South Park Football Club was formed in 1897 and immediately became founder members of the Redhill & District Football League along with other local clubs Godstone, Meadvale and Reigate Priory Reserves. 2001 saw Reigate Town Football Club move to South Park and the clubs merged to became known as South Park & Reigate Town Football Club. For the 2003/04 season the club reverted back to its original name of South Park Football Club. In 2006 the first team were promoted from the Crawley & District League to the Combined Counties Football League Division One. As their new changing facilities were being built, played their home matches at Cranleigh. In their first season in the Combined Counties League the team finished in seventh place in the league. Subsequent league placings were 12th, 14th, 6th and in 2010/11 the Sparks gained promotion to the Premier Division with a third-place finish.

They were in no mood to hang around at this level and after ending 8th in 2011/12 and 4th in 2012/13 they finished their 2013/14 season with a 1-0 home win over Windsor which ensured that they defeated every team in the division at least once and gaining 104 points, the highest total in the Combined Counties League Premier Division since Merstham in the 2007/08 season. This also won them promotion to the Isthmian League Division One South.

In their first two seasons in the Isthmian League they finished 14th and 11th and Herne Bay had the perfect record against the Sparks, winning all four of the encounters. Last campaign proved to be a different story, although Bay extended their unbeaten record to five games with a last-minute leveller from Stuart King in the 1-1 home draw in March. A month later and Herne Bay had begun a slippery slide down the table having lost three and drawn one of their last five fixtures. In the trip to Surrey, for the penultimate away game of the season, on the half hour Umaku Mansaray was pulled to the ground in the box and Mark Lovell levelled from the spot, his 24th goal of the season. The home side went on to win 3-1 to end the season in 8th.

This time out the Sparks started at a sprint, top after two games, third after seven, but have slipped down since. This encounter was originally scheduled for Saturday 11th November 2017 but was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, and then again on Tuesday 12th December 2017 the pitch was covered in snow causing a second cancellation, and for a third time on Tuesday 16th January 2018, rain again being the problem. To add to this the home tie on Saturday 10th February also went out of the window with a frozen pitch.

On Tuesday South Park lost 2-3 at home to second-placed Carshalton Athletic. They currently sit in 14th place, one position and one point behind Herne Bay and the Sparks have played three less games.
South Park play at Whitehall Lane, South Park, Reigate, Surrey. RH2 8LG. 66.7 miles from Winch’s Field. Estimated journey time 1 hour 24 minutes. They sit in 21st place in the Isthmian South attendance table with an average of 95 (high 146, low 62). The return at Winch’s Field is on 27/03/2018.

In the corresponding midweek in Herne Bay’s Isthmian League history only one match has made it past the weather, a 2-0 away win at South Park in 2014/15 with a Sam Hasler strike and a Danny Walder penalty securing the victory. In 2012/13 Burgess Hill Town’s Leylands Park was covered in snow and last campaign Hayes Lane, Bromley was under water and Cray Wanderers were unable to host our match. In 2013/14 future league champions Peacehaven & Telscombe visited Winch’s Field and with the score 0-0, the fog descended on 27 minutes and the match was abandoned.