Sussex Senior Cup failure

[davidarnold1]

I wish Tony and Joe all the best for their footballing futures. Have seen many enjoyable games in their tenure. But why, why, why did they make Lewes - the county town of East Sussex - turn their back on participating in the Sussex Senior Cup for two seasons? It achieved nothing in terms of our league positions and other cup performances except to hack off a large number of loyal fans and insult our town's status as the historic heart of Sussex. A sorry self-inflicted wound in a competition where the Rooks have a proud record and where youngsters have a chance to shine.

[sedlescombe]

Apr 22, 2024 15:11:20 GMT davidarnold1 said:

I wish Tony and Joe all the best for their footballing futures. Have seen many enjoyable games in their tenure. But why, why, why did they make Lewes - the county town of East Sussex - turn their back on participating in the Sussex Senior Cup for two seasons? It achieved nothing in terms of our league positions and other cup performances except to hack off a large number of loyal fans and insult our town's status as the historic heart of Sussex. A sorry self-inflicted wound in a competition where the Rooks have a proud record and where youngsters have a chance to shine.

Wholeheartedly agree.  I am a latecomer to Lewes compared to most on here but one of my absolute highlights following the club was the Sussex Senior Cup Final run culminating at the Amex against Whitehawk

[agl]

I take the opposite view, that the Sussex Senior Cup is an irrelevance. Any decent sides just play the reserves/ kids, rendering the competition meaningless. It's a joke that SSC seems to take priority over league games. All it does is clutter up the fixture list. Better off out of it.

[seagullhhater]

I agree wholeheartedly with David and I’m afraid agl that I believe that you are overestimating the importance of Lewes FC within the county. As things stand we are well down the ‘pecking order’ of Sussex based clubs behind Brighton, Crawley , Worthing, Eastbourne Borough and Horsham and in danger of being overtaken by Hastings ( if they win their game in hand). Surely we are not at the moment in a position to choose whether the tournament is an irrelevance as it is a chance of the club winning some silverware for both the players and fans alike. Also ,as David said ,it is a chance for the players on the periphery of the team to have some much needed time on the pitch .
It’s a bit like the ‘big guns’ in the premiership not taking the Carabao cup seriously until the latter stages when they sniff some success. That also annoys me !!!!

[stuartnoel]

As a point of clarification, it’s only been this season the club didn’t take part and that was in part due to the way the club felt they were treated last season over the Worthing game which ultimately led to the club deciding to withdraw from the competition.

In the past 13 years we’ve reached the final once but have seen defeats to the likes of Selsey, Peacehaven & Telscombe and Littlehampton Town.

I don’t disagree with the prestige of the competition but there were reasons, many of which were documented last season why the club didn’t take part this year.

[agl]

Apr 22, 2024 18:53:47 GMT seagullhhater said:

I agree wholeheartedly with David and I’m afraid agl that I believe that you are overestimating the importance of Lewes FC within the county. As things stand we are well down the ‘pecking order’ of Sussex based clubs behind Brighton, Crawley , Worthing, Eastbourne Borough and Horsham and in danger of being overtaken by Hastings ( if they win their game in hand). Surely we are not at the moment in a position to choose whether the tournament is an irrelevance as it is a chance of the club winning some silverware for both the players and fans alike. Also ,as David said ,it is a chance for the players on the periphery of the team to have some much needed time on the pitch .
It’s a bit like the ‘big guns’ in the premiership not taking the Carabao cup seriously until the latter stages when they sniff some success. That also annoys me !!!!

My point was nothing to do with pecking order. Simply that the bigger clubs treat it as a minor competition, fielding youth teams, so any victory is rather hollow.

[sedlescombe]

Apr 22, 2024 19:30:01 GMT agl said:

Apr 22, 2024 18:53:47 GMT seagullhhater said:

I agree wholeheartedly with David and I’m afraid agl that I believe that you are overestimating the importance of Lewes FC within the county. As things stand we are well down the ‘pecking order’ of Sussex based clubs behind Brighton, Crawley , Worthing, Eastbourne Borough and Horsham and in danger of being overtaken by Hastings ( if they win their game in hand). Surely we are not at the moment in a position to choose whether the tournament is an irrelevance as it is a chance of the club winning some silverware for both the players and fans alike. Also ,as David said ,it is a chance for the players on the periphery of the team to have some much needed time on the pitch .
It’s a bit like the ‘big guns’ in the premiership not taking the Carabao cup seriously until the latter stages when they sniff some success. That also annoys me !!!!

My point was nothing to do with pecking order. Simply that the bigger clubs treat it as a minor competition, fielding youth teams, so any victory is rather hollow.

I bet when Birmingham and Swansea won the League Cup they spent very little time thinking how hollow that Wembley win was 

[agl]

Maybe someone could share our attendances for recent matches, which might be a useful guide as to whether they capture the imagination?

