Horsham Football Club is a member of the FA's Charter Standard Scheme, a best practice guide that sets standards of coaching, administration and child protection for all clubs outside the Football League and Premier League. As a benchmark for quality, it's aim is to improve the playing experience for all.  More...

Ryman Football League

Arun & Chichester League

Forest 1st XI 1 Horsham Youth 2
Thursday 5th August 2010

Horsham Youth travelled just up the road to Forest FC on Thursday evening to take on the County League Division Three side's 1st team squad. The Hornets fielded a young squad of all 16 year olds, bar one, for the match while Forest fielded virtually two different squads in each half as their Manager also took the opportunity to look over trialists. Horsham played some great football and the 1st half ended honours even. The 2nd half saw Horsham concede to go a goal behind but the young Hornets managed to keep Forest at bay with some fine goalkeeping and defending which spurred the side on and grew stronger as the game went on, creating a few changes which saw them score twice through debutant Max Love to come out 2 -1 winners.

Worthing U18s 1 Sussex Schools and Colleges 1
Monday 2nd August 2010

Horsham were well represented when Sussex Schools and Colleges met Worthing U18s at the Rebels' Woodside Road on Monday night. The Hornets' David O'Callaghan, goalkeeper Cieran Towse, Josh Clack and Timi Ojo all featured for the county, with Clack and Ojo playing the whole match that ended in an entertaining 1-1 draw. A brief report of the game cane be found on Worthing's website here

Storrington U18s 0 Horsham U18s 7
Wednesday 28th July 2010

Horsham travelled the short distance to Storrington for their first friendly of the season for both sides. Both sides found the surface difficult to play on but Horsham settled the quicker and soon were rewarded with a goal from Lewis Scally coming about from the young Swans not clearing their goal line. Marcus Collier scored with a excellent header on the back stick before Josh Clack finished of the half with his first of the night. After the break Horsham saw Josh Clack score another two, David O'Callaghan and Timi Ojo net his first goal in the Amber and Green.

Horsham FC wants YOU !!

Trials for next season's newly formed Under 12s squad will be held on Tuesday, 27th July. Please contact Annie Raby on 07800922442 or annieraby@horshamfc.co.uk if you are interested. We are pleased to announce that Barry Nash has stepped into run the Under 14s and he is also looking to recruit players ahead of the 2010/11 season. Training is already under way at Collyers on Thursday evenings 7pm - 8.15pm.
Contact Annie for further details.

Sussex County Youth Cup draws

Sunday 12th September U18s v Eastbourne Borough HOME
Sunday 3rd October U15s v Bourne Sports AWAY
Sunday 3rd October U13s v Maidenbower HOME
Sunday 10th October U14s v Adur Athletic AWAY
Sunday 7th November U12s v Ashurst Wood AWAY

Horsham Youth Under 18s Pre-season fixtures

Wednesday 28th July Storrington AWAY KO -To be announced
Thursday 5th August Forest 1st Team AWAY KO -To be announced
Sunday 8th August Shoreham AWAY KO 11am
Wednesday 11th Three Bridges AWAY KO 7.45pm
Sunday 22nd Crowborough AWAY KO 11am

SEASON 2009/10

The 2009/10 campaign saw Horsham Youth represented at 5 age levels who combined to provide the club with varying degrees of success with a league title, two runners-up places and a brace of cup final appearances to celebrate. It was, though, a difficult campaign for all the teams due to the awful weather conditions that led to lengthy lay-offs over the winter months. The backlog of matches saw the introduction of 'double headers', back-to-back fixtures played on the same day, and the cancellation of the County Cup competitions. Despite all this, Horsham Youth enjoyed a memorable season.

A superior goal difference enabled the U12s, under the guidance of Richard Wootton and Jason Reeves, to pip Worthing Dynamos to second place in the Arun & Chichester League  and, although neither side were a match for runaway champions Highdown Saints A, the young Hornets were able to prevent the Littlehampton based side from claiming a league and cup double with a 2-1 League Cup Final triumph at Arundel. A great performance from the lads in what is only their second season together.

