Lewes F.C.

Lewes Football Club is an English football team based in Lewes, East Sussex currently playing in the Conference National. Nicknamed The Rooks, the team has seen a number of promotions in recent years. Their main rivals are Crawley Town, Eastbourne Borough and Worthing.

Early history
Lewes Football Club was formed at a meeting at a local pub in 1885 and initially wore green shirts designed to evoke the surrounding South Downs. The present red and black kit was adopted in 1893. The club have always played their home matches at the Dripping Pan (often just called The Pan). The ground itself is known to have been used for football matches prior to the formation of the current club, and has been used by the local people for recreation since time immemorial. The unusual name, "The Dripping Pan", is because the site was where monks from the local priory used to dry water from the nearby river to make salt. This also accounts for the pitch being sunk below ground level and being surrounded by grass banks on all sides.

Later history
Having won the championship of the Mid Sussex League twice before World War I, Lewes became founder members of the Sussex County League in 1920. They were runners-up on four occasions but it was not until 1964-65 that they were finally able to win the championship, after which they stepped up to the Athenian League.

After winning the Division 2 title in 1968, promotion to the Premier Division followed just two years later when the club won the Division 1 title.

In 1977 Lewes joined the newly expanded Isthmian League, initially in Division 2. Promotion to Division 1 came in 1980 but in 1991 the Rooks were relegated. They bounced back at the first attempt but could only manage one season at this level before two successive relegations saw them in Division 3, where they actually finished second from bottom of the entire league on two occasions.

During the 1998-99 season Jimmy Quinn joined the club as manager and the club soon claimed two consecutive promotions, taking them to the Isthmian League Division One South.

After Steve King took over as manager, in the 2003-04 season they were champions of this division and stepped up to the unprecedented heights of the Conference South after a busy schedule of playoffs at the end of the season, in effect jumping two divisions.

They reached the play-offs in both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, finishing 4th in the league on both occasions. However, they could not participate in the play-offs as their Dripping Pan ground did not meet Conference National grading criteria. This allowed Cambridge City and St Albans City respectively to receive a bye into the next round. In the 2006-07 season, they finished 9th in the league.

In the 2007-08 season they won promotion to the Conference National for the first time after a 2-0 win over Dorchester Town.

Controversially on the last day of the season, then manager Steve King's contract was not renewed by the board, this subsequently meant that all but one (Anthony Barness) players in the winning squad left the club.

On 29 April 2008, the board released a statement stating that a new manager, Kevin Keehan, had been appointed to run the first team for the beginning of the 2008-09 season. After winning just 4 out of 36 league games for the Rooks, he resigned as manager on 10 March 2009 with Steve Ibbitson taking the role of caretaker manager until the end of the season. On 25 March 2009, Lewes' relegation from the Conference National was confirmed after 39 games of the season, with the club finishing bottom of the league.

Honours
Champions 1910/11, 1913/14 Champions 1964/65
 * Mid Sussex League:
 * Sussex County League:

Runners up 1924/25, 1933/34, 1958/59, 1963/64

League Cup Winners 1939/40 Winners 1976/77 Winners 1961/62, 1962/63, 1964/65 Winners 1964/65, 1970/71, 1984/85, 2000/01, 2005/06
 * Sussex Floodlight Cup:
 * Sussex RUR Cup:
 * Sussex Senior Challenge Cup:

Finalists 1910/11, 1912/13, 1930/31, 1931/32, 1979/80, 1982/83, 1987/88, 2001/02 Division 1 Champions 1969/70
 * Athenian League:

Division 2 Champions 1967/68 Conference South Play-off Winners 2003/04
 * Isthmian League:

Division 1 South Champions 2003/04

Division 2 Champions 2001/02

Division 2 Runners up 1979/80, 1991/92

Division 3 Runners up 2000/01 Champions 2007/08
 * Conference South:

FA Cup history
Lewes have reached the 1st round proper of the FA Cup three times in their history. In the 2001-02 season they played Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, losing 2-0, in the 2006-07 season they were beaten 4-1 at home by Darlington, and in the 2007-08 season they lost 3-0 to Mansfield Town at Field Mill.

In the 2008-09 season, Lewes lost to Leiston of the Eastern Counties League (four divisions below Lewes), losing a home replay at the 4th qualifying round stage 3-1, missing the opportunity to reach the first round proper for the third season in a row.

FA Trophy history
Lewes' best performance in the FA Trophy has been reaching the 3rd round proper. This has occurred on two occasions - in the 2002-03 season they lost 3-2 at Gloucester City, and in the 2003-04 season, they played Weymouth at home, but found themselves on the wrong end of a 13-goal thriller, losing 8-5.

FA Vase history
The last time Lewes were eligible to enter for the FA Vase was in the 2001-02 season. Their last season saw their best run in the competition, reaching the quarter-finals. They ended up losing 2-1 at home to AFC Sudbury.

Players

 * As of 26 April 2009.

Notable former players

 * For a complete list of former Lewes players with Wikipedia articles, see Category:Lewes F.C. players.

Supporters
A fanzine entitled Ten Worthing Bombers was released the first time on 20 September 2008 and has subsequently produced four issues, including a promo. All profits raised go back to support the infrastructure of the club.