Sport in Sussex
With a centuries-long tradition of sport, Sussex has played a key role in the early development of both cricket and stoolball.
[4] In horse racing, Sussex is home to Goodwood, Fontwell Park, Brighton and Plumpton.
In football, Brighton & Hove Albion's women's team was founded in 1967 as Brighton GPO, making the club one of the oldest extant football clubs in England fielding a women's team.
Records from 1611 indicate the first time that the sport was documented in Sussex; this is also the first reference to cricket being played by adults.
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] Brighton and Lancing Colleges are recorded as having played a football match in November 1860, the first by public schools in Sussex.
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.
Notable football players from Sussex include five times FA Cup winner, Charles Wollaston, who played in the inaugural FA Cup Final in 1872 and former England international players George Brann, George Cotterill and Gareth Barry.
Rugby union players from Sussex include New Zealand-born England captain Dylan Hartley, Joe Marler, Billy Twelvetrees, Tom Mitchell, Alex King, Ollie Richards and Ross Chisholm.
Based in Brighton, Sussex Thunder play in the British American Football Association's BAFA National Leagues.
[24] Currently there are hockey clubs based in Brighton & Hove, Burgess Hill, Chichester, Crawley, Crowborough, East Grinstead, Eastbourne, Hailsham, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Horsham, Lewes, Littlehampton, Middleton, Southwick, Steyning and Worthing.
[29] The first inter-county stoolball match took place between the women of Sussex and Kent in 1797 at Tunbridge Wells Common on the historic border between the two counties.
[30] In 1866 the first recorded stoolball match took place between teams of named women representing villages as the Glynde Butterflies took on the Firle Blues.
[32] Modern stoolball is centred on Sussex where the game was revived in the early 20th century by Major William Grantham.
Sussex athletes include Everard Davis, George Hutson, Steve Ovett, Sally Gunnell and Craig Pickering.
A contest on 18 December 1810 between Tom Cribb, from Bristol, and Tom Molineaux, a slave from the US state of Virginia was held at Copthall Common (now Copthorne Common) near East Grinstead in what was one of the most controversial and brutal fights to have been held.
[43] The London to Brighton Bike Ride has taken place every year since 1976. and in 2014 involved an estimated 30,000 riders.
Sussex featured in the 1994 Tour de France, which included a stage finish in Brighton.
Notable horseriders from Sussex include Kristina Cook and Liam Treadwell.
Golfers based in Sussex include Open Championship winner Max Faulkner, Gary Evans, Ben Evans and two-time European Tour winner Jamie Spence from the Nevill Golf Club near the Kent border.
Racing drivers from Sussex include David Purley, Derek Bell and Jolyon Palmer.
The sport of real tennis, continues to be played at Sussex's only current real tennis court at Petworth House in Petworth where the sport has been played since at least as far back as 1588, a record exceeded only by the English and Scottish royal palaces at Hampton Court and Falkland.
[49] Swimmers from Sussex include Iris Tanner, Christine Gosden, Rebecca Cooke and Gemma Spofforth.
Wimbledon and Australian Open semi-finalist Johanna Konta lives in Eastbourne.
The main home of Sussex cricket since 1872, the County Cricket Ground in Hove has a capacity of 7,000 and is the third largest sports stadium in Sussex after Falmer Stadium and the centre court at Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in Eastbourne.
Hill Barn Golf Club in Worthing hosted the Penfold Tournament, part of the European Tour in 1969, 1970 and 1974.
The Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in Eastbourne first opened in 1874 and its centre court has a capacity of 8,000,[51] making it one of the largest tennis stadiums in the world and the second largest sports stadium in Sussex.
Below is a list of international sporting events that have been held in Sussex at various venues The British and World Marbles Championship takes place annually on Good Friday at the Greyhound public house in Tinsley Green, West Sussex.
