Season 2022-23

86TH SEASON

SEASON REPORT

The 2022-23 season was a difficult one in a number of aspects.

The East Sussex Football League was reduced from six to five divisions for the 2022-23 season which meant a restructuring of the divisions and the 1st team, having finished fourth in Division Three in 2021-22, were moved up to Division Two and as the lowest placed team to be promoted the season not surprisingly proved to be a struggle.

The Veterans also had a hard season and the amount of football played was badly affected by teams withdrawing from the Hastings F A Veterans League.

1ST TEAM

After being unbeaten and producing some encouraging performances in friendly games, the 2022-23 season proved to be a disappointing one for the 1st team who finished ninth out of ten teams in Division Two.

There were some good results but these were infrequent and were among some disheartening displays with the season ending poorly with heavy defeats suffered in the final three games. On the positive side, an excellent point was gained in a 1-1 draw with Ninfield, the eventual division champions and three victories were achieved over Sporting Club Pass and Move II including an 8-2 win in the Hastings F A Junior Cup.

The team achieved the highest average mark of 89.381 in Division Two from referees for Respect and Sportsmanship earning the club a £50 award from the East Sussex Football League.

Tom Cumber finished the season as leading goal scorer with 14 goals.

1ST TEAM PLAYING RECORD

DATEOPPONENTSVENUECOMPETITIONRESULTGOAL SCORERS
3/8/2022Icklesham Casuals VeteransHomeFriendly3 – 3Leon Pettit, Tom Cumber, Logan Woodhurst
13/8/2022Westfield IIIAwayFriendly2 – 2Rhys Piggott, Tom Cumber (pen)
17/8/2022South Coast Athletico IIHomeFriendly2 – 0Phil Badrock 2
27/8/2022St Leonards SocialHomeFriendly5 – 3Tom Cumber 2, Billy Cornford 2, David Duley
31/8/2022Sedlescombe Rangers DevelopmentAwayFriendly4 – 4Solly Cooke, Josh Jocham, Sean Baker, David Duley
3/9/2022Northiam 75AwayLeague0 – 4
7/9/2022Icklesham Casuals VeteransHomeFriendly5 – 1Tom Cumber 2, Sam Garner, Jamie O’Mahoney, Jack Pullin
17/9/2022Sporting Club Pass and Move IIAwayLeague4 – 1Tom Cumber 3, Joe Maylam
24/9/2022NinfieldHomeLeague1 – 1Dave Pugh (pen)
1/10/2022Victoria BaptistsHomeLeague0 – 3
8/10/2022Hollington United IIHomeLeague1 – 4Phil Badrock
15/10/2022Sporting Club Pass and Move IIHomeHastings F A Junior Cup 1st Round8 – 2George Barrow 3, Tom Cumber, Sean Baker, Mike Amar, Leon Pettit, Lee Pierce
22/10/2022Bexhill RoversAwayLeague1 – 7George Barrow
29/10/2022NinfieldHomeEast Sussex League Divisions 1 and 2 Cup 1st Round0 – 2
5/11/2022Beaumont ParkHomeSussex Junior Cup 1st Round5 – 2Phil Badrock 3, Tom Cumber 2
12/11/2022Northiam 75HomeLeague2 – 2Phil Badrock, David Duley
19/11/2022Peche Hill SelectAwayLeague1 – 4Sam Garner
26/11/2022Sedlescombe Rangers IIAwayLeague0 – 4
3/12/2022Eastbourne AthleticHomeSussex Junior Cup 2nd Round0 – 7
10/12/2022HooeHomeLeague0 – 0
28/1/2023HooeAwayLeague2 – 1Tom Cumber, Mike Amar
4/2/2023Peche Hill SelectHomeLeague1 – 4Lee Pierce
11/2/2023Wadhurst UnitedHomeHastings F A Junior Cup 2nd Round1 – 6Rhys Piggott
18/2/2023Sedlescombe Rangers IIHomeLeague0 – 0
25/2/2023Victoria BaptistsAwayLeague1 – 3Phil Badrock
4/3/2023Sporting Club Pass and Move IIHomeLeague4 – 2Phil Badrock 3, Ruben Shand
25/3/2023Hollington United IIAwayLeague1 – 10David Duley
22/4/2023NinfieldAwayLeague0 – 5
13/5/2023Bexhill RoversHomeLeague2 – 7Tom Cumber, Jon Fitton

VETERANS

The 2022-23 season was a difficult one for the Hastings F A Veterans League. At the start of the season, thirteen teams entered for the competition and the decision was taken to organise the League into two groups with the top two sides in each group qualifying for play-offs.

