Horsham F.C.
association football club in England

Horsham Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Horsham, West Sussex, England, currently playing in the National League South.
History
The first Horsham Football Club was founded in 1870, and played its first match against Reigate Priory at the Springfield meadow in 1871, though its existence largely depended upon enough players being available to form a side. In 1881 the club was firmly re-established, playing its first game against Dorking, and, in September 1882, helped found the Sussex County Football Association, with club official A. R. Bostock becoming one of three original Vice Presidents. Horsham became founder members of the West Sussex Football League in 1896. They went on to win the West Sussex League championship in 1899–1900, 1900–01 and 1901–02, and claimed the Royal Irish Rifles Cup in 1900 by defeating the champions of the East Sussex Senior League, Hastings. After having played at both Hurst Park and Springfield Park, the club secured Queen Street as its permanent home in 1904, but some lean form over the ensuing years saw Horsham overlooked when the Sussex County League was created in 1920.
Sussex County League
The club eventually became members of the Sussex County League after winning the West Sussex Senior League for the fourth time in 1925–26. It won the County League in 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1937 and 1938, with the team regularly scoring over one hundred goals a season. The Sussex RUR Cup was taken in 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937 and 1938, and the Sussex Senior Cup in 1934 and 1939. After the break brought on by hostilities, Horsham won the first post-war title in 1947, the RUR Cup in 1946, 1949 and 1951, and the Sussex Senior Cup in 1950.
“Horsham F.C.” enters the record as association football club in England. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Horsham, association and football can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Horsham F.C.” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Horsham, association and football provides the most credible route into that argument.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4118937. Authority coordinates are 51.058, -0.324. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1870, 1871, 1881 and 1882.
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This entry incorporates text from “Horsham F.C.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.