Dulwich’s entry into the FA Cup with Budweiser is now mere hours away as Champion Hill plays hosts to one of Sussex’s most venerable clubs, Shoreham.

One of the less annoying frustrations of promotion must be that slightly longer wait before FA Cup fever begins to bite but finally Dulwich Hamlet fans can put their hands together and welcome the Musselmen to Champion Hill for this afternoon’s first qualifying round tie.

Like Dulwich Shoreham are a club with a proud history and durable members of their respective league competition. Founded a year before Pa Wilson first brought into being Dulwich Hamlet FC in 1893, the Musselmen were one of the pioneering clubs of Sussex football, helping to found the West Sussex Football League in 1896.

However it was not an auspicious start as, after their first season in that league they were relegated to the Junior Division, only to bounce back up as Champions the following year. The 1901-02 season saw the club achieve their first senior honours when they beat Hailsham Town 3-0 in the final to lift the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup.

More success followed in the next campaign as the club won the West Sussex Football League as well as the Sussex Royal Ulster Rifles Charity Cup. Interestingly that original Cup, which was presented to the Sussex County FA in 1897 by the Officers and men of the Royal Irish Rifles (subsequently Royal Ulster Rifles), is still played for today. In 1895-96 The 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles swept the board in the county winning the Sussex Senior Cup, Brighton Shield, Charity Cup and Vernon Wentworth Cup and were recognised as ‘Sussex Champions’. The trophy was presented as a permanent memento of their achievement and to raise money for charity. Since its inception in 1896-97, the cup has had many different formats from an end of season invitation competition to its present popular knockout style. A third of all gate receipts from the matches played in the competition go to the SCFA Benevolent Fund for injured players.

Shoreham repeated their league success two seasons later, but had to settle as runners up in the Sussex RUR and Challenge cups. The 1905-06 campaign saw the club achieve a treble of competition wins when they took the league title, and both the Sussex RUR and Challenge cups.

More about the early years of Shoreham FC can be found here.

After the First World War, the club played in the Brighton, Hove & District Football League, until the end of the 1919-20 season when they became one of the founder members of Sussex County Football League. After seven seasons, the club left the Sussex League after finishing bottom with just five points at the end of the 1926-27 campaign; however the club re-joined the league again for the start of the 1932-33 competition, from the Brighton league. The club then remained in the league up until the Second World War, where play was suspended, during which time they finished as runners-up in the 1934-35 season.

After hostilities had ceased the club re-joined the Sussex County League, when it resumed for normal competition in the 1946-47 season. That season also saw the club make their debut in the FA Cup, where they met East Grinstead in the Preliminary qualifying round, but were soundly beat 11-0.

The 1951-52 season, saw the club become champions of the Sussex County League for the first time, and they successfully defended their title the following season. The club saw themselves finish bottom of Division One at the end of the 1960-61 campaign, but immediately bounced back up as Champions of Division Two the following season. The club remained in Division One for four more seasons, before being relegated back to Division Two, but this time did not bounce back straight away but had to wait six seasons, when they finished as runners up in the 1972-73 campaign. However their stay in Division 1 would only last a single season and it took the club another three seasons to gain promotion again as Champions. The club maintained their winning ways the next season as they then went on to win Division One for the third time in their history.

Four seasons after their Championship win, the club were relegated back to Division Two, and it took the club until the end of the 1984-85 campaign to gain promotion, when they finished at the top of Division Two. The 1991-92 seasons aw their seven-year stay in Division One come to an end, after finishing in the bottom two. The club regained promotion to Division One in the 1993-94 season, when they topped Division Two. The club again was relegated six seasons later in the 1999-00 campaign, and again bounced back up after just two seasons in Division Two as runners-up. Since then the club has remained in Division One except for the 2004-05 season, where they were in Division Two but promoted immediately back to Division One.

After so many seasons of yo-yoing between the division, the Musselmen found themselves in calmer waters as they consolidated their position in the top division before capping the campaign with a fine win in the final of the in the Final of the John O’Hara League Challenge Cup defeating Whitehawk 2-1 at Three Bridges. Two years the cup returned to Middle Road as Three Bridges once again proved a happy hunting ground for Shoreham as they came out on top against Ringmer following a protracted penalty shootout that ended 10-9 in favour of the Musselmen.

After a preseason littered with goals, not always at the right end, but promising nonetheless with victory over Chipstead and a narrow defeat against a strong Worthing XI, the current campaign began in earnest with a new look side taking the field against Arundel in the season’s opener. An eight-goal thriller ensued with Arundel’s former Worthing striker Scott Tipper bagging a hat trick. Yet it proved all in vain as the Musselmen ran out 5-3 winners.

Attention turned to the FA Cup and again Shoreham were in fine form dispatching Dorking on their own patch 4-1 to earn a home tie with Walton Casuals. Hopes of carrying on that fine form into their next league game, a home tie with Lingfield, were dashed as Middle Road found itself invaded by an army of travellers who descended upon the ground to set up camp there. Though the siege had lifted by the Saturday, it was too late to get the game back on. It also meant of switch of the midweek fixture with Hassocks to their opponents’ ground, an evening the Musselmen would not care to remember after a 5-1 thrashing. Hardly the ideal preparation for an FA Cup tie at home to Isthmian League South side Walton Casuals, themselves on a decent run of form after the debacle of the previous campaign. However Shoreham dug deep and with Rob O'Toole and Elliott Quant grabbing the goals booked their trip to Dulwich this afternoon. O’Toole continued his prolific form in front of goal in midweek bagging four of his side’s seven goals in a John O’Hara League Cup tie away to Oakwood.

Coming from behind Shoreham dispatched Horsham YMCA in the FA Vase last Saturday before O’Toole took his season’s tally to nine with the equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to Crowbrough Athletic in midweek.

Wingman O’Toole is one of a number of players that were part of Peacehaven and Telscombe’s double winning side from last season along with strike partner Carl Dunk, a solid stalwart of Sussex football for many years. As if hewn from the unyielding chalk of the Sussex Downs, Dunk has plied his trade for a number of South Coast clubs including Worthing and Whitehawk, representing his county at several levels and picking up quite a haul of medals in the process. But if that might lead one to believe the Musselmen will live up to their name this afternoon then manager Bryan O’Toole was quick to dispel as he promised his men would match the Hamlet in the passing department.

The Shoreham supremo insists his side have nothing to lose; speaking to the Shoreham Herald: “It’s a game we’re excited about and we go into it with nothing to lose.

“All I want us to do is give a good account of ourselves, whether we win, lose or draw.

“I want us to go there and pass the ball around and I hope that, whatever the result, they feel afterwards that they have under-estimated us.”

This afternoon’s game kicks off at 3.00 pm at Champion Hill Stadium, Edgar Kail Way, East Dulwich, London SE22 8BD.

Please note that as this is an FA Cup tie then Season Tickets are NOT valid for this match.

Before the game why not enjoy a drink or snack in our cosy clubhouse with live sport on the big screens, conveniently situated just a short walk from the turnstiles? Moreover, after the game don’t forget Happy Hour in the bar, time to drown your sorrows, toast success or just chat and chill.

ADMISSION PRICES

• £10 for Adults
• £4 for Concessions (Seniors - 60+, Under 18s, Unemployed (UB40, Full Time Students and Members of the Armed Forces and Blue Light Services. PLEASE present valid ID)
• Under 12s FREE accompanied by a paying adult.

Correct change would be appreciated in order to speed admission. Many thanks!

Programmes: £1.50