Hassocks Football Club appoints new coach

Hassocks Football Club are delighted to announce the appointment of James Westlake as the Robins’ new first team head coach. A hugely popular figure at the Beacon, Westlake has made 228 appearances for Hassocks across three spells spread over 11 years. He is planning to combine his new role with continuing as a player. Westlake first joined the club in 2010, signed from St Francis Rangers by Mickey Jewell. He was a mainstay of Jewell’s Hassocks side who finished fourth in the Premier Division in 2011-12, the club’s highest ever league position, before he returned to St Francis in 2013. A brief spell with Haywards Heath Town followed before Westlake re-joined the Robins midway through the 2015-16 season to help Hassocks escape relegation in the second half of the campaign under Mark Dalgleish and Phil Wickwar.

Westlake scaled back his football commitments in 2018, to focus on his running career. Two years later, he was lured back to football when appointed assistant manager of Loxwood. When his former Hassocks teammate, Spencer Slaughter, left Plaistow Road in 2021, Westlake soon followed to sign for Hassocks for a third time. The Robins were deep in relegation trouble, but his return helped spark another turnaround to finish 16th, some nine points clear of the bottom two. When the 2022-23 Premier Division season gets underway on Saturday 30th July, Westlake will aim to build on that improved second half of the campaign under his predecessor, Brad Sweetman. He has named Phil Gault and Tom Hughes as his assistants. Hassocks stalwart Phil Wickwar will continue to offer matchday support.

A new football season for Hassocks Football Club's Robins

By Scott Mccarthy

The 2021-22 Southern Combination League season is three months old now and for Hassocks, it has been a campaign so far featuring a new way of doing things with mixed results. In the summer, Hassocks decided to focus on youth. With Dave John stepping down as manager to become the club’s technical director overseeing all football at the Beacon. Former Under 18s manager Brad Sweetman was appointed as new first team head coach.

Sweetman is the youngest boss in the Premier Division and he is operating with the youngest squad by some distance. Most of those players have played under his management before in the Robins youth set up, where Sweetman led Hassocks to the Southern Combination Under 18 League title in 2017-18 and a second place finish the following season.

In the two curtailed campaigns, the Robins had been third in 2019-20 and top in 2020-21 when football was halted by the pandemic. Hassocks have enjoyed something of a golden age of youth team football over the past five years, so who better to manage those players as they transcend to senior football than Sweetman?

That is the theory, anyway. The Premier Division is awash with a fair amount of cash this year, meaning that players who perhaps should ply their trade at a higher level are turning out at step five of the non-league pyramid.
Hassocks, meanwhile, are trying to navigate their way through with a team of players mainly under the age of 23. Whilst they will no doubt become better talents for the experience and few clubs exhibit a degree of longterm planning like this, there is a danger that the Robins struggle in the here and now. The major problem with young players is that they tend to be inconsistent, and that is what has plagued Hassocks so far. The Robins have beaten a top eight side in Steyning Town despite playing for over an hour with ten men following an early red card. They then repeated the trick by picking up a point inside of half an hour, despite a dismissal start, against one of the preseason dark horses for a title tilt, Lingfield.
Table toppers Littlehampton Town were nearly shocked at their Sportsfield ground and AFC Uckfield Town have been held at the Beacon too. Mixed in with those promising showings have been several heavy defeats.

Results aside, the one thing you can say is that it is never dull. Sweetman has his side playing an exciting brand of modern football and when it works, it is great to watch. The key for Hassocks over the next six months is getting it to work more often. The games continue to come thick and fast as autumn turns into winter. Fixtures can be found on the Hassocks website and admission remains £6 adults, £3 concessions with under 16s going free. The Robins are trying to start a brave new era, so why not come down and see what it is all about?

The Hassocks Robins' superior but private football season

By Scott McCarthy

It has been football, but not as we know it. Hassocks football club have spent April playing behind closed doors in the Southern Combination League’s Supplementary Shield, a competition designed to give clubs six more matches at the end of a campaign curtailed due to the winter lockdown costing four months of the season. And, in classic Hassocks style, the Robins have saved some of their best performances and results for when fans cannot be present.

Despite being the lowest ranked team in Group C, Hassocks went into their final game with a chance of qualifying for the semi finals as group winners following an excellent run of form. Their most impressive result was easily the 3-1 win over Horley Town achieved in their second fixture. You may remember – or you may have chosen to forget – that Hassocks suffered a club-record 8-0 home defeat last time they faced the Clarets, who were the favourites to win the Premier Division title before the regular season was called off.

To effect a 10-goal swing in six months is pretty extraordinary, even by Hassocks’ high standards of veering from the sublime to the ridiculous in double-quick time. The Robins also took four points from Crawley Down Gatwick, who were sixth when the campaign was cancelled.

When the competition was announced, Hassocks boss Dave John (pictured) said he wanted to use it to give his young players a chance to build some momentum ahead of the 2021-22 season. They have certainly done that and providing John can keep this squad together, then their achievements in the Supplementary Shield bode well.

There has been one other reason for their impressive performances: Pat Harding. With the Isthmian League opting not to resume, the Burgess Hill Town striker has been free to turn out for Hassocks, the club where he began his career 20-odd years ago and for whom he dual-signs every season.

Harding has five goals from five games, including passing the 200 appearances mark for the club. That no supporters have had the opportunity to see one of the most popular players in Hassocks history back in the red shirt is arguably the most disappointing aspect about empty grounds. Fans may have missed out on Harding, but his impact on the Robins has shown that they are one quality, experienced striker away from having a very good team next season.

Suddenly, the future looks very bright for when the Beacon can welcome supporters back, hopefully in the summer.

Hassocks' Robins vs Burgess Hill's Hillians for charity

Grassroots football returned from its lockdown hiatus on 5th December 2020 and for Hassocks it was an occasion to remember as the Robins raised a record breaking amount of money for St Peter & St James Hospice in the 2020 Ann John Trophy.

The annual charity match takes place each year between Hassocks and Burgess Hill Town in memory of Ann, wife of the Robins’ long-serving chairman, Dave John. In 2014, Ann sadly passed away from cancer, having been as familiar a face on the Sussex non-league circuit as her husband, thanks in part to her legendary cakes which were sold at the Beacon every match day.

Traditionally, the game takes place in the summer, but that was not possible this year. When the government announced that football could resume from the start of December, Hassocks spotted an opportunity to get the match played before the competitive business of the Southern Combination League Premier restarted.

Thanks to the willingness of the Hillians and their manager Jay Lovett, the match was organised in double quick time. Changes to the rules surrounding licensed bars and hospitality venues meant it took considerable planning: The Beacon clubhouse had to remain shut, but Hassocks could serve hot food providing it was passed out of a window without fans entering the building.

Despite the challenges of trying to organise a game of football in quick time with a host of restrictions to consider, the afternoon was a complete success. Fans of both clubs turned out in force, resulting in £1500 being raised for the Hospice. In a year in which charity donations have been severely hit by the pandemic, that is a huge amount of money for an organisation who need as much support as possible.

Things did not go quite so swimmingly on the pitch, from a Hassocks point of view at least. Lovett brought a full-strength Burgess Hill side on the short journey south and they showed why they are a division above the Robins in the football pyramid by running out 8-1 winners to retain the Ann John Trophy.

Sometimes, football is about much more than a result, and this is one of those occasions. Thank you to everyone who came along and supported the afternoon, and we hope to see you in 2021 to try and raise even more for St Peter & St James.

Find Hassocks Robins at www.hassocksfc.net