by Chris Harris
This isn’t so much a match report as an observation on the changing culture of myself and my contemporaries as we grapple with getting older, as those halcyon days of getting smashed off our faces at football have passed us by, the lagers replaced with the delights of Bovril and Dave defying his 60 years with some boing boinging at the end!
Saturday the 3rd of January 2026, and I’m off to see one of my oldest and dearest friends, Dave Tanner, aka Club Daytona, known to many old hands at the Dripping Pan because, for a few years earlier on in the century, he and I would meet at 11am at the Kings Head in Southover High Street and leave at 11pm, and when Lewes were at home we’d go for a four or five-hour detour to the Dripping Pan… and on many occasions make a very sad spectacle of ourselves.
Arguably, now getting to the fag end of middle age, our bodies, and those of many of our comrades, are either rejecting alcohol or have been told to reject it. Even just a few years ago, the idea of attending a football match with a group of people and not getting drunk was not entirely the most exciting of prospects. Yesterday at Leylands Park, it showed it’s actually the polar opposite.
So I joined Dave, Stuart, and Spooky (not the Lewes FC Spooky) for the game. Since I was last at Leylands Park, the place has been transformed. And as a Lewes fan, I can only express my happiness that such a lovely club is now being stewarded in highly competent hands. The place looks absolutely fantastic.
Sure, it was a bit odd, first of all, seeing Only With Love branded on the new outside bar, who were the operatives of the bar at Lewes a few years ago, and seeing Lewes legend Jay Lovett on the pitch, the Burgess Hill manager-coach. But with introductions out the way, we moved to the side of the pitch that was still in the sunlight, all well wrapped up against the cold.
In all honesty, by the end of the day, we were all perishing. But for the first forty-five minutes before kick-off and the first half, we made the most of the slight winter warmth of the sun. Discussions turned to Bovril, the availability and the timings, all viewed through the lens of the fact it was going to be a very well attended match.
The thing is, it became very quickly evident that actually being in good company for a football match doesn’t need alcohol. Discussions turned to the people we know who have all fallen to the wayside, i.e. given up alcohol, and between the four of us, one pint was consumed. Myself, Dave and Stewart, had nothing. Something that a few years ago would have been inconceivable.
We all took great delight in the fact that the linesman running up and down a few feet away from us at times looked about our age, which made us all feel quite young, and gave us a little bit of extra warmth.
The first half was slightly scrappy, but very competitive. Lewes players being a much bigger size, but the Burgess Hill players offset being smaller by being more agile, and certainly moving forward looked far more creative. Heads up to the Lewes goalkeeper, who had a really good first half.
We went behind the goal for the second half. 1-1.
Then we had that half time conversation.
I can’t remember who said what precisely, but Stuart returned with a hot drink. Alarmed, Dave, I think said, “It’s not Bovril.”
Stuart replied, “No. It was sold out.”
Dave said, knowingly, “I told you it would sell out. I told you it was a big crowd and you’d have to queue for ages.”
Stuart, it turned out, had a beaker of minestrone soup.
“How much was it?” I asked.
“Oh, it was two quid.”
Dave said, “Oh, the Bovril is £2.50.”
“Oh,” I replied. “You’d have thought it would be cheaper.”
I can’t remember who it was who then said, “Yes, but they come out in branded Bovril beakers.”
It was one of those conversations that, when we were younger, if we’d stood next to people at a football ground having it, we’d all smirk to ourselves. And when not in the close proximity of the people having that conversation, we’d have laughed ourselves rotten at the content of the subject matter.
Some old bastards. Some sober bastards. Talking about Bovril at half-time. The Old Bastards Bovril Club was formed.
We had moved up a generation. We’re no longer the drunken, witty, ironic ones. We are now the The Old Bastards Bovril Club, the irony being that nobody had any, but I assured it is a staple part of proceedings normally.
Burgess Hill were all over it in the second half. I can’t remember the lad’s name — he’s on loan from Sutton, he’s 18, and he is shit hot. He played on both wings, scored the winner, and was indeed the difference between the two teams.
Burgess Hill successfully contained the ball, played the five minutes of extra time out properly, and won the game 2–1. Let’s be honest: it couldn’t have ended quick enough. We were all absolutely freezing. Lewes did not look interested in the second half.
But during the course of the day, we planned some other games to go to at Burgess Hill. I think we’re going to go to Three Bridges next weekend, and Dave and the other lads are going to come over to some Lewes games.
As previous heavy drinkers, I would say in summary: it was probably something at the back of our minds that we’d sort of dreaded a little bit — being sober at the football. But actually, it was really good. Not having to queue for beer the whole time, go to the toilet the whole time, especially, let’s face it, declining bladder capacity and talk a load of complete shite the whole time.
Instead, we just stood there and enjoyed each other’s company. Had a yak. Took the piss. Contemplated life. Talked about our various failings. Not too many successes.
We left just as it turned dark. In the second half, we had a view of a beautiful sunset. And as we left, the Burgess Hill players went over and did their little post-match appreciation to the supporters — a nice touch that felt full of youth and maturity at the same time.
And Dave, of course, did his boing boing boinging, jumping up and down like we used to in our youth at all of the punk gigs we used to attend. I went home for some beers with my wife and watched the darts.
#Lewes #Lewes FC #Burgess Hill Town FC #Non League Football #Isthmian Premier
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