The weather meant that all our teams had a disrupted winter and none more so than the U13s who went almost 3 months without playing a match after Christmas. When they returned to action, they were to collect just 3 more wins but still ended the season comfortably in 3rd place. However, one of those victories, a 2-0 semi-final success over Sidlesham, sent Brian Skett and Alan Kenworthy's boys in to a Challenge Cup final date with Bognor Regis Town. Unfortunately it was the Rocks' juniors who would lift the cup in an 8-0 win although Horsham Secretary John Lines praised the U13s who, he said, "fought with spirit against a Bognor team who had a much more physical presence than Horsham".

The U14s enjoyed a tremendous league campaign, dropping just 4 points on their way to taking the Arun & Chichester League title some 14 points clear of second placed Chichester City. A goal difference of 60 was almost twice as many as their nearest competitors while the Hornets' meagre defensive tally of just 9 goals conceded was bettered by only one side throughout the entire Arun & Chichester League. Sompting & Thistle ended Ian Meadows' team's hopes of clinching  the double, winning a closely fought semi-final 2-1, although a 5-0 win over the same opponents went some way towards erasing the memories of that disappointment - one of 7 occasions on which Horsham scored 5 or more goals. Great credit goes to Meadows and his coaching team of David Waller and Andy Hole for the U14s' achievements.

Paul Wills and Michael Wood's U16s gave a fine account of themselves in their debut season in the Sussex Sunday Youth League, alongside clubs such as Eastbourne Borough and Burgess Hill Town. Horsham were looking good for a County Cup Final appearance, having racked up 11 goals in 2 ties, until the sheer backlog of fixtures saw the Sussex FA announce the cancellation of the 2009/10 competition. However, they continued to provide strong competition for Cuckfield Cosmos in the chase for the title, with 5 wins in 6 games leaving the destination of the title undecided until the final weekend of the season. Needing a victory against Eastbourne Borough to stand any chance of finishing top of the pile, Horsham could only draw 2-2 but Cosmos' 5-0 win against lowly Jarvis Brook meant the result was immaterial and the trophy was headed off to Cuckfield with the Hornets having to content themselves with a highly commendable second place finish.

It was a frustrating campaign for the U18s who, as well as having to combat the atrocious weather, had a mere 12 games to play in the Isthmian League's revamped zonal league setup. The Southern Division was dominated by Lewes, who dropped just 3 points on their way to an emphatic title success, but there was little joy for Ivan Raby and John Ingles' charges who picked up just 2 wins and would finish one place off the foot of the table. A 5-1 County Cup  thrashing of Hastings United, and a 1-1 draw against the talented Worthing side during the final weeks, represented rare highlights for the club's senior youth representatives but first team manager John Maggs provided encouragement by selecting several members of the squad for the Brighton Charity Cup competition and top scorer Patrick O'Sullivan also broke in to Maggs' squad for a number of Ryman League fixtures.

"I haven't managed to get to as many youth games as I would normally have done," admitted Youth Secretary Annie Raby, "as my time has been spread thin with so many postponements but those I have witnessed have shown some great football from all sides. It was also great to see the squads parade around the pitch on the last first team match of the season and take the accolades from the supporters, bringing back fond memories of Queen Street when the youth squads always did a lap of honour.

Its also been very satisfying to see Tony Nwachukwu continuing to learn his trade with the first team and Adam Hutchings breaking through this season. As always, the Brighton Charity Cup gave the lads an opportunity to play senior football although, with very few first teamers in the squad for these games, the Under 18s did extremely well with the lads ranging in age from 16-18. We will, of course, be saying farewell to some of the lads who are no longer eligible for youth football next season so let's hope that they continue to work hard at their game and that we see more homegrown talent knocking on John Maggs' door.

Horsham Youth would like to thank all their sponsors and supporters for their backing throughout the season and I hope that all the squads have a good rest over the next few weeks and I hope to see you all next season."