by Chris Harris
A Long Day Out for Eastbourne Borough Fans
On Saturday 22 November 2025, Eastbourne Borough made the long trip to Torquay United for a National League South fixture that turned into a painful afternoon. A 7–0 defeat is never easy to absorb, and for a club that has spent nearly two decades as Sussex’s strongest non league side, it must have been particularly tough. While Worthing and Horsham continue to rise with the energy of new contenders, Eastbourne Borough find themselves at the foot of the table and fighting to hang on.
As someone who writes for the Lewes FC fanzine The Rights of Fans, you would think local rivalries might sharpen the response. But the truth is Sussex non league clubs have rarely had much true rivalry outside the odd flare up, like that brief spell with Worthing twenty years ago. Whether it’s Hastings, Borough, Horsham, Whitehawk, Bognor, or Worthing in their current form, most of us know what it is to struggle. We know what it is to graft, to build with volunteers, and to cling on year after year. In that sense, we are all in it together.
A Gesture That Meant Something
What stood out on this difficult afternoon was not simply the result but the response. Within half an hour of the final whistle, the Eastbourne Borough players and the club agreed that the travelling supporters would have their entrance fee refunded….by the players. Forty-five fans, well, they are having a crap season, had made the 600 mile round trip, giving up a full day on the coach to watch their side fall apart. The refund probably amounted to around seven hundred pounds and the club had already paid for the coach, meaning the supporters were left out of pocket for nothing.
What matters, though, is that the players did not have to do this. They could have walked away, accepted the performance for what it was, and picked up their wages without a second thought. Instead, they recognised exactly what those supporters had committed. They acknowledged the gulf between the fans’ dedication and the team’s performance on the pitch. It was an honest, decent, human response. In a world where players at this level are under pressure, juggling jobs, training, and long midweek trips, this gesture showed a rare level of self awareness and humility.
Wishing Them Well
It would be easy to mock a 7–0 defeat or revisit old notions of rivalry, but that feels hollow in the current landscape of Sussex football. Eastbourne Borough look like they might be joining Lewes in the Isthmian Premier next season, and given our own form, that possibility is maybe a wish, as we slide towards the relegation zone.
For now, all that can be said is that Eastbourne Borough handled a bad day with dignity. The supporters who travelled deserved acknowledgment, and they received it. In the bigger picture, we can only hope Borough manage to recover, climb off the bottom, and keep their place in the league. At the same time, there remains hope that Horsham or Worthing might follow the path Lewes and Eastbourne Borough, took nearly twenty years ago and make the push into the National League. Sussex football needs success stories, and the more of them the better.
#Eastbourne Borough #Lewes FC #Non League Blog #Football Morality #Football Fans
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