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. They are on the back of a 2-1 home win over Thamesmead Town, their fifth win in six games, the only loss coming against league leaders Lewes. This leaves them in 9th place, six positions and six points ahead of Herne Bay who have played three games more.

Results in the corresponding mid-week games in previous seasons saw a waterlogged pitch cause the postponement of the home game with Eastbourne Town in 2012/13. There were no games in the following three campaigns and last time out Herne Bay lost 1-4 at home to Lewes, Connor Sanders netting.

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 20th place in the Isthmian South attendance table with an average of 96 (high 146, low 62). The return at Winch’s Field is on 10/02/2018.