Crawley Down Gatwick

Crawley Down Gatwick FC is a non-league football club from the village of Crawley Down in West Sussex, located a few miles east of Gatwick Airport. The club was formed in 1993 following the merger of Crawley Down United and two other local clubs.

United had progressed through the Mid-Sussex League, becoming runners-up in the Premier Division before merging to go under the name of Crawley Down Village FC. After becoming Mid-Sussex League Premier Division champions in 1994-95.

The triumph resulted in promotion to Division Three of the Sussex County League, finishing runners-up in their debut 1995-96 season to win promotion. ‘The Anvils’ were denied promotion in 1998-99 owing to a lack of floodlights at The Haven.

The club changed their title to Crawley Down FC in the summer of 1999, prior to finishing third in Division Two in 2008-09 and winning promotion to Division One of the competition, after their home ground was upgraded.

An eighth place was backed up by the Division One title in 2010-11 to gain promotion to Division One South of the Isthmian League. In 2012 the club were renamed again, becoming Crawley Down Gatwick FC.

A mid-table introduction to step four non-league football was followed by relegation in 2013-14 to the Sussex County League, which became part of the Southern Combination League in 2015. Down played in the top tier, finishing as Division One runners-up in 2016-16 which was retitled the Premier Division for the 2016-17 campaign.

Three mid table finished ensued as Leslie Oliver top scored in 2018-19, with the Anvils finding themselves in seventh place when the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons were ended early owing to the outbreak of coronavirus under manager James Day.

A midtable position was backed up by a runners-up place in 2022-23 which led to an inter-step playoff with a chance of promotion. However, Sutton Common Rovers won the tie to go up. Ninth place followed in 2023-24.

Crawley Down Gatwick FC will play in the Southern Combination League Premier Division in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Crawley Down Gatwick 1 Hendon 2 (Tuesday 22^nd September 2020) FA Cup First Qualifying Round (Att: 180)

The visit of Hendon in the FA Cup saw the visitors let out a sigh of relief who deserved the win despite being pushed very hard from a determined side from two tiers lower.

Following the completion of early shift at work I headed home to change and for a meal before heading to Stanmore where I met regular driver Lee Cousins on the Broadway where an erstwhile Wetherspoon establishment was now a Nando’s.

John Rogers had kindly offered to drive and arrived with his Dad Chris not long after 4.30pm. Traffic was light as we headed to the M25 via Ruislip and the Western Avenue on the same route I’d travelled the previous evening to Beaconsfield.

Again the M25 was trouble free, no doubt aided by the continuation of little Heathrow Airport traffic. They were indeed strange times. Much of the chat on the easy journey was of non-league football and the governments’ latest policies to try and crack the pandemic.

The M23 was similarly easy going before we turned off to head towards our destination. Crawley Down seemed a pretty and fairly affluent village on the drive through as we arrived at the Haven Centre at just gone 6pm.

The clubhouse had an automatic temperature checker on the wall and took down names and phone numbers before offering some fine Harvey's Sussex Best bitter via table service. Having such a good ale was a pleasant surprise and greatly appreciated.

The bar was mainly used by the usual loyal Dons following. After pre match ales we accessed the turnstile via the beer garden. EvePass was the chosen track and trace App used for admission. Entry was £6, while a programme was available to download for free.

The ground had a small cover near the corner where the players emerged from and a seated stand near the entrance. Aside from that there was hard and grass flat standing al the way around. Three sides were nicely enclosed by trees and bushes.

A most decent attendance was bolstered by a good away following and several members of the Anvils youth sides gathered sensibly around the slightly undulating, hard and bumpy pitch in readiness for action on what turned into a chilly evening after a most pleasant afternoon.

Hendon's close pass and move tactics were well closed down in a tight first half without too much goalmouth action. The squad was still awaiting the recovery of a few players from injury and were limited to naming just three substitutes.

We laughed but also discussed the commercial viability and ethos of raffling subs places to fans who might be signed on as players to sit on the bench. I think it was dismissed, but as I say, these were strange times.

Dwade James had a half chance for Hendon while a shot from a home player flashed across Jonathan North’s goal up the other end. Not a lot else happened during the first period as the visitors struggled to become accustomed to the pitch while the hosts gave it everything.

At the break tea and kit kats were the order of the day, with brews being served in proper mugs for just a quid. Poor Lee was a bit dismayed that no food was on offer but managed to battle through.

A fine stop from Dons keeper Jonathan North and then a goal line clearance from the Hendon defence had the away following left sweating. While they were the better football side, it was difficult to see where a goal would come from for either side.

However, the introduction of a couple of subs and change of formation with half an hour to go by Dons manager Lee Allinson would change things. Immediately his side went up a gear and showed more urgency.

It resulted in one of the replacements, Jayden Clarke, hammering into the top corner from the edge of the box with twenty minutes remaining after a move looked like being snubbed out once again as it ran along the edge of the area.

Hendon continued to take the initiative before doubling their lead with five minutes remaining. A through ball evaded the keeper coming to the edge of his box as the other earlier sub Liam Brooks nodded on and then latched on to collect and score into an empty net.

Crawley Down refused to lie down and were rewarded a couple of minutes from time with a goal setting up a frenetic if safe ending for the away side. We were having a bit of banter with some friendly enough local lads near to us.

They went a bit over the top as Brooks tried to run the clock down for a second time in the corner near to us, advising it was a license to break his legs. A young home player tried to oblige with what frankly was an awful challenge. He was lucky that the decent referee only showed him a yellow card.

It was a deserved victory overall, but one that the visitors had to work very hard for. Credit had to go for the hosts for their continual work ethic. Every player must have been shattered at full time after some great efforts.

Even lighter traffic on the way back and superb work from driver John had me deposited at Harrow-on-the-Hill, a brief Aldi shop and enjoying what will become a rare post 10pm beer before 11 o'clock back at Kingsbury Wetherspoons. What a difference a 7.30pm kick off makes.

I was awaiting the Friday draw for the next round with enthusiasm and hoping for an interesting tie.