AFC Sudbury

AFC Sudbury is a non-league club from the market town of the same name which is located in Suffolk, just across the border from Essex. The club was formed on June 1st following a merger of two town clubs, whose histories go back some way.

Sudbury Town

Sudbury Town FC was formed in 1885 playing at Belle Vue Park, prior to joining the West Suffolk League in 1894 of which they were crowned as champions in 1896-97 after moving to share Friars Street with Sudbury Cricket Club.

The following year Town became members of the Essex & Suffolk Border League. In 1900 a merger with Sudbury Wanderers saw the club became Sudbury United before being renamed as Sudbury Town in 1908.

‘The Borough’ returned to the West Suffolk League to claim a further league title in 1910-11. A move to the East Anglian League occurred in 1912. Fielding several teams, the club played in various leagues following World War One before settling in the Essex & Suffolk Border League.

Pat Kearney led his side to the league title in 1948-49 and 1949-50 before Charlie Hurst, father of Geoff, took over as player-manager after a move to Priory Stadium close to their previous ground.

After a couple of runs to the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup and consistent league form the club was accepted into the Eastern Counties League. Former Crystal Palace player Wally Hanlon was appointed as manager for the new adventure.

After six losing finals Town finally won the Suffolk Senior Cup prior to Jimmy Chalmers arriving as player-manager in the summer of 1959. Edgar Rumney had taken over team affairs as the side finished as league runners-up in 1965-66.

Bill Wilkie was manager as Town ended as runners-up again in 1971-72 before Paul Smith came in as player-manager and led his team to the Eastern Counties League championship for the first time in 1973-74, retaining the title twelve months later.

Town won the league for a third consecutive season in 1975-76 before four second place finishes in 1976-77, 1980-81, 1981-82 and 1984-85. Malcolm MacKenzie was manager when Borough became champions in 1985-86 and once again in 1986-87.

The management duo of Don James and Martin Head took Town to the semi-final of the FA Vase in 1987-88, going down to Colne Dynamoes after previous good runs in the competition. However, the club would go one better in 1988-89.

The Eastern Counties League was won while wins over Baldock Town, March Town United, Hounslow, Rossendale United and Bashley set up a semi-final tie with Hungerford Town. A record crowd at Priory Stadium saw a 6-0 second leg win to propel Town to Wembley Stadium.

A gate of 26,478 saw a 1-1 draw with Tamworth, before the Midlanders won the replay 3-0 at London Road Peterborough. The league title was retained in 1989-90 making it seven wins along with a plethora of league cups.

The club progressed to become members of the Southern Division of the Southern League. Richie Powling took over as manager, leading his team to promotion to the Premier Division in 1993-94 as league runners-up.

The 1996-97 campaign saw Town defeat Brighton & Hove Albion away on penalties in a replay in the first round of the FA Cup. Their second round tie at home to Brentford saw a 3-1 defeat which had been moved to Layer Road, Colchester.

Paul Grimsey took over as manager at the end of the season as the club dropped back down to play in the Premier Division of the Eastern Counties League. After two mid table finishes the merger with Sudbury Wanderers took place.

Sudbury Wanderers

Wanderers were formed in 1958, initially playing at People's Park in the Halstead & District League. The league and cup double was secured at the first attempt leading to promotion to the Essex & Suffolk Border League.

Promotion from Division One was denied in 1966-67 owing to a lack of facilities at their home venue before moving to the Kings Marsh ground on Brundon Lane, on the edge of town, in 1976.

Division One of the competition was won again in 1976-77 leading to promotion to the Premier Division which was won in 1989-90. The title was retained the following season which saw promotion to the Eastern Counties League.

The Division One title was won in 1992-93, before Wanderers faced Town in the Premier Division after they had taken voluntary relegation. A fourth place finish came in 1997-98 before winning the League Cup in 1998-98, their final season.

AFC Sudbury

Following the merger, the new club moved to Kings Marsh Stadium, appointing former Wanders boss Keith Martin as manager who took the team to third place in the Premier Division of the Eastern Counties League.

Success would soon follow. ‘The Suds’ won the league in 2000-01 which also saw a 6-1 defeat to Darlington in the first round of the FA Cup. The title was retained a year later with the team also reaching the semi-final of the FA Vase, going out on aggregate to Tiptree United.

A third consecutive league title came in 2002-03 when another fine run saw victory against Maldon Town in the last four of the FA Vase. In the final the Yellows went down 2-1 to Brigg Town at Upton Park before Martin was replaced by Gary Harvey.

The Eastern Counties League championship stayed at Kings Marsh in 2003-04. Again, the Vase offered excitement with a semi-final win against Colne setting up a final against Winchester City at St Andrews which ended in a 2-0 defeat.

