EAST Grinstead Town Football Club was formed on May 8, 1890 although it was another ten years before they played their first competitive matches as founder members of the Mid Sussex Football League. In those early days the club played in blue and white with the town's coat of arms on the breast pocket. It was some years before they adopted their current colours of amber and black and were nicknamed 'The Wasps,' both of which survive to this day.
They won the Mid Sussex League in 1902 and their first major honour followed seven years later when they shared the Sussex Junior Cup with Arundel. In 1909 they were awarded senior status which they have held ever since apart from two seasons when they were relegated to the intermediate third division of the Sussex County League in 1989.
In 1912 Grinstead reached the Sussex Senior Cup final for the only time in their history but lost 4-1 to St Leonards Amateurs in a ferocious snowstorm at the Goldstone Ground, the old home of Brighton & Hove Albion FC.
The Wasps were original members of the Sussex County League when it was founded in 1920, but they struggled to make any impact and after finishing bottom in 1927 and replaced by Horsham, they were not re-elected.
Rather than returning to the Mid Sussex League, they had four successful seasons in the Brighton League before stepping up to the Southern Amateur League. A fresh challenge reinvigorated the club and they won the Division Three title in 1932 with 15 victories out of 18. Three years later they played on the Test match cricket ground at Trent Bridge in Nottingham when they defeated Nottinghamshire Amateurs 6-0 in the old FA Amateur Cup.
Determined to regain their place in the Sussex County League, they were re-elected back in 1937 after winning the Mid Sussex League again and finished fifth in their first season.
In those halcyon days either side of the Second World War, four-figure crowds were the norm at their old ground in West Street, East Grinstead which they shared with the town's cricketers.
After the war they regularly fielded four teams a week with reserve games often attracting crowds of 300. The club's record attendance is 2,006 for an FA Amateur Cup tie against Lancing in November, 1947.
Success eluded Grinstead until 1952 when they won the Baldwin Cup, the forerunner of the Sussex County League Challenge Cup. That team is reckoned by many to be the finest the club has ever produced. It was certainly the most entertaining - 42 games that season in league and cup produced 222 goals!
Grinstead were third in 1955, but their fortunes began to decline along with crowd numbers after that. They left West Street in 1959 but it wasn't until 1967 that they finally moved to their current home at East Court after a protracted battle to get the ground, which was prone to waterlogging, fit for football. In the meantime they had a spell at King Georges Field, these days the home of East Grinstead United.
The club again finished third in 1973 under Bert Pope, but that was as good as it got for another 30 years although Grinstead did reach their first cup final since 1952 when they lost 4-1 to Haywards Heath in the RUR Cup in 1974 despite taking the lead.
Wasps found themselves in Division Two for the first time in 1979 and even had two seasons in Division Three before regaining senior status. They were promoted back to Division One in 1993, but lasted just two years.
The recent resurgence of the club can be traced back to the appointment of Bob Smith as manager in August 1998. He was determined to mould a side of young, local players and things began to improve. Finally, after two near misses, Grinstead were promoted back to Division One in 2003 and finished a commendable ninth in their first season back. They also won their first trophy for 52 years, beating Three Bridges 4-0 in the final of the RUR Cup on a memorable night for all concerned.
Unfortunately, the club were relegated back to Division Two on the final day of the 04/05 season after a 3-3 draw at Sidlesham when victory would have kept them in the top flight. They finished seventh on their return to Division Two and in October 2006 Smith, the longest-serving manager in the club's history, was replaced by former player Steve Norris.
Norris made over 300 appearances for Grinstead in a playing career which also included spells with Crawley Town and Burgess Hill. He had an immediate impact and the Wasps topped the league at Christmas. However despite playing some good football, scoring became a problem and they finished the season in 11th place.
Norris strengthened the team and last season Wasps romped to the Second Division title by a massive 18 points, losing just twice all season. Their winning run of 14 successive league games at the start of the season meant they became the last senior non-league team in the country to drop points.
The club regularly played host to professional clubs during the 1970s and 1980s with Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion contesting charity matches for a magnificent solid silver rose bowl, donated by Queen Victoria Hospital. These games always attracted crowds of 2,000-plus and Grinstead even managed to defeat Brighton once by a single goal.
Even though their appearance in the 1990 FA Cup final was only a fortnight away, Palace honoured their commitment to bring down a side that year and the following April the club's floodlights were officially opened by former Palace, Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright.
Grinstead have transformed their facilities in the last few years, starting with new floodlights and dressing rooms. A hard-standing walkway around the pitch was completed in 2003 and a major pitch drainage programme the previous year, both projects part-funded by grants from the Football Foundation.
The most significant phase of ground improvements was completed in time for the start of the 2007/08 season - this included a 100-seater stand with disabled spaces and access, a further covered stand for 100 standing spectators, a new pitch perimeter barrier, the completion of a project started in 2005 to fully enclose the ground, new dugouts, emergency lighting and resurfacing of the access road.
Total costs were £128,000 of which £91,000 was funded by grants from the Football Foundation, Mid Sussex District Council, East Grinstead War Memorial, Gatwick Airport Community Trust and East Grinstead Town Council. The balance was funded by a donation from a local retired businessman.
The club is one of the biggest in Sussex with four adult teams, a veterans side and fourteen junior sides ranging in age from under-7s to under-18s including an Under 13s girls team. They were awarded the prestigious FA Standard Chartered Development Club award in 2003 and were registered as a Community Amateur Sports Club in 2005.
