History of the Club

January 1997: Hangleton Rangers formed with one Under 7 team to allow the boys to get regular games of football. Keith Osborne and Alan Green were able to secure sponsorship and kit to get the club off the ground and with some financial help from other parents the club was up and running.

Within two weeks of formation we played our first ever game against Woodingdean which ended in a draw.

By the middle of the summer membership was up to 16 players. Affiliation to the Sussex County FA followed so we could initially play friendly matches and enter tournaments, following which we entered the Sussex Sunday Youth League, where the team enjoyed a number of successful seasons under the coaching of Iain Barron.

From 1997 new teams were created expanding the clubs membership until, in May 2002, we had over 80 boys in 8 teams in 5 different age groups.

July 2002: The Club was awarded the FA Charter Standard Development Club, making us the first community club in Brighton & Hove to receive the award, and only the third in the county.

May 2003: For the first time a girls group was created at under 11s. Expansion has continued since with another new age group every year.

22nd April 2007: The club celebrated its tenth anniversary with an end of season party.

May 2007: We not only started a new under 7s group but for the first time we started a new Under 6 group.

April 2007: Hangleton Rangers held it’s first ever Sports and Presentation Afternoon at Portslade Sports Centre. Over 200 children played a variety of sports and each one was presented with a trophy for their efforts during the  season. This was such a success that it is now an annual event.

May 2008: We again started a new Under 6 group;  We now had 12 teams and over 200 children happily playing football under the Hangleton Rangers banner. Importantly, for the first time, we had a complete set of age groups from Under 6  through to Under 16, plus a girls team.

Also in May 2008, we held our first ever tournament which involved approx. 500 children in age groups under 11 and upwards.

May 2009: We extended this year’s tournament to include the younger age groups. This of course doubled the workload for our many volunteers with over 100 teams and nearly 1000 boys and girls playing on 16 pitches.

On the field  our teams have been increasingly successful with different age groups winning leagues, summer tournaments and getting to cup finals. See individual Team Pages or Latest News for more details.

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