A fifth consecutive league title arrived in 2004-05 as well as the customary Vase run. Bedlington Terriers were defeated to reach the final for a third consecutive season. This time Sudbury were thwarted, as Didcot Town won the White Hart Lane final 3-2.

After each league success the board of directors turned down promotion, mindful of previous financial difficulties. However, after finishing third in 2005-06 and improvements to their home ground, the club went up to Division One North of the Isthmian League after non-league reorganisation.

Mark Morsley was appointed as manager for the step up which saw a finish in the play-off places. Enfield Town were defeated before a defeat to Harlow Town on penalties in the final. A runners-up berth in 2007-08 ended with defeat in the play-off semi-final to Canvey Island.

Assistant manager Nicky Smith took over as manager as the club was moved into the Southern League Division One Midlands for two seasons before returning to their former competition. Chris Tracey came in as manager in September 2011 before being replaced by David Batch for the 2013-14 campaign.

Jamie Godbold arrived at the club in January 2014, leading his side to the play-offs in 2014-15, going down to Brentwood Town on penalties in the semi-final. The Division One North title was lifted in 2015-16 but the stay in the Premier Division lasted just one season.

Morsley returned as manager for 2017-18 taking Sudbury to eighth place in the renamed North Division. The team were in eleventh spot when the 2019-20 season was curtailed owing to the Coronavirus pandemic, with the following campaign also being annulled. 

Morsley departed in June 2021 to be replaced by the duo Rick Andrews and Angelo Harrop. The team reached the first round of the FA Cup and a live home BBC tie with Colchester United. Harrop left after a seventh-place finish, leaving Andrews in sole charge.

The playoffs were reached in 2022-23 and resulted in wins against Grays Athletic and then Heybridge Swifts as Sudbury won promotion to the Southern League Premier Division Central. However, most of the team and manager Andrews left the club in a dispute over budget cuts.

Marc Abbott was appointed, leading his side to safety by one place.

AFC Sudbury will play in the Southern League Premier Division Central in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

AFC Sudbury 1 Heybridge Swifts 1 (Wednesday 4th November 2020) Isthmian League North Division (Att: 252)

When my pal Tony Foster offered ride to a venue that I was unlikely to reach otherwise, I jumped at the opportunity despite the sleeping pattern being all over the place after completing my roster of night shifts. It was the final opportunity before the COVID-19 Lockdown 2.0.

We had originally planned to visit a couple of weeks previously for the sell out derby against Bury Town. We'd bought tickets online only for the match to be postponed to give Town time to prepare before their game a few days later in the FA Cup.

As it turned out we didn't have to wait too much longer, and were rewarded with a decent free flowing game of a decent quality in ever decreasing temperatures.

The traffic extremely was busy around the suburbs, with Tony using his local knowledge to beat the queues. The A1 and M25 as the roads had a Christmas Eve feel about them as people had their final jaunts, catch ups and escapes before lockdown. The journey took the best park of two and a half hours.

An excellent set up at the grandly titled MEL Group Stadium; King’s Marsh Stadium in old money greeted our arrival. The large car park had the academy pitch next door after negotiating a narrow lane to the venue.

Lovely friendly people were abound as we paid £10 admission. I was told that the programme could be downloaded online. We had a quick gander before grabbing chips and a hot drink for £3 from the smiling folk in the catering hatch. “Sorry, no Bovril tonight as I’ve spilled the contents of the tin out!”

It was a fine ground with cover on all four sides, two with seating. The thriving clubhouse, selling off their stock didn’t seem to have any spare tables, while a huge playing surface was covered in a pristine artificial surface.

We took up a position on the far side on the covered terrace behind the seats. The partisan locals not scared to offer feedback to the officials, but appreciative of good football from the visitors.

The opening hour saw few chances, the best opportunity spurned by Sudbury’s Freddie King from a cross when he failed to get a proper head to the ball when unmarked in the middle of goal. Each side had half chances that went across the six-yard box either side of the half time break.

I thought the turning point came with the introduction of home sub Sean Marks, a big old fashioned centre forward who gave the Swifts defence more to think about as he held up play and won headers.

With just short of twenty minutes remaining on the clock, a nice move gave Ben Hunter a chance which he put on the deck across keeper Jacob Marsden into the far corner. This opened up the encounter as play flowed even more from end to end with both sides increasingly threatening.

Tony got a pleasant surprise when some of his West Ham fans had spotted him and came around for a chat. Groundhopping was doing a roaring business, aided by no fans being allowed into ‘elite’ football.

We were walking round to the exit in stoppage time when a cross was dinked into the middle for Heybridge’s Joe Debell to rise and head down past Luca Collins to spark off mass celebrations among the travelling fraternity.

We’d just about thawed out by Stansted on the way home after I’d had a nice nap aided by the heated seats in Tony’s motor. I was deposited back at Stanmore and back home by 11.45 to reflect on a fine day off work.