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To commemorate 125 years of the Albion, Brighton Museum unveiled a brand new permanent exhibition in August: Stand or Fall: 125 Years of Brighton & Hove Albion.

The exhibition tells the story of the club’s history and displays artifacts, moments, and memories from the club’s past. Community Champions – fans who donate to the BHAFC Foundation every month – were invited to a special preview event to get a first look at the exhibition.

After the event, several Community Champions spoke to us to share their reasons for donating to the Foundation and some memories from a lifetime of supporting the Albion.

Phil Swain

An Albion fan since the late 1970s, Phil has undertaken several challenges for the Foundation.

Being a Sussex lad, I supported Brighton and started going to games down at the Goldstone with my mum, dad, and two brothers.

I started out doing a bit of fundraising for the Foundation, and then the opportunity came up to become a Community Champion and I leapt at it. You can see all the good things the charity does for Sussex. It’s very inspiring, so I just wanted to be a part of that and make a regular donation.

It started off by doing the Brighton and Hove 10K run, then the full Brighton Marathon, which then got me involved doing more fundraising and volunteering for the Foundation. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to be at lots of Foundation events and to see some of the people who have benefited from the work. As a Community Champion you feel part of the club, part of the Foundation, feel like you’re both giving and benefiting as well.

Michelle Tipper

Michelle has been a Community Champion since the scheme launched in 2022, and is a longtime Foundation supporter.

I’ve been a fan for a long time, longer than I care to remember!

This museum has brought back a lot of memories. It’s made me remember things that I’d forgotten about how desperate the struggle was to get the club up and running again, the fight they had, and the integral part the fans played.

I first became involved with the Foundation when my son Connor started doing his BTEC studies with them at the age of 16. After his BTEC Connor went on to Manchester University, and unfortunately passed away due to complications with his type 1 diabetes. When he passed, in lieu of flowers we asked people to donate money to the BHAFC Foundation because we wanted everyone’s support to provide something tangible where we could see the benefits, and the Foundation has done that and more. So we’ve been raising money for the charity ever since and it’s just been great to see the benefit that young people have received from the money that we’ve raised.

I’ve run, baked, abseiled, raffled, and more since 2019 and we’ve raised more than £25,000 for the charity.

David Graimes

David has been an Albion fan since 1963, when he was 11 years old.

I remember my first away game was Brentford in 1965 and I was 13. I travelled with a friend, without any adults, and I’ll always remember my first taste of freedom watching the Albion.

Back in the First Division years, in the 70s and 80s, I was visiting the Goldstone regularly and designing the programme. A guy called Tony Millard used to edit it, I’d design it, and it would be printed at the Grange Press in Southwick. It was a wonderful part of my time supporting the club.

Being at the museum brought back so many memories. To capture that whole history in one space is amazing, we’re all aware of what happened with the end of the Goldstone Ground, but to see it in the context of where we are now is brilliant. I think it brings home what’s unique about this football club, how local it is and how the fans are such an important part of it.

I think the Foundation’s work sets this club apart. It spreads far and wide across the county and helps so many people. I think a lot of the fans aren’t aware of how deep the Foundation goes, but they do such a great job.

Julie Hemsley

Julie, a former player and later coach for the women’s first team, was one of the key early figures who launched the Foundation in 1990.

I worked at the Foundation at its beginning when it was called Football in the Community, working with Steve Ford back in 1990 at the Goldstone Ground in a little cabin in the corner. Then I moved into developing the women and girls team, which we also brought into Brighton in 1990. By the late 90s we started going into schools in the community, we were in over 35 schools teaching girls and introducing them to football. We ran tournaments, taught school sessions, and just generally introduced them to football. Football community schemes like the Foundation have played a big part in reaching out to people, bringing the game to them, and developing local communities.

I was a player for the Albion, and then a manager, and as a manager you did absolutely everything, you know, made the tea, sold the t-shirts, did everything you could back in the day to support women’s football.

The Foundation is a very important part of our club and our community, and having talked to some people that have been Community Champions for years, they really enjoy it and they can see the impact their donations have, and the power they have to develop the future of our community. I would encourage everyone to have a look at what they can do to help.

Jacomina Baatje

Jacomina has been coming to the Albion for years but became a true fan in the Chris Hughton era.

I started getting interested in the club when Chris Hughton joined. He was very engaged with the fans, and I soon started coming to some games at the Amex. I had been to the Withdean as well and the Goldstone, but the Amex really became a very important place for me, watching our promotions and seeing the quality of our players improving all the time was amazing.

I became a Community Champion because I realised that it’s not just about the football. We need to raise awareness about what the Foundation does. The need for all that the Foundation provides is getting greater and greater all across Sussex. And it’s not just about education and disability sports, it’s also about connecting, helping people grow their confidence, making people welcome in their communities, and it’s just a brilliant feeling that the Foundation has given to a lot of people in Sussex, from young to old.

I’d absolutely recommend others get involved. If we can all get together as fans to support the Foundation with a little bit of a donation every month, they can make life-changing changes for a lot of people in need.

Jane Goodison

Jane has been an Albion supporter since she moved to Sussex in 1972.

I first started  going to the Goldstone with my brother because there really wasn’t much else of anything to do, and I don’t like shopping!

Seeing the museum was like going down memory lane. We used to park the car to get to the Goldstone, go to the burger van, go through the old turnstiles, and seeing all that in the exhibition really did bring back memories; the guy who used to walk round at half-time with a big board with the other games’ scores on, the wind always changing direction in the second-half, and other things I’d forgotten until coming here today.

I became a Community Champion because sport is a great leveller. When we support young people, and help them realise there’s more out there, that’s positive for everyone in society. I think the Foundation is a really good organisation that supports everybody.

I’m a big advocate for the Foundation. When we came along to a Foundation event in February my husband came with me, and by the end of the evening I had him signed up as a Community Champion! I would encourage anyone to sign up, because what the Foundation do – and what we’re all a part of – is a really wonderful thing.