Archives for Sport
CRICKET: The Great Escape
Priory win by two runs to retain Premier status 29 August: Hastings & St Leonards Priory; Three Bridges rained off5 September: Priory 251 for 8; Preston Nomads 249 for 9…
BASEBALL: Pirates Play-off Bound
JAMES YOUNG Next Saturday the players and coaches of Hastings Pirates baseball club will wake up to some unfamiliar feelings. Nerves. Adrenalin. Excitement not just at playing a game, but…
CRICKET: Priory Thriller Ends in Tie
15 August: Hastings & St Leonards Priory 154 all out; Bognor Regis 155 for 4 22 August: Priory 237 for 9; Horsham 237 for 7 HUGH SULLIVAN After suffering a comprehensive home…
FOOTBALL: Top of the League
15 August: Hastings Utd 2; AFC Croydon 1 18 August: Eastbourne Town 0; Hastings Utd 2 22 August: Ashford Utd 1; Hastings Utd 3 HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings United have made…
CRICKET: Team Priory Find a Higher Gear
1 August: Hastings & St Leonards Priory 231 for 8; Middleton 184 all out 8 August: Roffey 244 for 6; Priory 201 for 7 HUGH SULLIVAN Craig NowlanShawn Johnson bowling against Roffey…
FOOTBALL: Disappointment in Cup Defeats
7 August: Kingstonian 4; Hastings Utd 1 8 August: Bexhill Utd 0; East Grinstead Town 3 New player-manager of Hastings United Ronnie Dolan tasted defeat in his first competitive match…
CRICKET: Chastening Defeats for Priory
18 July: West Chiltington & Thakeham 231 for 9; Hastings & St Leonards Priory 181 all out25 July: Priory 237 all out; Haywards Heath 238 for 3 HUGH SULLIVAN After their encouraging win against…
FOOTBALL: Chalmers and Black Return to the Pilot Field
IAN GRANT With preparations for the new season underway, Hastings United will be hoping to banish memories of the previous two, one of which ended in relegation and the other…
CRICKET: First Win in Eight For Priory
4 July: Hastings & St Leonards Priory 267 all out; Preston Nomads 216 for 7 11 July: Cuckfield 152 all out; Hastings & St Leonards Priory 156 for 5 HUGH SULLIVAN The…
BASEBALL: Pirates Sail On
JAMES YOUNG Hastings Pirates baseball club continued their blistering form last Sunday (5 July), with two impressive on-the-road triumphs over the Brighton Jets. The wins gave the Pirates a record…
TENNIS: Stefan Steps Up in Amherst Club Finals
BILLIE KOTTING This year’s Amherst club tournament involved around 60 players playing across five formats – mens and ladies singles, mens and ladies doubles, and mixed doubles. With a main…
FOOTBALL: New Supporters Club Formed to Boost United Future
IAN GRANT Hastings United fans have begun the process of forming a new Independent Supporters’ Club with a combination of aims: representing their views, organising social events, and promoting the…
CRICKET: Priory Sink to League Bottom
20 June: Horsham 220 for 9; Hastings & St Leonards Priory 185 for 9 27 June: Priory 303 for 9; Three Bridges 304 for 2 Craig NowlanAlfie Hunter - top score against…
MARTIAL ARTS: My Golden Day
SONNY SOUDAIN-VALTON This year’s British Open Jiu Jitsu Championships took place last month in Coventry. I was competing as a fighter with the Freestyle Combat Academy (FCA) of Bexhill-on-Sea in…
Cricket: Priory Fightback Falls Short
13 June: Hastings and St Leonards Priory: 204 for 8; Bognor Regis: 285 for 9 After last week’s fixture was washed out by dreadful weather, Hastings and St Leonards Priory travelled to The Regis…
FOOTBALL: Yet Another Helmsman at the Pilot Field
HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings United have appointed their eighth manager (not counting temporary in-betweens) in the last three years. He is Ronnie Dolan, a 34-year-old who played briefly at the Pilot…
Baseball:Pirates Climb the Rigging
JAMES YOUNG Hastings Pirates baseball club are off to a flying start in 2026, winning five of their first six games of the season. JOCHEN HODLSlugger Marhil Romano at bat…
FOOTBALL: The Rise and Rise of Westfield FC
HUGH SULLIVAN It’s early Saturday morning and there’s just one car parked outside the Knight & Davey Community Stadium in Westfield. Must be the groundsman – there he is, on…
CRICKET: Team Priory Back in the Groove
9 May: Hastings & St Leonards Priory 308 for 7, Cuckfield 311 for 3 16 May: Hastings & St Leonards Priory 220 all out, West Chiltington & Thakeham 169 all out HUGH SULLIVAN Craig NowlanJohn…
Council Launches New Sports and Leisure Funding Grants
Hastings Borough Council has unveiled a £700,000 grants scheme to help community groups, sports clubs, charities and CICs upgrade leisure and physical activity facilities across the town. The two-year funding…
CRICKET: Premier League: ‘We Want to Compete’
HUGH SULLIVAN For the fourth time in the last six years, the cricketers of Hastings and St Leonards Priory are preparing for a summer season among the ten elite teams of the…
RUGBY: H & B Win Sussex Shield
MAX MOWBRAY H&B RFC ended a long silverware drought last weekend with a dramatic victory over Ditchling in the Sussex Shield final, securing their first cup trophy since 2017. A…
FOOTBALL: Survivors!
