Burgess Hill Town chairman: 'It's time to stand up for your club'

Like all football clubs, the coronavirus lockdown has hit Burgess Hill Town hard with the majority of income stopping and Newell has said the future of the club is at risk.

And despite getting a government grant to help, Mid Sussex District Council have not suspended their rent.

SEE ALSO Saunders leaves Haywards Heath Town to join Horsham | Tribute paid to renowned Sussex rugby player | Crawley Town chief: 'There are a lot of financial burdens on every club'A full statement from Newell on the club's website said: "First and most importantly, I hope you are keeping safe and staying in. I don’t like being told how to live my life any more than the next man, so I want these current restrictions over. The best way to achieve that is to follow the guidelines and help stop the spread of the virus.

"When football was suspended in March our income from gate receipts ceased, and when the official lockdown started on 23 March we lost all of our bar and function room revenue.

"I immediately wrote to our Landlords, Mid Sussex District Council and explained the situation and asked for our rent to be suspended until we were back playing football.

"This was before the Government grant initiative to help businesses in the leisure and hospitality sector as we are. We have now received our grant, but Mid Sussex DC have refused to suspend the rent and pointed out we have the grant.

"Assuming we don’t start again until September (at the earliest) that means that over half of our grant will go back to the Council. We have no other income and what we are left would not be sufficient to sustain our ongoing expenses if we couldn’t call on our army of volunteer labour.

"I don’t believe the grant initiative was intended to protect the revenue stream of District Councils, as Mid Sussex DC has claimed, so I’d like to ask you to contact your local councillor by all and any means to ask them to reconsider their decision.

"You can find a list of councillors on the council’s website, on this link: http://midsussex.moderngov.co.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1 or by calling the council on 01444-458166 or by Email: [email protected]

"The future of our Club is at risk, please do what you can to help."