Football stalwarts receive 50-year awards for their contributions

Two well-known footballing folk from Bexhill have received prizes for their contributions to the game over many years.
Dickie DayDickie Day
Dickie Day

Sidley United stalwart Dickie Day won an FA 50 Years Service to Football Award and Robin Powell collected a 50 Years Referee Award at the Sussex County FA Awards Evening.

Day first started playing for Sidley as a 16-year-old back in 1968, firstly in the reserves and then the first team.

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He later became manager of the club’s reserve team before taking charge of the first team in 1994.

Robin PowellRobin Powell
Robin Powell

SEE ALSO Bexhill United hit seven to progress in Senior Cup thanks to Shonk treble | Hastings couple heading to Everest for attempt at world record | Kickboxer Fitzgerald wows crowd in first ever evening showUnder Day’s stewardship, Sidley won the Sussex County League (now Southern Combination League) Division Two title and Division Two Challenge Cup in the 1998/99 season.

And two years late the club memorably completed another double by winning Division One and the John O’Hara League Challenge Cup.

Day then became chairman, a position he has held ever since.

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As for his greatest personal achievements, Day holds beating the then all-conquering Langney Sports (now Eastbourne Borough) in equal measure with the Division One and John O’Hara Cup double.

Powell, meanwhile, qualified as a referee in 1968, and has since officiated in the Sussex County League, Metropolitan Sunday League, Hastings & East Sussex Sunday League and East Sussex League among others, as well as various Sussex County FA cups.

The 67-year-old is currently a senior match official observer and a vice-president of the Sussex County FA.

With another hat on, Powell is the chairman of the Sussex County FA Honours Working Committee and was secretary for the Hastings & East Sussex Sunday League for many years.

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Perhaps surprisingly, Powell’s most memorable game wasn’t one he was refereeing. Instead he was on PA duties for a Hastings & East Sussex Sunday League cup final and one of the players asked him to read out his marriage proposal to his girlfriend at half time.