History & Honours

The History

Burgess Hill town F.C. was founded in 1882 and was a founder member of the Sussex County Football Association. Within the first few years it accomplished the unique achievement of winning the Sussex Senior cup three years running. The Cup is now on display in the trophy cabinet at Leylands Park, having been presented to them after the third win. The present senior Cup was presented to the Sussex Football Association by BHTFC. It would be over 100 years until "The Hill" would reach the senior cup Final again, however fortune was not on their side and Hastings Town Football Club narrowly beat them.

With the help of the local council the club were able to build the enclosed ground at Leylands Park, this coincided with the club joining forces with another local club Worlds End. The new enclosed ground enabled the club to gain entry into the County league, where the club have been ever since.

In 1971 the Club gained promotion to Division 1, only to be relegated 2 seasons later. 1974 saw BHTFC achieve another unique achievement by becoming the only side ever to have won both the League Challenge Cup and the Division Two cup the same season. In 1976 winning the Div 1 Championship by 6 pts completed a hat trick of achievements. Having secured Div 2 title the previous season.

During the ensuing 20 years in the top flight of the County League, success was modest. In 1980 the League challenge cup was secured and in 1992 the RUR Cup . However this changed in 1997 under the guidance of Club Manager and Vice Chairman Alan Pook, When the Club became Div 1 Champions by 12 pts. won the Floodlight Cup, and were runners up in the League Challenge Cup, and loosing semi finalists in the RUR Cup. The First team also had the best runs in the FA Cup and FA Vase for any Sussex County League Club. The Second team finished runners up in the Reserve Premier and won the Mid Sussex Senior Charity Cup.

In 1998 the First team had greater success by again winning the League Championship and the League Challenge Cup. They also reached the Sussex Senior Cup Final. And were top of the county merit table.

1999 saw the "Hillians" retain the League championship for the third season running.

The new millennium has seen the Hill get off to a great start. under the guidance of Gary Croydon and a team full of youngsters. they bagged their first piece of silver of the season when they beat Saltdean 3-0 in the RUR cup final.

Victory in the floodlit cup against Worthing was a great achievement and was to be the last piece of silver for the 1999~2000 season.
In 2001/2002 the Hillians won the County League for forth time in six years. The club also reached the quarterfinals of the FA Vase the furthest the club had ever reached and that game saw a record crowd for Leylands Park of 1598. They also reached the semi finals of the Floodlit Cup and the League Cup.

In the 2002/2003 close season Hillians announced Danny Bloor as the successor to Gary Croydon who stepped down. Damian Webber became Bloor’s assistant.