Happy Place

Broadbridge Heath  1  Erith & Belvedere  0

Isthmian League – Division One South East

Admission / Programme - £10 / £2

I can easily be swayed, and early in the week when Steve asked me if I fancied ‘jumping in’ with him on a trip to Broadbridge Heath, I shelved the original plan of a run to Redbridge and accepted his offer.

It’s been a while since we had a little day out, taking the Isle Of Man escapade out of the equation, we haven’t been on one this season, whereas last season we had some belters at Beckenham Town, Pontypridd United and Bracknell Town.

Broadbridge Heath as a club are new to Step 4 this season having won the Southern Combination League last time out. The Southern Combination is the league formerly known as the Sussex County League, a competition the Bears had been members of since a third division was formed back in 1983.

The history of the club is much deeper than that though. They were formed in 1919 by demobilised soldiers, and went on to play in local leagues such as the Horsham & District, and the West Sussex League, before ending up in the Southern Counties Combination, which eventually via a merger became the aforementioned Sussex County League.

In case you were wondering where exactly Broadbridge Heath is, it is in Sussex, but to be fair, when they were promoted to the Isthmian League back in the Summer, I did have to resort to looking on a map. Without being arrogant, not many places require me to look at a map to locate them, but Broadbridge Heath did, and it was from this that I ascertained that the place was in fact a small town on the edges of Horsham, and is in fact split from it via the main A23 which scoots down to Worthing.

Readers will recall a trip prior to the festive period that was meant to have ended up at Badshot Lea, but in actual fact, ended up at Horsham FC. Warthogs had taken hold and myself and Thorpey had to head further round the M25 at Leatherhead, and follow the A23 round the edges of the town, through Dorking and eventually past Broadbridge Heath before arriving at the Hop Oast ground of the Premier Division side.

I did comment to Thorpey on the day that Broadbridge Heath was a club that was on the radar, but in all honesty I wasn’t expecting to visit them quite so soon. The ground is easy to find, you come off the roundabout, head for Tesco and the Leisure Centre, park up in the bowls club and it’s right behind you, dead easy! In fact, it was dead easy, the journey was a proverbial piece of wee wee and we were in the car park at 12.45, such a shame Steve was driving……

The ground is a new one that they only moved into in 2019, but prior to that they were quite literally next door at the athletics track that belongs to the Leisure Centre. Steve and I would have gone and had a look at it because we were so early, but two thing stopped us, firstly we didn’t actually know it was the former ground until we got home, and secondly, the bar was open!

The ground is tidy, with the stand out feature being the single story clubhouse and dressing room building that sits on the North touchline. A seated stand is opposite, while behind the East goal is a narrow area of covered terracing of the Atcost style variety. The pitch itself was in excellent nick, but the most striking thing about this club was quite simply the welcome.

We walked into the clubhouse and were greeted by a home official, who relieved us of our admission money, but at the same time was incredibly interested why we had travelled down from Belper and Chesterfield respectively. He wasn’t buying the story that we were escaped prisoners on the run, and before we knew it we were being introduced to various other club officials who wanted to chat to us about the why’s and wherefores of our visit. It was all very welcoming and friendly, and when you are treated like that when you first visit a club, it goes a very long way in term of not only the first impressions, but more importantly, the lasting memories of a place.

That welcome was extended when at half time we were invited into the boardroom to enjoy a cup of tea, some sandwiches and a lovely slice of Victoria Sponge, where again we chatted to officials of both clubs and both sides cases, the challenges of moving from Step 5 to Step 4, not least in terms of the demands of the playing wage bill.

I suppose at some point I’d better mention the game. Erith & Belvedere sat next to bottom after bossing the Southern Counties East League last season, whereas the hosts were sat in the bottom half of the table. On paper it didn’t have the hallmarks of a classic, with the greatest of respect, and to be fair, the story on paper was mirrored by the action on the pitch.

It was not a great spectacle in terms of action. Both sides gave it their all, and we saw plenty of endeavour, but not much in the way of craft and guile. In front of 122 paying spectators, the first half was goalless, and as we moved into added time it did look like it was going to finish that way until Jamie Buchanan grabbed the all important goal that gave the hosting Bears the three points.

You had to be pleased for Broadbridge Heath, not least because of the hospitality and friendly welcome they afforded to us. The journey they are on is at an interesting stage. Clubs that gain promotion from the Southern Combination (Sussex County) League do not typically flourish and move on, some find their level and plateau, others give it a go but then drop back down a level again. Hopefully, for the Bears, plateauing is the least they will do, and maybe, that is where they will find their happy place.

Steve and I certainly found our happy place at Broadbridge Heath, give them a visit, I’m sure you will too, tell them we sent you!