Wick

Wick FC is a non-league football club who are based in the village of the same name which is located on the northern edge of the seaside resort of Littlehampton in West Sussex. The club can trace their roots back to 1892.

The club soon became founder members of the West Sussex League in 1896, initially playing in the Junior Division. They continued playing in local football before joining Division two of the Sussex County League for the 1964-65 season.

 

Promotion was won in 1981-82, prior to the side dropping back down in 1984-85. The Division Two title was lifted twelve months later, before Wick became Sussex League champions in 1989-90 and 1993-94. A runners-up berth followed in 1996-97.

The Wickers were relegated in 2002-03 but reclaimed their place in Division One in 2004-05. Another demoted was suffered in 2010-11. The decision was made in 2013 to merge with neighbours Barnham FC to become Wick & Barnham United.

 

The relationship lasted until 2016 when Wick and Barnham went their own way. The team, under manager Lee Baldwin, was relegated a year later after the competition had re-organised and become the Southern Combination. Two decent league seasons followed before the next two were lost to the worldwide pandemic.

A midtable finish was backed up by an appearance in the 2022-23 playoffs, which saw a victory over Godalming Town before defeat against Epsom & Ewell in the final. The following campaign saw another shot at the playoffs.

 

This time Worthing United, and then Seaford Town were defeated on penalties as Wick won promotion, while the club directors apologised for the behaviour of some of their younger Dragons supporters in the away final.

Wick FC will compete in the Southern Combination Premier Division in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Wick P Shoreham P (Tuesday 17th July 2012) Pre Season Friendly (att: about 8 of us!)

I had finished my night shifts and had arranged to meet up with some old pals from Stanley in County Durham, who were heading to stay in Littlehampton and attend the Sussex v Durham County Championship encounter starting the following day at Arundel.

Phil, Joe and Bob were waiting for me at Victoria station and we had a good catch up on the train on the way down to the coast. Phil knew of my non league passion and asked if there was any football on in the area? 

I told him of the friendly at Crabtree Park, which was located a mile away from the Travelodge where we were to stay. The lads said they'd be keen to go along, especially when I mentioned that they had what was described as a good clubhouse on the website.

After checking in and a couple of pub stops we took a taxi from The George Inn, the local Wetherspoons establishment. I was a bit concerned as nobody was answering the phone at the ground, especially after my mate Gary Griffiths had turned up at nearby Arundel FC the previous night to find the game off.

My pals said we might as well go anyway as it was on the way home. We got out of the taxi to be greeted by a nice bloke who said, "you must be here for the game I've had to call off?". Because of the heavy rain he'd been unable to get the mower on the pitch, which had been left to grow. 

However, he cheered us by announcing that the bar was open! I went off to take my photos while the others went upstairs. Crabtree Park was an adequate venue for the standard of football played there. There were turnstiles in one corner behind the goal with the clubhouse and changing rooms in the other.

A small covered area for standing spectators stood near to the clubhouse along the touchline, while a bit further up on the other side was a seated stand.  The rest of the ground consisted of a mixture of open flat hard standing and grass. I had been past it on a previous look at the home of Littlehampton FC while not realising its proximity.

I retired to the bar to join up with the others. The locals were really friendly and hoped for good weather for our cricket the following day. They hadn't produced a programme for that evenings game, but I was given one from the previous season. We had a couple of pints before walking round the corner to The Locomotive to carry on our evening.

I didn't see a game, but I had a cracking night out!