[stuartnoel]

Apr 22, 2024 21:46:43 GMT agl said:

Maybe someone could share our attendances for recent matches, which might be a useful guide as to whether they capture the imagination?

Our last Sussex Senior Cup home game was in November 2019 when we beat Three Bridges 5-2 in front of 202 fans

[wm]

Interesting.
And do you know what it was for our nearest midweek league game to that?

[stuartnoel]

Apr 22, 2024 23:53:21 GMT wm said:

Interesting.
And do you know what it was for our nearest midweek league game to that?

357 a couple of weeks before versus Corinthian-Casuals

[therightsoffans]

Would it not be fantastic if we were all looking forward to a Sussex Senior cup final. A victory would lift the spirits. The club have not taken it seriously, that is a fact. So instead of all the members and supporters having the opportunity to celebrate and see off Tony in style, a handful who can afford it can go and watch us play in Italy in a meaningless exhibition tournament instead. Dreams of pointless European glory for the few weighed up against a fantastic day out at the Amex for the masses and bragging rights. You couldn't write it.

Says so much about the priorities and hypocrisy of our ‘inclusive’ club and how it has lost touch. 


Attendances will be low if the club does not value the tournament.

I rather suspect now we have a more locally based board who seem to understand and value the local community more, we will entering next year.

[stuartnoel]

Apr 23, 2024 6:30:25 GMT therightsoffans said:

Would it not be fantastic if we were all looking forward to a Sussex Senior cup final. A victory would lift the spirits. The club have not taken it seriously, that is a fact. So instead of all the members and supporters having the opportunity to celebrate and see off Tony in style, a handful who can afford it can go and watch us play in Italy in a meaningless exhibition tournament instead. Dreams of pointless European glory for the few weighed up against a fantastic day out at the Amex for the masses and bragging rights. You couldn't write it.

Says so much about the priorities and hypocrisy of our ‘inclusive’ club and how it has lost touch. 


Attendances will be low if the club does not value the tournament.

I rather suspect now we have a more locally based board who seem to understand and value the local community more, we will entering next year.

We last played in the tournament in December 2022 when we lost at Worthing, fielding a full strength squad. Previous to that a strong side beat Littlehampton 4-1. As a point of interest that game against Worthing, played on a Saturday, was watched by 884. The corresponding league game two months previous was watched by 1,619.

Horsham’s only home game in this season’s tournament at the QF stage saw them beat Chichester City in front of 370 - about a third of their average league attendance.

The tournament had always been a chance to play some of the youngsters or squad players, which at the time had some fans not bothering to attend or claiming we didn’t take it seriously. The club didn’t choose to withdraw from the tournament because it wasn’t taken seriously, it was down to the circumstances and conditions imposed.

The last final we reached was in 2015 when around 1,500 Rooks fans watched us lose 5-0 to Whitehawk. On Saturday we saw around 1,600 home fans watched us play Hashtag as a comparison. I dare say if we had been in this season’s final we would have taken a strong following, but thousands more? I’m not sure.

With one league game still left on Saturday, there’s an opportunity for fans to travel to support the side and say goodbye there too.

I’m not sure what relevance the “more local board” comment is - the club has had local boards before but the location of where board members are has little relevance on whether the club plays in a particular competition. Local community outreach is important but from what I’ve seen in the last few years, with attendances for both Men’s and Women’s games rising dramatically I’d suggest the club’s fan engagement work is going in the right direction.

I’d rather see someone with energy, drive and a commitment to get their hands dirty and take the club forward who doesn’t live locally than someone who is local but doesn’t contribute or add value to the club.

Someone say from Worthing or Chichester isn’t local but understands the Sussex Senior Cup. Likewise a director from Lewes may not see the benefit from entering a particular competition. Ultimately, it’s a balancing act taking into account available resources, ambition and the views of our fans.

[robm99]

As an Essex man (maybe not in spirit), looking at the Essex Senior Cup, you'd expect Southend and Colchester to be regular winners. But no, not since 2012 has either appeared in the final. I was a "Shrimper" until a few years back, went to 20 or more games a season from 1967 but never a County Cup match. Just for amusement, it was won in 1889 by Somerset Light Infantry!

Is there not too much football? League, FA cup, FA Trophy, Velocity Cup., Senior cup as well?

As Haringey has been mentioned, do we do anything special for the last game of the season? Fancy dress or anything?

[stuartnoel]

Apr 23, 2024 8:46:50 GMT robm99 said:

As an Essex man (maybe not in spirit), looking at the Essex Senior Cup, you'd expect Southend and Colchester to be regular winners. But no, not since 2012 has either appeared in the final. I was a "Shrimper" until a few years back, went to 20 or more games a season from 1967 but never a County Cup match. Just for amusement, it was won in 1889 by Somerset Light Infantry!

Is there not too much football? League, FA cup, FA Trophy, Velocity Cup., Senior cup as well?

As Haringey has been mentioned, do we do anything special for the last game of the season? Fancy dress or anything?

And won by Step 4 Redbridge this season