One team withdrew before the commencement of the League and two further clubs withdrew after the season had started which resulted in two unevenly balanced groups. This together with the number of matches lost to the weather, being postponed for other reasons along with a number of unfulfilled fixtures meant the season was far from ideal.

The Veterans, being drawn in the group affected by the withdrawals, played only three competitive matches all season. The side started the League campaign in disastrous fashion, losing by a record margin for the veterans team of 15-2 against reigning League champions Sidley United Veterans. This was followed by a 4-4 draw with Bexhill Town Veterans where the side recovered from being 4-1 down with fifteen minutes to go to gain a point.

The Veterans needed to win the final group match against Hooe Veterans to qualify for the semi-final play-offs but suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat.

As a result of the club withdrawals a supplementary competition was organised at the end of the season for those clubs not involved in the play-offs but this did not benefit the Veterans! The team was paired with Bexhill Amateur Athletic Club Veterans in the first round but even in April the weather intervened and the match was postponed. With insufficient time available to reschedule the game, the Veterans generously forfeited the tie to allow the competition to be completed.

VETERANS PLAYING RECORD

DATEOPPONENTSVENUECOMPETITIONRESULTGOAL SCORERS
3/8/2022Icklesham CasualsAwayFriendly3 – 3Dave Pugh, Phil Badrock, Gavin Moor
7/9/2022Icklesham CasualsAwayFriendly1 – 5David Duley
23/10/2022Sidley United VeteransAwayLeague2 – 15Val Newman, Dave Pugh (pen)
11/12/2022Bexhill Town VeteransAwayLeague4 – 4Phil Badrock, George Richardson, Val Newman, Sean Baker (pen)
26/2/2023Hooe VeteransAwayLeague2 – 3Phil Badrock, Gavin Moor

GENERAL MATTERS

Bob Baker stood down as chairman of the club having held the role for 25 years over two periods. Bob was chairman for ten years from 1991-92 to 2000-01 and for a further fifteen years from 2008-09 to 2022-23. The thanks of the club go to Bob for his outstanding contribution over all those years.

Wayne Dedman, who previously played seven games in goal for the second team in the 2006-07 season joined to assist Martin Tytherleigh in running the side but more off-field support was required to help the club to progress moving forward.

The season sadly saw the passing of a club stalwart in Colin McPhail who died on the 4th December 2022. Colin made 288 appearances for the club between 1966 and 1997 scoring 27 goals. His final appearance was for the semi-veterans side that played Old Centmodians Veterans as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations in May 1997.

Colin played for the 2nd team that reached the Hastings F A Lower Divisions Cup Final in 1967-68 and captained the 3rd team that was finalists in the Eastbourne and Hastings League Division Four Cup in 1976-77. He was vice-chairman of the club in the 1978-79 and 1979-80 seasons.

Colin moved to Dalgety Bay in Fife, Scotland in 1980 and was chairperson of the community council for 28 years, helping to transform the area for which he received an MBE from the Queen. He regularly returned for club celebrations and kindly donated a trophy at the 75th celebrations which is awarded annually to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the club.

Among those paying tribute to Colin on his passing was former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Icklesham Casuals Golf Tournament, the fifteenth competition to be held, took place on Friday, 8th July 2022 at Poult Wood Golf Club in Tonbridge, a new venue for the event, and saw Colin Cooke lift the trophy for the first time.

A Charity Golf Day was held on Thursday, 25th May 2023 at Pyecombe Golf Club with the money raised being divided between Parkinson’s UK and Sussex Mind, a mental health charity.

Charity Golf Day ‘Bus Stop’

CLUB OFFICIALS