Ashington Cougars Junior Football Club was founded in 1999 by the late Derek Fermor. Derek had been manager of a Storrington Vipers team for some years but, as his team moved on to adult football Derek, who lived in Ashington, wanted to do something for football in the village.

His adverts brought together 40 enthusiastic kids ranging in age from 6 to 12. He had enough in the correct age band to form a U9 and a U8 team and was in the process of registering them in the Horsham and District Youth Football League.

Then, in the early Summer of 2000 came the tragedy of Derek’s death from a brain haemorrhage. We were all devastated at the loss of such a wonderful man, who had put so much of his time into getting the club started. We realised immediately, though, that the best way to remember him, and to recognise his efforts, was to push ahead with his plans.

To say our first year was difficult would be an understatement. To be honest, we didn’t have a clue what we were doing. Fortunately for us, both the Horsham League and the Sussex County FA were very sympathetic to our plight. Many of them knew Derek and understood why we wanted to keep the club going despite our total lack of experience.

We also had support from the managers of both Henfield and Handscross U8 football teams and from Ian Ford, the Horsham District Sports Development Officer.

So our first year (season 2000/2001) was a struggle. We made a lot of administrative mistakes, lost most of our games and marked out some very funny shaped pitches.
Our struggles were made worse by a pitch that flooded at the slightest hint of rain, combined with the wettest autumn for many years. In the end we abandoned the recreation ground to the herons who stood optimistically by the largest puddle, and played most of our games on the all weather multi sports court at Broadbridge Heath Leisure centre.

Despite all this, we carried on the following year (2001/2002) although we only entered one (U9) team in the Horsham league. This was the year that Ashington Community Centre Trust paid for the recreation ground to be drained. It was a huge upheaval but definitely worth it. I expect the herons were grateful too that we had stopped deluding them. Our administration and performances on the field improved but the pitch marking didn’t. The trapezoidal pitch was the source of much comment from visiting managers and our treasurer has never quite lived down the (false) accusation that quantities of wine must have contributed to one of her more wayward efforts at a straight line.

By the 2002/2003 season we were back to two teams (U10 & U9) with an up and coming band of U7 players training regularly. A village newsletter seeking new players reached the ears of nearby West Chiltington with the result that two car loads of enthusiastic (and talented) players pulled into the car park one training session. This was the start of a very successful link with the village.

2003/2004 saw a new venture. We successfully applied for a Lottery Grant to develop girls’ football in village. We had always had one or two girls playing but here was a chance to promote the game specifically for girls. With help from Ashington First School, we got a group of 20 girls from years 4 and 5 (U9 & U10). At the same time we changed our name. Originally we were simply called Ashington Juniors FC. Now we needed to distinguish between our boys and girls teams. So the girls adopted the name Ashington Angels while all the other groups (Boys from U12 upwards, mixed from U7-U11) became Ashington Cougars; all under the continuing umbrella of Ashington Juniors FC. This was also the season when the new all weather floodlit multi-sports pitch opened in Ashington saving us the drive to Steyning for winter training.

2005/2006 was a year of consolidation. Teams from U13 down to U8. A now thriving girls squad and a new U7 team waiting in the wings.

And so to this season where the main new undertaking is the girls first foray into ‘proper’ league football. They have entered and 11 a side U13 team in the Sussex County Women’s and Girls’ Football League. We wish them the best of luck.