Post by davidb on Sept 1, 2014 21:58:07 GMT
Sad news to read that Mr. Langney himself, Len Smith has finally (and no doubt with a heavy heart) stepped down as Chairman of the Club. Everyone at Priory Lane owes Len an enormous debt of gratitude for the safe hands that guided the club from parks football to one of the elite non-League clubs in the UK. I'm sure we will all wish him a very happy (second) retirement, although no doubt he will continue to be very much in evidence ... and heard from the stand!
Back in 2001 I wrote an article for the Nomad-Online website I ran, and which some will remember. I have recovered it from the depths of an old hard drive and here it is. I just hope it's not too long for Facebook but we'll see ...
[be]THE GROUND THAT LEN BUILT[/be]
Eastbourne Borough FC Chairman Len Smith gazes down from the top of a dilapidated garage at the club’s ground with some satisfaction at the pile of decaying roofing material he has spent the morning replacing:
“This garage was the first thing we built on this site some 20 years ago, and now we’re having to renovate it”.
Smith’s voice has an air of surprise about it, but also a deep sense of pride in what he, and his hard-working Committee have achieved in just over thirty years: leading a parks side, through all three divisions of the Sussex County League, and into the Dr Martens Southern League. Along the way, they have managed to build virtually single-handed, a stadium widely regarded as the finest in the County.
Like the majority of his Committee, Smith has been involved with the club since it’s earliest days: “I first got involved at the age of 17 in the early 1960s”, he recalls. “Then, I was Secretary of the Under 18 side of the Langney and Friday Street Youth Club. I disappeared off the scene for a while whilst I was managing a band, but returned in about 1968 and have been here ever since”.
Langney Sports, has they became known, moved to the site at Priory Lane, having previously played at Princes Park, within a goal-kick from Eastbourne United’s ground at the Oval. Keen to have their own ground and play in Langney rather than on the sea-front, they set up a meeting with local counsellors. Two fields were identified, owned by the Council and set aside as playing fields. Smith and the rest of the team promptly set up a Playing Fields Committee to lease the ground, and this is still in existence today. The first thing to be done was to pipe in a river that ran along the far side of one of the fields, raise the area by about two feet, and plant the trees which today screen the area from Priory Road which runs adjacent. The aforementioned garage was then built to store equipment, and house a large pump for drainage.
Having watched games from the comfort of an old packing case, a small stand was then constructed as work began on the impressive Clubhouse. Today visitors to the ground are amazed that this was completed in just two years, by a main core of just five individuals, who worked every weekend and during evenings in the summer. Indeed, the only professionals used on the project were the carpet fitter and a plumber.
Founder members of Division 3 of the County League, 1985/86 saw them promoted to Division 2, and then again the following season, into Division 1. In the meantime work had been underway, seeding and laying a new pitch on the adjacent field. Several tons of soil was imported from Uckfield, along with sand from the Brighton area. Not for the first time in the club’s history, success came a little too quickly and when promotion beckoned, the League insisted that the club move to the new pitch, even though it was less than a year old. A further condition of promotion was the construction of a stand, which again was not ready.
“On the day of the ground inspection, we arranged for the contractors to deliver a lorry load of steel to coincide with the visit, so at least it would look as though work was underway” recalls Len Smith. As it turned out, the stand (known as the Peter Fountain stand after the man who supplied all the labour) was erected in time, and Langney Sports took their place in Division 1 in 1988/89, finishing tenth.
Another feature of the ground at that time was a large bank (or “hump”), which ran behind the goal at the eastern end of the pitch, and provided a good vantage point for spectators.
“The hump was simply an inexpensive way of enclosing the ground” says Smith, “… but had to be removed when the Bowls Hall was built as we needed new changing rooms behind the goal. We had a problem as we had to remove it before the Bowls Hall could be built, otherwise all the lorries would have had to go across the car park, which would have ruined it”.
To this day, the final resting place of “The Hump” remains a closely guarded secret!
The hump was replaced by the impressive dressing room and hospitality box complex, named in honour of former club captain Mick Green, tragically killed in a building site accident, an event which devastated not only the club and it’s supporters, but reverberated throughout the League, with the funeral service having to be relayed outside in the street because all seats were taken in the local church. Smith recalls that Green’s death dramatically hastened construction: “The Mick Green stand was originally designed to be constructed at our own pace, as and when we could afford it. Sadly Mick died and there was pressure to complete the stand as a lasting memorial to him”.
Until their Championship-winning season in 1999/00 the club proved to be the bridesmaids but never the brides. However, the policy had always been to continually improve the ground and, when it was ready, to move forward with more purpose, able to take promotion if and when it came along. Even then, it almost came too soon, with the Committee and a resolute bunch of supporters working against the clock to ensure that the ground was able to meet requirements of the Southern League.