United Retain Isthmian League Status 10 April: Broadbridge Heath 2, Hastings Utd 4 17 April: Hastings Utd 1, Herne Bay 1 HUGH SULLIVAN On a sunny spring afternoon, before their…
RUGBY: League Third Place Confirmed
10 April: Hastings & Bexhill 38, Gravesend II 0 17 April: Tunbridge Wells II 36, Hastings & Bexhill 35 H & B have just one game left in the Kent…
SPEEDWAY: Lifting the Lydd
HUGH SULLIVAN The basic elements of speedway have changed little in a hundred years. Contestants race motorcycles up to 500cc around a flat oval circuit. They have only one gear…
FOOTBALL: U23s are the Future
In contrast to their senior club-mates, Hastings United’s Under-23s team showed no anxiety or nerves in storming to victory over Horsham YMCA in the Sussex Under-23s Cup final played at…
FOOTBALL: Small Easter Comfort For United
28 March: Hastings Utd 1, VCD Athletic 0 3 April: Hassocks 2, Hastings Utd 1 6 April: Hastings Utd 1, Ashford Utd 2 HUGH SULLIVAN With just three games left…
FOOTBALL: Relegation Nerves at the Pilot Field
14 March: Hastings Utd 0, Margate 121 March: Sevenoaks Town 2, Hastings Utd 0 HUGH SULLIVAN After back-to-back wins had seemed to lift Hastings United out of relegation trouble in…
GOLF: Beauport Park to Lose Pitch and Putt
The Beauport Park Golf & Country Club is about to lose its nine-hole pitch-and-putt course, currently on land leased from the adjacent Bannatyne Spa Hotel. The hotel’s owners now require…
HOCKEY: International Call-up for Billy Whizz
HUGH SULLIVAN South Saxons veteran goalkeeper Richard Harvey, aged 56, will be playing for the Wales over-55s indoor hockey team at Nottingham this weekend in a tournament billed as the…
HALF MARATHON: Sun, Light Wind, Fast Pace
The 41st Hastings Half Marathon was contested last Sunday up and down the streets of the town, before a finish along the seafront. On a morning of sunshine, light winds…
FOOTBALL: Back-to-Back Wins for United
24 February: Hastings Utd 0, Three Bridges 328 February: Hastings Utd 3, East Grinstead Town 07 March: Beckenham Town 1, Hastings Utd 3 Hastings United went down 3-0 in a…
FOOTBALL: Specials Start Another Season
While most local football teams are coming towards the end of a long, wet winter season, the 1066 Specials club opened theirs last Saturday (7 March) at Bexhill College. !066…
RUGBY: Good Times for Blue-and-Whites
28 February: Hastings & Bexhill 38, Old Williamsonians 07 March: New Ash Green 0, Hastings & Bexhill 65 MAX MOWBRAY It’s been a fortnight of strong results for Hastings &…
Altendorff Answers Back
‘U’s manager faces up to questions from HUGH SULLIVAN after the game against Merstham Jon SmalldonDavid Altendorff with new recruits Jedd Hobbs and Harry Haines HS: How did you rate…
RUGBY: Defeat in Top-of-Table Encounter
14 February: Sittingbourne 33, Hastings & Bexhill 18 MAX MOWBRAY A depleted Hastings & Bexhill team travelled to Kent League leaders Sittingbourne on 14 February and suffered defeat…
HOCKEY: Saxon Warrior Takes Final Bow
Michael Acott – ‘Micky’ – had two reasons to celebrate this month. It was his 70th birthday. And he played his last game for South Saxons after a career of…
FOOTBALL: Crucial Week for United’s Future
14 February: Hastings Utd 0, Merstham 0 21 February: Deal Town 3, Hastings Utd 0 HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings United remain perilously close to the relegation zone of the Isthmian League’s…
FOOTBALL: United Look to the Future
Jon Smalldon 31 January: Faversham Town 5, Hastings Utd 1 7 February: Hastings, Three Bridges Utd match postponed HUGH SULLIVAN Heavy defeat at Faversham followed by heavy rain at the…
RUGBY: Kaleb Wiggan Gets International Call-up
MAX MOWBRAY Local boy Kaleb Wiggan earned international honours last Saturday with his second cap for national side Jamaica UK. Kaleb, who plays for Hastings & Bexhill RFC, travelled to…