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are sussex folk just shit at football....???











hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
61,313
Chandlers Ford
Tommy Elphick and Steve Cook too.

Is that 2/3 Prem captains all from Sussex?
Sorry, yes. Martin, Barry, Cook and Elphick, plus TECHNICALLY still a Premiership player (though on loan in League One right now) Dean Hammond.
 






AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,734
Chandler, AZ
NSC seems to do this topic every couple of years or so. Here is a similar one from April 2014 - Professional Footballers from Sussex

I posted the following on April 3 2014:-

It seems there are a few more Sussex professional footballers than the OP suggested. Here then is the NSC-compiled list of current Sussex-born players in the Premier/Football league:-

Premier League:

Gareth Barry - b. Hastings (On loan to Everton)
Russell Martin - b. Brighton (Norwich)
Harrison Reed - b. Worthing (Southampton)

Championship:

Steve Cook - b. Hastings (Bournemouth)
Lewis Dunk - b. Brighton (Albion)
Tommy Elphick - b. Brighton (Bournemouth)
Dean Hammond - b. Hastings (Leicester)
Joel Lynch - b. Eastbourne (Huddersfield)
Solly March - b. Eastbourne (Albion)
Marcus Tudgay - b. Shoreham (Nottm Forest)

League One:

Dean Cox - b. Haywards Heath (Leyton Orient)
Joe Day - b. Worthing (Peterborough goalkeeper)
Adam El-Abd - b. Brighton (Bristol City)
Grant Hall - b. Brighton (On loan to Swindon)
Leon Legge - b. Bexhill (Gillingham)

League Two:

Wes Fogden - b. Brighton (Portsmouth)
Rhys Murphy - b. Shoreham (Dagenham & Redbridge)
John Sullivan - b. Sompting (Portsmouth)
Adam Webster - b. West Wittering (Portsmouth, on loan to Aldershot)
David Wheeler - b. Brighton (Exeter)

Of others mentioned on this thread, Dan Harding was born in Gloucester and I believe Shamir Goodwin was born in London.


There are also a handful of Sussex-born players plying their trade abroad:-

Josh Dickens - b. Crawley (Released by Aldershot at the end of his scholarship last summer, he is now playing for Deportes Concepcion in the Chilean Primera B)
Paul Ifill - b. Brighton (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand)
Simon Greatwich - b. Brighton (Loyola Meralco Sparks, Philippines)

Chris Greatwich was born in Westminster, and I'm not sure if Phil Greatwich is currently playing.

Any more?

To add one more plying his trade "abroad" - Kieran Sadlier, born in Haywards Heath, and previously of West Ham, St Mirren, Peterborough and Halifax, has just signed for Sligo Rovers.
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
27,893
UK champions I believe. Have been for an eternity I suspect!

We should invite a team from Wales over to play us then call it a World Series...
 








Seagulls over Essex

New member
Jun 4, 2004
1,117
Leigh-on-Sea
I knew Chris.

I played with him for a while on Sundays.

Best footballer I ever played with. He was around 19 at the time.

We would take free-kicks together. My job was to say which corner to put it in, and he would oblige every time :)

He was playing for Worthing on Saturdays.

If I remember rightly, he turned a car over and did his back, and was never the same player again.

Such a big shame.

A couple of other good players around that time were Alan Dawes, Jason Rutherford, Steve Farrell, Graham Rice.

May be scouting in Sussex back then was not covered so well

I was at school with Jason Rutherford. What level did he play at, out of interest?
 


ChazzyBHA

New member
Dec 27, 2011
331
Left Back Will Wood is a player who has a massive future ahead of him. 19 years of age and grew up in Burgess Hill, earned a Pro Contract with Southampton recently after helping the U21's win the Premier League Cup!
 








BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
NSC seems to do this topic every couple of years or so. Here is a similar one from April 2014 - Professional Footballers from Sussex

I posted the following on April 3 2014:-



To add one more plying his trade "abroad" - Kieran Sadlier, born in Haywards Heath, and previously of West Ham, St Mirren, Peterborough and Halifax, has just signed for Sligo Rovers.

Thats quite an extensive list and kinda answers the question that Sussex does indeed have the talent but will it have the opportunity from now on in ??

It seems that most made their pathway into the game through our Centre of Excellent back in the day, a time when the club had a policy and perhaps no option but to recruit nearly solely from within Sussex, looking down the list not really aware of any obvious magicians, just good players well coached and many who if today could quite easily be overlooked.

Perhaps the club will help a similar percentage attain some level of a career within the game but unlikely for those players to be from Sussex, policy drives outcomes and never believe the mantra 'if your good enough' syndrome, that's an effort to avoid analysis and scrutiny.
 








grummitts gloves

New member
Dec 30, 2008
2,796
West Sussex, la,la,la
I do wander just how much scouting goes on at youth level within the county. Obviously the Sussex Sunday Youth League is the biggest in the area and I've seen some scouts at games over the years and know of boys who have had trials etc at the Albion. I've also had involvement in the Horsham District Youth League for quite a few years and I've never heard of any scouts at those games. I know there are many other 'smaller' leagues in the county, so are BHAFC potentially missing out or is the scouting so 'covert' you never get to hear of it unless you manage a team that has a player in it that they are looking at?
 


BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
I do wander just how much scouting goes on at youth level within the county. Obviously the Sussex Sunday Youth League is the biggest in the area and I've seen some scouts at games over the years and know of boys who have had trials etc at the Albion. I've also had involvement in the Horsham District Youth League for quite a few years and I've never heard of any scouts at those games. I know there are many other 'smaller' leagues in the county, so are BHAFC potentially missing out or is the scouting so 'covert' you never get to hear of it unless you manage a team that has a player in it that they are looking at?

BHA will inevitably bring in the better young players from Brighton Boys, Sussex Schools and a few more around the edges, but undoubtedly lately they have other priorities.

If you have a dedicated scouting network in other areas it is inevitable that it will diminish the intake from Sussex, players that otherwise might have had an opportunity will no longer, that's the logical outcome.

If you have a paid/expenses scouts from perhaps Hampshire or Essex, which young player will ultimately get the nod when assessing these similar talented players from say those areas and a kid from say Portslade with only really two places remaining (there is always a finite number of places, always), the meeting in the Recruitment Suite at the Amex will go something like this 'yeah bring in the lads from outside the area that our scouts have recommended whilst just keeping tabs on the Portslade kid.

Of course the players then from Hampshire and Essex get access to better coaching, support and goodwill from the clubs coaches whilst Portslade kid gets lost without trace, this happens throughout many clubs depending on their policies, self interest and vested interests effects the outcome of player opportunity, BHA are not unique but if you care to analyse it thats what happens.
 








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