was not formed until 1983). Albion enjoyed their best placing since entering the League when they finished 6th in 1985/86 and changed their name to Little Common Albion at the end of that season.
The newly named club again finished in 6th place the next two seasons, before their fortunes began to slump once again. In 1993/94 they were relegated after finishing bottom; and left the League altogether after finishing 15th of 16 in Division Three the following season. The 1990s proved a difficult period for the club and they re-joined the East Sussex League. A third consecutive relegation was a huge blow for the club and in the space of just three seasons they had gone from playing senior football to junior football.
The club committee decided that in order for the club to progress further new facilities were
together with the local council and cricket club in order to develop a project to build a new sports pavilion. After many years of hard work by all involved the project finally began to get moving and in 1999 a £262,000 Sport England Lottery Grant was awarded for the project. Building finally began in 2001 and the club moved into its new home in November 2002.
On the pitch the clubs fortunes continued to fluctuate, a successful 1998/99 season saw Common just miss out on promotion to Seaford before being relegated the following season. A rise followed with an instant return to the Premier Division and after avoiding relegation on the final day of the 2003/04 season the club committee decided to make a concerted effort the following season to realize its ambition of a return to the Sussex County League.
After spending ten seasons in the East Sussex League, the club were successfully crowned Premier Division champions in the 2004/05 season and applied for a return to the County League. After carrying out the essential work to their ground to achieve promotion the club was successful in its application. After spending four seasons in Division 3 the club was promoted to Division 2 at the end of the 2008/09 season after clinching the second promotion spot on the final day of the season against Bosham. The club went on to record a 4th place finish in the 2009/10 season before a mid-table finish in 2010/11. The 2011/12 season saw a change in
season saw Common finish outside of the relegation zone. The 2012/13 season saw the club finish 3rd but ground grading regulations prevented the club from being promoted. At the beginning of 2016 the club lost its founder and chairman, Ken Cherry, fifty years after forming the club. The 2016/17 season saw Common finish runners-up to Saltdean United and their highest ever league placing, once again ground grading regulations prevented them from being promoted to the Premier Division and a ground share agreement was secured with Eastbourne United for the 2017/18 season. The Commoners went on to claim the Division One League and Cup double in the 2017/18 season to seal a place in the Premier Division for first time in the club's history. Despite a tough season the Commoners enjoyed a good end to the 2018/19 season to finish outside of the relegation places and secure another season in the premier division. The following two seasons saw the Commoners comfortably placed when the league season was curtailed due to the Covid pandemic, during the 2020/21 season, Common’s all-time leading goal scorer, Lewis Hole, scored his 350th goal for the club. In September 2020, the club finally received planning permission to enclose their ground and make the necessary improvements for Step 5 football and in January 2022 the club finally returned to its home at Little Common Recreation Ground.
TODAY’S TEAMS
DIVISION
MIDHURST LITTLE COMMON
Harry
Marcus
Russell
Lewis
Reuben
Lewis
Sam
Adam
Jacob
Joe
Sam
Harry
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Ryan Calver
Assistants: