South Park Reigate Football Club are an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. The club is affiliated to the

Surrey County Football Association The Surrey County Football Association was founded in 1877 and affiliated to The Football Association in 1882, at the same time as a County Senior Cup competition, the Surrey Senior Cup, was established. The organisation administers all levels ...

. They play in the .

History

The club was founded in 1897 and joined the Redhill and District Football League as a founding member. The facilities of the club were very basic to start with, with the club playing on a sports field between Crescent and Church Roads. 1925 brought a partnership with the local

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

club which formed the South Park Sports Association, the aim of the association to improve athletic facilities for the two clubs and as a result the people of South Park. The new association found suitable land on Whitehall Lane, the current home of South Park F.C., and purchased four acres through subscriptions and door to door collections. Further purchases of two and four acres respectively ensured that the ground would remain a permanent sports home by vesting them to the

National Playing Fields Association Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...

. The entire allotment was renamed " King George's Field" in 1935. The club took a hit during and immediately after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, however an air raid shelter on King George's Field proved to be a defining feature of the landscape for the club in its rebound after the war. Donations ensured that amenities were added to the shelter, such as a clubhouse, showers and toilets, to provide the club much needed improvements to fulfill their sporting aspirations. After this period the club remained playing in the local leagues, where they achieved some success over the years. In 2001, nearby club Reigate Town Football Club moved into South Park and merged with the current club. As a result, the club was renamed South Park & Reigate Town Football Club until 2003 when they reverted to South Park Football Club. Even more renovations were made to King George's Field with the installation of floodlights and new changing rooms. 2006 saw the club's promotion from the Crawley & District League to the

Combined Counties Football League The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's football league in south-eastern England with members in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Jersey, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and the western half and sou ...

Division One. The club's first ever

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

match was held in 2008–09, a second qualifying round 2–1 home defeat to Shoreham. In 2010, South Park participated in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the first time. They beat Greenwich Borough and Horsham YMCA to set up a tie with

Cray Wanderers Cray Wanderers Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Sidcup, London. Based on later reports, the club has a claim to have been established some time in 1860 in the twin villages of St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cr ...

. That season also saw the club gain promotion to the

Premier Division, and won a cup double of the Combined Counties Division one cup and the Surrey County premier Cup. In the 2011–12 season South Park reached the last 32 of the FA Vase competition where they were eventually overcome by the holders

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...

. In the 2012–13 season the club achieved its best ever performance in the FA Cup, reaching the fourth qualifying round, where they were beaten 3–0 at home by

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. South Park updated their badge in July 2018. In October 2018, manager Mick Sullivan, who joined at the start of the season, left the club.

Jay Lovett Jay Lovett (born 2 January 1978) is an English football manager and former player who was recently manager of Burgess Hill Town. He spent his career playing in league football as a defender and midfielder with Brentford and also non-League foo ...

was named manager later that month. In November 2019, Martin Dynan replaced Lovett. Harrison Williams took charge of the club in February 2022. South Park renamed themselves South Park Reigate in July 2022, the decision was made by the club as they believe it will enhance their profile locally as well as in the wider football community.

Ground

South Park play their home games at Whitehall Lane, South Park, Reigate, Surrey RH2 8LG.

Non-playing staff

:''As of November 2018.''

Honours

Premier Division **Champions 2013–14 *Surrey FA Saturday Premier Cup: ** Winners 2010–11 *Combined Counties Football League Premier Cup **Runners up 2012–13 *Combined Counties Football League Division One Cup: ** Winners 2010–11

Records

*Highest League Position: 1st in Combined Counties Premier Division 2013–14 *

best performance: Fourth qualifying round 2012–13 *

best performance: Fourth round 2011–12 *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

best performance: Second round 2016-17 *Highest Attendance: 643 vs

October 20, 2012

References

External links

Official website

South Park
at the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

* {{Coord, 51, 13, 23.94, N, 0, 12, 56.45, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Isthmian League Combined Counties Football League Association football clubs established in 1897 Football clubs in Surrey 1897 establishments in England Football clubs in England Reigate Crawley and District Football League Redhill and District Saturday Football League