AFC Uckfield Town will take its place in Division Two of the Sussex County Football League for the forthcoming 2014/15 season after the merge of AFC Uckfield and Uckfield Town.

The merger provides a promising future for football in Uckfield, with the newly-formed club hoping to attract support in the local community from the East Sussex town. The club promises to be pushing forward both on and off the pitch, with promotion to the top flight of the Sussex County League an aim for the front side.

Tom Parker will be chairman of the new club having been in charge of AFC Uckfield, formerly Wealden FC, with former Town chairman Justin Farrow being elected vice-chairman. The new club will adopt Uckfield Town’s red and black kit as its home colours, with AFC Uckfield’s Sky and Navy Blue strip the away kit. The identity is completed by a new combined Club badge created by local designer Jack Tomlinson.

The new Club will run 4 senior teams on a Saturday. The first and reserve teams will play at The Oaks, Old Eastbourne Road, with the third and fourth team playing at The Uckfield Victoria Pleasure Ground.

The First Team, managed by Ray Collier and Steve Ives, will play in Division Two of the Sussex County Football League. The Reserve Team, will take its place in the East Division of the Sussex County League Reserve Section. With the Third Team, playing in the First Division of the Mid-Sussex Football League, and the Fourth Team in Division 10 of the same league.

The Club will also provide Under 18 football (2 teams) and Veterans on a Sunday, so there is an end to end opportunity for ‘all to play’, providing one central football club within the town of Uckfield. As a result, there is now a one stop club framework that will provide the opportunity for footballers of all levels – from Sussex County League standard through to all levels catered for in the Mid Sussex League. Additionally, there will be a strong emphasis on providing Youth team football as well as a team in the Mid-Sussex Veterans league.

Additionally the club intends to achieve the FA Charter status by maximising on its merged resources – and in particular, we will strive to provide improving facilities to support the development of youth team football in Uckfield.

The club have high aims and to support our plan, the club is keen to establish close ties with the local community to provide a family-friendly environment, which we hope residents and local businesses in Uckfield would want to get involved in.

Chairman Tom Parker comments that: “We are delighted to have completed this merger, and we are now looking to the people of Uckfield to get behind this new chapter of football in Uckfield.

He continues: “The ethos is about the community and supporting the youngsters in the local area.We want to provide football to everyone in the local community, and now the merger is complete and finalised the club is now looking for support from everyone in Uckfield on match day, or in any other way. Please come and meet us.”

The Club welcomes any new, or old, players for its teams and people to help out off the pitch in a number of roles. The club is also looking for sponsorship in all areas, from first team equipment to programme adverts, for the forthcoming season. Please contact either joe.ja.miller@gmail.com or kyleafcuckfield@live.com for more information on how to get involved.