Non-League: Eastbourne Town

We descended to the ninth tier of English football to discover a club in a beautiful setting with friendly ultras. Welcome to Eastbourne Town.

“It’s full of old people and seagulls, oh Eastbourne Town is wonderful!”

These are the voices of the Pier Pressure ultras, a group of Eastbourne Town fans that run various initiatives, such as collections for the Eastbourne Foodbank and the Kick Racism Out Of Football campaign. They’re accompanied by drums and flags, adding much-needed colour to the green and grey of a Boxing Day derby against Eastbourne United in the Southern Combination Football League Premier Division.

Eastbourne, a town of 100,000 on the Sussex coast in the south of England, supports four football clubs, with the larger Eastbourne Borough FC playing in the National League South (sixth tier) and Langney Wanderers in the same league as Town and United.

Eastbourne Town’s home is the attractive surrounds of The Saffrons, a 3,000-capacity ground with views across the South Downs rising in the south-west and Eastbourne’s red-brick Town Hall town to the east.

Forza Eastbourne!

There were 856 people in attendance for this 11.00 kick off, presumably due to local Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion in action at home later that day. Indeed, both Town and the Albion come onto the pitch to the same song, “Sussex by the Sea”.

Entry was just £6 for adults with entry through an original turnstile built in 1914. Town play in an attractive yellow shirt with blue cross with blue shirts and socks, reminiscent of a Parma or Sweden shirt of recent seasons.

United were bottom of the table and looked every inch out of the game after the first Town goal went in. Three goals in an eight-minute spell in the middle of the first half put the game out of sight, and Town added two more in the second half. The final 5-0 score line was probably an accurate reflection in the gulf in class.

Throughout the game, Town’s ultras kept things interesting off the pitch. I wish more non-league clubs had active ultras to add atmosphere to grounds to all power to them. I’ll be keeping an eye out for Eastbourne Town’s results going forward.