Football in Sussex
According to John Cairney, goalkeeping was first developed at Lancing College, which had originated its own code of football by 1856.
[2] The first goal in the FA Cup was scored by former Lancing College student Jarvis Kenrick in 1871.
In 2017 Lewes became the world's first professional or semi-professional football club to pay women and men equally.
Two references to medieval football matches come from Sussex in 1403 and 1404 at Selmeston and Chidham that took place as part of baptisms.
[11] A football match from 1860 involving Lancing College was recorded in the sporting newspaper Bell's Life in London.
[12] In 1865 Brighton College players were criticised in Bell's Life for practices including 'throat seizing' and 'shinning'.
Several Lancing players went on to play for Tyne AFC, the elite football club in England at the end of the 1870s.
By the end of the 19th century the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway fielded six different teams in Sussex - Juniors, Locomotive, Rovers, Strugglers, Wanderers and Wasps.
The following year Brighton & Hove Albion were formed and joined the Southern League.
[5] Albion were dubbed 'Champions of England'[5] in what is to date the only national honour for a Sussex football club.
Crawley Town became Sussex's second team to gain Football League status in 2011.
[17][18] In August 2015, two Worthing United players, Matthew Grimstone and Jacob Schilt, were among those killed when an aircraft crashed on the A27 road near Shoreham Airport.
[19] They were driving to the Robert Albon Memorial ground to participate in a match against Loxwood, which was consequently called off.
It now forms steps six to ten of the pyramid system for women's football in Sussex.
[22] In 2017 Lewes became the world's first professional or semi-professional football club to pay women and men equally.
On 5 April 2014 Falmer Stadium hosted a group qualifier match for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup where England beat Montenegro 9–0.
[32] Additionally, on 1 June 2019, Falmer Stadium hosted an international friendly for The Lionesses' last warmup game before the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup where England lost 1—0 to New Zealand.
It is owned by Brighton and Hove Albion and is used for home matches as well as the final of the Sussex Senior Cup.
There are several other football grounds in Sussex with a capacity of over 1,000 including Nyewood Lane (4,500), Priory Lane (4,151), The Pilot Field (4,050), The Sportsfield (4,000), Woodside Road (4,000), The Dripping Pan (3,000), The Enclosed Ground (3,126), The Saffrons (3,000), Middle Road (2,000), Oaklands Park (2,000), The Robert Albon Memorial Ground (1,504) and the Camping World Community Stadium (1,300).