Asked if the ground will ever be completed to his satisfaction, Smith replies in the affirmative but adds that plans keep changing to meet the ever-increasing ambitions of the club, and ground-grading requirements:
“It has always been the policy of the club to build things that will last: from brick and steel that will look nice and won’t have to be replaced. We had originally planned to enclose the ground with a new toilet block in between the stand and covered terrace, because at the time we felt that a 300 seat stand was as much as we would ever want. We’re now thinking that if we go into the Conference we will need a 500 seat stand, plus a further 500 seats elsewhere. Consequently we are now planning to tuck the toilets behind the covered terracing and extend the stand, possibly by December 2001, but perhaps without the seats initially”
Funding explains Smith, is the issue, not withstanding a grant of over £100,000 received from the Football Foundation last season. Other plans include construction of a new hospitality suite and announcers box as part of the main stand, more convenient that the current facilities behind the goal in the Mick Green stand, and a further requirement of the Dr Martens Premier Division.
So, just how high up the Pyramid do the Eastbourne Borough Chairman’s ambitions extend:
“It’s very difficult. Once upon a time, we didn’t want to go into the County League, and certainly didn’t want to go into the Southern League. This time last season we thought the Eastern Division was as far as we’d go. Now we’re certainly looking to go into the Premier Division.”
And the Conference? Smith provides the sort of response one would expect from the Director of Finance of a successful local company:
“The problem, I have to say, is that in the Premier Division and the Conference we can have a ground good enough, certainly; and I think we have a Manager and a Committee strong enough. Where we do fall down though is a lack of financial clout. We work on the principle that the club is self-financing. A lot of people work for nothing, but we don’t have anybody putting in really large amounts of money. We really want to work as a business. We could win the League next year by throwing a lot of money at it but then we’d go up and have to find more money. We want to be here for the long-term and have to cut our cloth accordingly. That is the problem we are going to have to face. That’s why we brought in Tony [Hylands] as Commercial Manager. In the end, the successful clubs all rely on one person putting money in.”
Finally, Len Smith reflects on what must have been a gut-wrenching decision to change the club’s name from Langney Sports to Eastbourne Borough, from 26 May 2001. He says the decision was ultimately a pragmatic one:
“I think the name change will help with sponsorship ultimately. It will also help gates, as the wider population of Eastbourne will now more readily identify with the club. It has also helped with the sale of lottery tickets, as we can now ‘legitimately’ sell these across the town”.
The new season then, heralds another new chapter in relatively short book thus far, but one, which, under Len Smith’s leadership, looks likely to expand into several volumes.
Back in 2001 I wrote an article for the Nomad-Online website I ran, and which some will remember. I have recovered it from the depths of an old hard drive and here it is. I just hope it's not too long for Facebook but we'll see ...
[be]THE GROUND THAT LEN BUILT[/be]
Eastbourne Borough FC Chairman Len Smith gazes down from the top of a dilapidated garage at the club’s ground with some satisfaction at the pile of decaying roofing material he has spent the morning replacing:
“This garage was the first thing we built on this site some 20 years ago, and now we’re having to renovate it”.
Smith’s voice has an air of surprise about it, but also a deep sense of pride in what he, and his hard-working Committee have achieved in just over thirty years: leading a parks side, through all three divisions of the Sussex County League, and into the Dr Martens Southern League. Along the way, they have managed to build virtually single-handed, a stadium widely regarded as the finest in the County.
Like the majority of his Committee, Smith has been involved with the club since it’s earliest days: “I first got involved at the age of 17 in the early 1960s”, he recalls. “Then, I was Secretary of the Under 18 side of the Langney and Friday Street Youth Club. I disappeared off the scene for a while whilst I was managing a band, but returned in about 1968 and have been here ever since”.
Langney Sports, has they became known, moved to the site at Priory Lane, having previously played at Princes Park, within a goal-kick from Eastbourne United’s ground at the Oval. Keen to have their own ground and play in Langney rather than on the sea-front, they set up a meeting with local counsellors. Two fields were identified, owned by the Council and set aside as playing fields. Smith and the rest of the team promptly set up a Playing Fields Committee to lease the ground, and this is still in existence today. The first thing to be done was to pipe in a river that ran along the far side of one of the fields, raise the area by about two feet, and plant the trees which today screen the area from Priory Road which runs adjacent. The aforementioned garage was then built to store equipment, and house a large pump for drainage.
Having watched games from the comfort of an old packing case, a small stand was then constructed as work began on the impressive Clubhouse. Today visitors to the ground are amazed that this was completed in just two years, by a main core of just five individuals, who worked every weekend and during evenings in the summer. Indeed, the only professionals used on the project were the carpet fitter and a plumber.
