Worthing - Woodside Road
Worthing Football Club
Woodside Road
Worthing
West Sussex
BN14 7HQ
HISTORY/FACTS ABOUT THE REBELS:
- Worthing Football Club were formed in 1886 as known as Worthing Association Football Club. At that time they were playing Friendlies and competed in the Sussex Senior Cup ties for the first few years of their existence.
- 13 years later the club were renamed as just Worthing FC. Before that in 1891-92, Worthing reached their 1st Senior Cup Final, losing to Brighton Hornets.
- In 1896, the club became founder members of the Sussex County League, where they won a total of 8 League Titles.
- In 1899-00, the club entered the FA Cup for the 1st time, both Worthing and Worthing Athletic merged as one club, and moved to the Sports Ground, which is the clubs current home now, Woodside Road.
- In 1907-08, Worthing reached to the Quarter Finals of the FA Amateur Cup where they drew 1-1 to the eventual winners Depot Battalion Royal Engineers before losing the replay 1-0 which was a record crowd of over 3,000.
- Worthing reached the FA Cup 1st Round Proper in 1936-37, with the club losing to Yeovil & Petters United 4-3. They had beaten Wimbledon in the 4th Qualifying Round in what was reported a highest ever crowd of 3,600.
- In 1948-49, Worthing joined the Corinthian League but had very little success. In 1963, the Corinthian League disbanded and most clubs joined the newly created Athenian League Division One where Worthing won promotion on the 1st attempt.
- Former Northern Ireland International Gerry Armstrong was appointed manager in 1991-92 and the following season Worthing became the 1st club to win Division 2 for a 2nd time having dropped 12 points from the last 27 games. Gerry now works for Sky Sports as a pundit, mostly seen on the La Liga show.
- In 2016, Worthing were promoted to the Isthmian League Premier Division via the Play Offs, beating Faversham Town at Woodside Road, 3-0. There was a crowd of 1,889 fans in attendance.
- Notable people in Worthing include actress Liz Smith who sadly passed away in 2016 aged 95. Bob Monkhouse as well who passed away in 2003 was known as the host of Bob's Full House. Nicollette Sheridan, Gwendoline Christie, Lucy Robinson were all born in Worthing.
THE GROUND:
Worthing have been playing at Woodside Road since 1903, then known as the Sports Ground. The ground has been home as well to Horsham during the 2008-09 season and also Brighton & Hove Albion's reserve side after the closure of their old ground The Goldstone Ground in 1997. June 2015 saw the club install a 3g pitch at Woodside Road.
MY VISITS:
VISIT 1: Worthing 3-2 Gillingham 31/7/18
FIRST VISIT TO WOODSIDE ROAD, PRE-SEASON:
Worthing 3-2 Gillingham
Tuesday 31st July 2018
Pre-Season Friendly
The final Pre-Season Friendly has come around and has come around fairly quickly if I'm honest. Originally on this night Gillingham were meant to be playing Meridian Sports, but as that game got cancelled for some unknown reason, (that would have also been a new ground) Gillingham arranged another friendly, this time at Worthing, although it was only our youngsters playing, I didn't mind as much as it would have been a new ground anyway, and plus I saw our youngsters play earlier on in July at Sheppey. The day came around and I left home in the car around 5.15pm, and whilst on the way to Worthing, it was nice to drive past Brighton's AMEX Stadium, a ground I've only been to once back in 2011, so was the 1st time of seeing it since then. (You can click here for my visit to Brighton) after going past there, it was only a short trip there to Worthing and after parking up by the ground, we went in at around 7.20pm. £5 for admission in Pre-Season seems reasonable enough for me. The last time I saw Worthing play and the only time I have was against Staines Town last season at Wheatsheaf Park (again you can click here for my visit) in a thrilling 3-3 draw. So, we went in the ground, I took some pictures and sat on the side of the pitch for the 1st half. For a friendly it was a pretty good game, Gills had a penalty 1st half saved from Darren Oldaker, then later on Worthing took the lead and went into the break 2-0 up. Half time, I went and got a Cheeseburger and Cheesy Chips for a fiver, was absolutely lovely. 2nd half came, and I decided to stand behind the goal where Gills were shooting, and Gills pulled one back to make it 2-1. Then, another penalty is given, and this time Noel M'bo takes it, and again it is saved by the keeper. Worthing then made it a 3rd, but a good finish by Gills youngster Jack Tucker makes it interesting and it's 3-2. It stayed 3-2 in the end. Overall it was a good night, seeing 5 goals and another ground ticked off. After discovering it was my 136th current ground ticked off according to Football Ground Map. Pre-Season now comes to an end, and the season is now only round the corner, roll on Accrington away on Saturday.
GROUND PHOTOS:
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