Football club's plea for help: Let there be light at Littlehampton

Floodlit action at Littlehampton Town / Picture: Stephen Goodger

Littlehampton FC’s chairman has appealed to the community to help the club raise £15,000 to replace their floodlights - and make sure the ground is fit for the future.

The Southern Combination side, who were set for promotion to the premier division when the 2019-20 season was written off, want to install the new lights this year so they have no worries about their facilities preventing them competing at their current or a higher level.

They’ve so far raised more than £1,500 but need much more to pay for replacement of everything but the pylons themselves.

Chairman Rob McAlees said: “You can’t stand still with your facilities and we’re doing this now because if not, we could reach the stage where the lights would not support us playing senior football.

“You need lights of a certain standard to enter the FA Cup and that is a massive competition for us. We are always hoping for a little run in it.

“In total the work we want to do will cost £43,000. We have grants from people like the Football Foundation we’re trying to secure we need to find £15,000 ourselves.

“Any help from fans or local businesses will be hugely appreciated.”

Littlehampton’s floodlights were installed in 1989 and they say they now ‘only just ‘meet regulations and are deteriorating year on year.

The lights are in regular use not just by Littlehampton Town but other users such as Littlehampton Town Youth FC, Littlehampton United FC and AFC Littlehampton Ladies FC.

In addition the Sports and Social Club use the floodlights for their annual firework display which is attended by hundreds. Without the lights, many local people would miss out.

Planning permission has been granted for the upgrade.

Go to https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/littlehampton-townfc to donate or email the chairman at [email protected] to find out more.

On the pitch Littlehampton will be out to have another successful season in SCFL division one with a similar line-up to last year and show they deserved to be in top spot.