Crawley Town

Where Boro’ go, it’s felt like Crawley Town aren’t slow to follow; putting the country’s first two New Towns on the football map. If you want a brief history lesson, Stevenage was the first New Town; getting the green light in November 1946. But next up wasn’t Harlow. Or Basildon, Hatfield or even Peterlee. Nope! It was a little slice of paradise in West Sussex called Crawley – designated in January 1947. So, first two out of the town planning blocks – and, recently, the two New Towns with the highest representation in the football pyramid.

Of course, that’s if you look past Peterborough, Northampton and – not to make it more complicated – Milton Keynes. As we’d all prefer this lesson to end sooner rather than later, these three ‘New Towns’ were part of the third wave in the late 1960s. Anyway, it seems odd to think – but it wasn’t all that long ago when the idea of meeting Crawley Town more times in the Football League than non-league was a fanciful idea. Yet, here we are. And a lot of water under the bridge since a first-ever meeting in the 1988 Knights Floodlit League.

The Red Devils joined us in the Conference in 2004 and then again two steps higher in 2012; repeating our feat of two successive promotions a year after we did it. Being the copycats they are, however, they soon came back down after us.

Crawley Town: The Facts