Football

Staff member in charge: Mr David Leggett

1st XI Coach: David Leggett is a UEFA B qualified coach. There are a number of staff who assist with the training, many of whom hold formal qualifications. Simon Gough is attached to Brighton and Hove Albion as a coach.

Facilities: Four full size football pitches. A Gym is available for strength training and an Astro turf pitch for wet weather training.

Number of teams: Ten teams are selected in various age groups for midweek and Saturday fixtures. There are 4 open teams, two U/15 teams and three U14 teams. An U16 team is selected for the county cup.

Fixtures: An extensive fixture list is played in the Autumn term against the top public schools in England. These include Eton, Charterhouse, Millfield and Lancing. St Bede’s also enters the National 6-a-side tournament, the Sussex Cup, the ISFA cup and the ESFA cup. Two Senior and two Junior sides play throughout the spring term through to Easter. For a more detailed fixture list please feel free to view the School calendar.

Dress: The school plays in Green and White hoops.

Notable achievements: Dan Harding (1999-2002) selected for England U21, Romulo Dos Santos now plays for Benfica (2009) and James Norwood represented the Full English U18 schoolboys side 2008/9. Other recent achievements include James Aldred who captained the Independent Schools U18 England side and both Matthew Aldred and Zac Attwood who were also starting members of the same side in 2007. Macsen Lake Edwards and James Norwood also represented the England Independent U18 side during 2007/8 and 2008/9. A number of our players across the age ranges represent Sussex County.

The first XI have been particularly successful over recent times and are current U18 English National Champions after a 5-2 victory over Carres Grammar School from Lincolnshire. The first XI are also Sussex Champions for the season 2008/9. Previous successes include the 1st XI being crowned the Southern Independent Schools League winners and Sussex County Cup winners 2007 and the 2nd XI holding the title of Sussex 2nd XI Champions during the season 2007/8.

St Bede's have also just been awarded the accolade as the first independent FA focus school in the country. The appointment is recognition of good practice within its football programme including performance, coaching and promoting youth leadership within the sport.