Upper Beeding - Upper Beeding Memorial Ground

Upper Beeding FC

Upper Beeding Memorial Fields

High Street

Upper Beeding

West Sussex

BN44 3WN

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1563

Tuesday 7th July 2026

Upper Beeding 1-5 Mile Oak

Friendly

UPPER BEEDING FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1925. They played their football in local leagues for many years, seeing success in the Brighton, Hove & District Football League. In 1983, they played a game against Brighton & Hove Albion that featured several famous players, including Joe Corrigan, Eric Young, Jimmy Case, Terry Connor and Neil Smillie. In the 1990s, they moved to the West Sussex League, winning Division 5 in 1992 and progressing up the divisions. This culminated in them being crowned Division 1 champions in 1997 and Premier Division champions and League Cup winners in 1998. In 2001, Upper Beeding joined the Sussex County League, playing in Division 3 for five years. Following seasons of struggle, they returned to the West Sussex League. Despite only finishing 5th, they returned to Step 7 in 2015 with the league having been renamed the Southern Combination Division 2. They have been there ever since, with their best finish of 5th coming in 2017.

Upper Beeding is a village near Horsham in West Sussex. It has a population of around 3,800. Upper Beeding is on the northern edge of the South Downs National Park, which was created in 2010. The South Downs Way and Monarch's Way long-distance footpaths run through the parish; the area is popular with walkers, cyclists and equestrians. The village has a rich history. In AD 858 it is thought that Aethelwulf, father of Alfred the Great, died here and was buried across the River Adur in Steyning. There was a priory in Upper Beeding during the 11th century, but no trace of it now remains. After the Norman Conquest, the manor was granted by William the Conqueror to William de Braose. De Braose rebuilt the Saxon church in 1073, giving us the present St Peter's church. During the medieval period, a busy toll road ran through Upper Beeding, and the toll house was one of the last such houses to be in service in the country. It was later dismantled and re-erected at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.

MY VISIT

There was not a huge amount on offer on my first Tuesday game in nearly two months. Most of the games were being played at schools or sports centres with clubs opting to give their pitches a rest. The nearest 'new tick' at a proper ground was in deepest Sussex, which was far from ideal. The one consolation was a 7 PM kickoff, which meant that I could at least start heading home at a reasonable hour.  After getting home on Saturday, there was much catching up and working out to do. I uploaded my blog, worked out my finances and had a few ciders. I needed something to relax me ahead of another terrible Sunday whilst my passenger enjoyed his usual four-day weekend. I watched some old On The Buses episodes before bed, hoping for a reasonable night's sleep. I got that in the end, more or less. Sunday was its usual gruelling self; hell on earth, it was so busy. I was glad when 1 PM came, and I could go home. I offered Colin Upper Beeding on Tuesday and Ilminster Town on Friday, both my nearest unticked grounds on those days.

I was asleep around 9 and woke up around 3.30 to see England still playing, leading Mexico 3-2 and down to ten men. The game must have been delayed for an hour, but I was glad to see them hold out. The less-than-ideal, but manageable time of Saturday 10 pm will see us face Norway after they beat Brazil. It was a better day at work on Monday, and Colin confirmed that he fancied Upper Beeding on Tuesday but not Friday as he wanted to save money. Fellow hopper Chris also turned down my offer of Burbage and Huncote, so it looked as if it would be a Friday night in. I consoled myself with the fact that I could walk to town and back and have a couple of pints if nothing else came up. When I was double-checking the fixtures, I saw that Rayleigh Town were at home. That was a slightly shorter journey, but I had already spent a while researching the Upper Beeding history and planned the journey, so I resisted changing. I kept an eye on Portugal v Spain and was hoping that later on, Belgium would beat the USA. FIFA had controversially suspended a ban for USA player Balogun following a call from Donald Trump. It should come as no surprise, as Infantino is just the same as Blatter when it comes to corruption and dirty tricks.

I awoke on Tuesday in a bit of a panic, waking at 5.15 and thinking I'd overslept before realising it was my day off. I was glad when I checked the results and saw that Belgium had beaten the USA 4-1 overnight. I went back to bed for a bit before getting up and having a shower and breakfast. I got going a bit later than planned for my ten-mile walk to town and back. I was back at around 1.40 and had a lunch of Romanian sausages. I tried to fit a fan in my car to stop my phone overheating when it's on my dashboard. However, it was hopeless as the gaffer tape wouldn't stick on the hot dashboard. I spent the afternoon at home, a little longer than expected, as Colin was over half an hour late for our meet. At least he messaged me, I guess. I looked out for his bus on the app and timed the pickup perfectly. I arrived just as the bus pulled out. There was no apology from my passenger; he just continued listening to something on his headphones. When he did finally give me his attention, he said it wasn't his fault the bus times didn't line up. There was plenty of delay, as you'd expect on the M25 in rush hour. The journey was made worse by a dodgy phone signal. We came off at junction 9 and went through a load of villages to Crawley.  We parked in ASDA and walked six minutes to the Jubilee Oak Wetherspoons. There I had chicken wings and lime cordial for the bargain price of £3.50. Drinks service was fantastic, though food was a little slower. When my wings came, they were excellent, fryer fresh and very tasty. Crawley was a pleasant-looking town too.

 

From there it was 35 minutes drive to the ground, with us getting there ten minutes into the game. Luckily, it was easy to park and walk up to the pitch. We had missed a goal as Mile Oak were already 1-0 up. Rather than the home colours of yellow v orange, Upper Beeding were in claret, and Mile Oak were in green. The visitors had the ball in the net, but the well-worked move and finish by #20 was ruled out for offside. Both halves had lengthy drinks breaks, and after the first, the hosts improved considerably. They skimmed the bar with a shot in the first half, before equalising on 50 minutes with a low shot from the edge of the area. Mile Oak restored the lead on the hour, a good sweeping move. It was 3-1 on 64 minutes when a ball from the left was knocked home from within the six-yard box. A finish from a right-sided cross made it 4-1 on 84 minutes, and it was 5-1 to the visitors with the last kick of the game. We left at 9.05, stopping at a petrol station on the way for drinks. The Switzerland v Colombia game was dull compared to the Egypt v Argentina game from earlier, so we changed to Greatest Hits Radio. I dropped Colin off at 10.35, getting home at 10.50. It took me ages to get to sleep, not good ahead of a 3.50 work alarm.

THE GROUND

UPPER BEEDING MEMORIAL FIELD is a pleasant venue to watch a game at. Three sides of the pitch are railed, but there are no dugouts. There is a club building, but I think it's just dressing rooms. The area has very nice views, and the backdrops look great. There is a small car park or street parking. In terms of facilities, there was nothing at the ground, but there was a petrol station around the corner.