The Sussex Senior Cup is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in the English county of Sussex and is the county senior cup of the Sussex FA. Its official name is the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup. For sponsorship purposes, from 2012 to 2018 it is also known as the Parafix Sussex Senior Cup after a new three-year sponsorship deal was agreed in 2015.
First played in the 1882–83 season, shortly after the founding of the Sussex County Football Association in 1882, the first winners of the cup were Brighton Rangers. Other teams who won the cup in its early history are Burgess Hill, Lancing College and Eastbourne.
The team with most title wins in the competition's history are Worthing but Sussex's sole Premier League team, Brighton & Hove Albion, have been most successful in recent years. Bognor Regis Town won the competition a record five times in succession between 1980 and 1984.
Winners also qualify for a place in the Sussex FA Community Shield match, traditionally the opening match each season in Sussex football. Worthing are the current holders of the Sussex Senior Cup, having beaten Bognor 8-7 on penalties in the 2023 final.
History
Shortly after the Sussex County Football Association was founded in 1882 the inaugural competition of the Sussex Senior Club took place for the 1882–83 season. Brighton Rangers won the final of the first competition 3–0. Founder members of Sussex County FA include the public schools of Lancing College, Brighton College and Ardingly College and their old-boy teams dominated the cup early on, along with clubs such as Burgess Hill and Eastbourne, whose teams were made up of upper and middle class players.
The cup was initially contested only by amateur clubs. At the time Sussex's only professional club, Brighton & Hove Albion tried to enter the competition in 1905 but had to withdraw because of clashing dates. Albion won the Sussex Wartime Cup in 1943 but only entered the normal competition in 1946. Albion entered the competition again in 1975-76 following the abolition of the distinction between amateur and professional clubs in the English game.
Following the 1913–14 competition, the cup was suspended due to the First World War, and resumed in 1919–20. During the Second World War the winners of the Sussex Wartime Cup were awarded the Sussex Senior Cup. The Sussex Wartime Cup took place on a league basis and a competition was held in every year during the Second World War except for 1940-41 when no competition for the Sussex Senior Cup was held.
Under Jack Pearce, Bognor Regis Town dominated the Sussex Senior Cup in the 1980s, winning the cup six times, including a record five times in succession, and finishing runners-up once.
From 1950 to 1951 the cup final took place at the Goldstone Ground every year until 1995 when Brighton sold their ground to developers. A crowd of over 7,000, the cup's highest attendance in recent years, saw the 2010–11 season final take place at Brighton's new Falmer Stadium on 16 July 2011. It was the first competitive match to be played there. Brighton won the game 2–0 with Gary Hart scoring the first ever goal at the new ground. The cup final has taken place there every year since 2011.
Eligibility
The Sussex Senior Cup is open to all men's senior clubs in the historic county of Sussex that are affiliated to the Sussex County Football Association. In 2016–17 this was 50 clubs that play in the top ten tiers of the English football league system (Premier League, English Football League, National League, National League South, Isthmian League, Southern Combination Football League Premier Division, Southern Combination Football League Division One and Southern Counties East Premier Division).
Competition format
Overview
Beginning in September, the competition proceeds as a knockout tournament throughout its duration, consisting of three rounds, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, usually in May. A system of byes ensures that the highest placed 14 clubs in Sussex enter the competition in the second round. For reasons of fairness to other clubs, the Brighton & Hove Albion's and Crawley Town's under-21 teams compete in the Sussex Senior Cup since, as full time professional squads, their first teams play many levels of the football league pyramid ahead of other teams.
Distribution
The tournament is organised so that 32 clubs remain by the second round. 31 clubs in the Southern Combination League Premier Division and Division One (tiers 9 and 10 of the English football league system) and one club from the Wessex Premier Division (tier 9) enter in the first round.