1895-1901

Before albion

Organised amateur football started to take hold in the Brighton area towards the end of the 19th century and one of the leading clubs in the area were Brighton Athletic, who played a series of friendly matches at an enclosure in Preston Park. Brighton Athletic eventually amalgamated with other clubs in the area to form Brighton United, the first professional football club in the area, in 1897. They were admitted directly into Division One of the Southern League for the 1898/99 season.

Match Cards from this period are, as you would expect, extremely rare. I am therefore incredibly grateful to Peter Irvine, member of the Albion Heritage Society and author of the Albion Programme Guide, for his generosity in providing these scans. I cannot thank him enough.

Click on the image for a full scan