History

The first match to be played by a team representing Haywards Heath was in March 1888, which provided the impetus for the formation of ‘Haywards Heath Juniors’. After a brief change of name to ‘Excelsior’ in 1894, the club adopted the name ‘Haywards Heath FC’ in 1895.

Without a home ground, the club led a somewhat nomadic existence in its early days, playing most of its games away until 1895 when it was offered the use of the field in South Road which was later to become Victoria Park and the club’s home venue until 1952.

Haywards Heath FC lifted its first silverware in 1900 when it won the Sussex Junior Cup and played in the Mid-Sussex League of which it was a founding member. 1901-1906 saw the club finish as runners up in the senior division in four of its first five seasons, then division 2 winners in 1911-12 after relegation in 1908.

In 1919-20 Haywards Heath were Mid-Sussex League champions without losing a game. They won the title again in 1922-23 and went on to retain it for the next two seasons, losing only one match in each season.

In 1926, the club transferred to the Brighton, Hove & District League and, after winning the league title at the very first attempt, joined the Sussex County League the following year. The first five seasons in the County League (1926-1932) saw the club finish in the top four but they were sadly to finish bottom of the league in the 1932-33 season.

In 1941-42, the club were winners of the Sussex Senior Cup and, after the war, were the league’s Eastern Division winners of 1945-46. A single division league was re-introduced the following year which the club won in both 1949-50 and again in 1950-51.

In 1952 the club finally moved from Victoria Park to the newly finished Hanbury Stadium which enabled it to join the Metropolitan League which included the reserve sides of professional clubs such as West Ham, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal. After a promising first season finishing in fifth place, the club struggled against the professional opposition and, finishing bottom in 1960-61, elected to re-join the Sussex County League.

The Division One title was won in 1969-70 and the League Cup in 1972-73. The club was also runners-up in 1974-75 but were relegated at the end of the 1979-80 season. The Division Two Cup was won in 1983-84 and, as runners-up in 1985-86, the club again gained promotion back into the senior division.

In 1988, our centennial year, the present name of Haywards Heath Town Football Club was adopted in to reflect the ‘town’ status of Haywards Heath itself.

Two successive relegations in 1992 and 1993 saw the club drop into the third division where they won the Division Three Cup in 2000-01. The following year as Division Three runners-up, HHTFC were promoted back to Division Two but were again relegated after only one season. Heath won the Division Three Cup in 2008-09 and after finishing as runners-up in 2012-13 gained promotion back into Division Two.

On the rebranding of the Sussex County League to the Southern Combination Football League in 2015, the second division was renamed Division One and the title was won that first season, earning Haywards Heath Town FC promotion to the Premier Division. The club finished top of the Premier division the following season (2016-17) and were due to be promoted to the Isthmian League.

Unfortunately, promotion was denied following a nine-point deduction, due to an inadvertent off-field administrative error, which saw the championship awarded elsewhere. The club however, responded in style by winning the Premier Division again in the 2017-18 season, this time adding the Peter Bentley League Challenge Cup.

Heath enjoyed a successful 2018-19 debut in the Isthmian League, finishing in a very respectable fifth position which qualified them for the play-offs at the first attempt. They were eliminated by Horsham, who went on to win promotion to the Premier Division.

Founded in 1991, Crawley Wasps were instrumental in the successful development of girls’ football in the Crawley area. From the early days of playing seven-a-side in various Surrey leagues, the club expanded to more than 100 playing members in teams at all levels from Under-11s to three Ladies sides.

Wasps helped pioneer the development of ladies and girls’ football in Sussex, becoming a founding member of the Sussex County Women and Girls’ Football League in 2002–03.

Between May 2013 and May 2018, as they progressed from Under-11s to Under-16s, one Wasps team lost just three of 70 matches against girls teams – their dominance was such that they tested themselves in a boys’ league in 2016–17.

The club celebrated its 25th anniversary season, in 2016–17, in style on and off the pitch. Thales, one of Crawley’s largest employers, became Wasps’ first-ever main club sponsor, while the Ladies’ first team reached the Sussex Cup final and also the League Cup final.

In 2017–18, Wasps’ first team earned a historic promotion to the FA Women’s National League South, going unbeaten as they won the London & South East Premier Division, while again reaching the Sussex Cup and League Cup finals.

The 2018-19 was unquestionably the most successful in the club’s history. The first team won the FA Women’s National League Division 1 South East (securing back-to-back promotions), reached the League Cup final and played Arsenal in front of 1,550 people in the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup. The reserves and Under-18s also won their respective league titles.

Wasps first team then led the FA Women’s National League South for much of the following season, which was curtailed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. They did win the Sussex Women’s Challenge Cup for the first time, beating Chichester on penalties. The club’s reserves performed well in their debut season in the FA Women’s National League Reserve Section, and the youth sectioned swelled to over 100 players.

Following relegation to the FA Women’s National League Division One South East, the Wasps would merge with Haywards Heath Town FC, playing home games at Hanbury Stadium starting from the 23/24 season.