Founder members of Division 3 of the County League, 1985/86 saw them promoted to Division 2, and then again the following season, into Division 1. In the meantime work had been underway, seeding and laying a new pitch on the adjacent field. Several tons of soil was imported from Uckfield, along with sand from the Brighton area. Not for the first time in the club’s history, success came a little too quickly and when promotion beckoned, the League insisted that the club move to the new pitch, even though it was less than a year old. A further condition of promotion was the construction of a stand, which again was not ready.
“On the day of the ground inspection, we arranged for the contractors to deliver a lorry load of steel to coincide with the visit, so at least it would look as though work was underway” recalls Len Smith. As it turned out, the stand (known as the Peter Fountain stand after the man who supplied all the labour) was erected in time, and Langney Sports took their place in Division 1 in 1988/89, finishing tenth.
Another feature of the ground at that time was a large bank (or “hump”), which ran behind the goal at the eastern end of the pitch, and provided a good vantage point for spectators.
“The hump was simply an inexpensive way of enclosing the ground” says Smith, “… but had to be removed when the Bowls Hall was built as we needed new changing rooms behind the goal. We had a problem as we had to remove it before the Bowls Hall could be built, otherwise all the lorries would have had to go across the car park, which would have ruined it”.
To this day, the final resting place of “The Hump” remains a closely guarded secret!
The hump was replaced by the impressive dressing room and hospitality box complex, named in honour of former club captain Mick Green, tragically killed in a building site accident, an event which devastated not only the club and it’s supporters, but reverberated throughout the League, with the funeral service having to be relayed outside in the street because all seats were taken in the local church. Smith recalls that Green’s death dramatically hastened construction: “The Mick Green stand was originally designed to be constructed at our own pace, as and when we could afford it. Sadly Mick died and there was pressure to complete the stand as a lasting memorial to him”.
Until their Championship-winning season in 1999/00 the club proved to be the bridesmaids but never the brides. However, the policy had always been to continually improve the ground and, when it was ready, to move forward with more purpose, able to take promotion if and when it came along. Even then, it almost came too soon, with the Committee and a resolute bunch of supporters working against the clock to ensure that the ground was able to meet requirements of the Southern League.
Asked if the ground will ever be completed to his satisfaction, Smith replies in the affirmative but adds that plans keep changing to meet the ever-increasing ambitions of the club, and ground-grading requirements:
“It has always been the policy of the club to build things that will last: from brick and steel that will look nice and won’t have to be replaced. We had originally planned to enclose the ground with a new toilet block in between the stand and covered terrace, because at the time we felt that a 300 seat stand was as much as we would ever want. We’re now thinking that if we go into the Conference we will need a 500 seat stand, plus a further 500 seats elsewhere. Consequently we are now planning to tuck the toilets behind the covered terracing and extend the stand, possibly by December 2001, but perhaps without the seats initially”
Funding explains Smith, is the issue, not withstanding a grant of over £100,000 received from the Football Foundation last season. Other plans include construction of a new hospitality suite and announcers box as part of the main stand, more convenient that the current facilities behind the goal in the Mick Green stand, and a further requirement of the Dr Martens Premier Division.
So, just how high up the Pyramid do the Eastbourne Borough Chairman’s ambitions extend:
“It’s very difficult. Once upon a time, we didn’t want to go into the County League, and certainly didn’t want to go into the Southern League. This time last season we thought the Eastern Division was as far as we’d go. Now we’re certainly looking to go into the Premier Division.”
And the Conference? Smith provides the sort of response one would expect from the Director of Finance of a successful local company:
“The problem, I have to say, is that in the Premier Division and the Conference we can have a ground good enough, certainly; and I think we have a Manager and a Committee strong enough. Where we do fall down though is a lack of financial clout. We work on the principle that the club is self-financing. A lot of people work for nothing, but we don’t have anybody putting in really large amounts of money. We really want to work as a business. We could win the League next year by throwing a lot of money at it but then we’d go up and have to find more money. We want to be here for the long-term and have to cut our cloth accordingly. That is the problem we are going to have to face. That’s why we brought in Tony [Hylands] as Commercial Manager. In the end, the successful clubs all rely on one person putting money in.”
Finally, Len Smith reflects on what must have been a gut-wrenching decision to change the club’s name from Langney Sports to Eastbourne Borough, from 26 May 2001. He says the decision was ultimately a pragmatic one:
“I think the name change will help with sponsorship ultimately. It will also help gates, as the wider population of Eastbourne will now more readily identify with the club. It has also helped with the sale of lottery tickets, as we can now ‘legitimately’ sell these across the town”.
The new season then, heralds another new chapter in relatively short book thus far, but one, which, under Len Smith’s leadership, looks likely to expand into several volumes.
Attachments:
