The spirit of Beckley Rangers Football Club is alive and kicking across the Atlantic. Martin Brain, who played for the East Sussex village boys club from 1998 and then became one of the team’s managers, is now head coach at the Vancouver Whitecaps academy in Canada.
And Martin, 34, reckons the “competitive and fun environment” at Beckley has shaped his approach at the major league soccer club. He has also set up the Pacific Soccer Academy and has adapted the claret and blue colours of Beckley for the badge. The academy organises after-school sessions and development clubs for children.
After leaving Beckley, Martin was determined to follow a career in football. At 16, he began a Youth Coach Development Programme which led to him delivering the football at Buckswood School in Guestling. Fourteen years ago, Martin went to America to take a BA in business finance at Anderson University in South Carolina. While there, his love of football continued and he spent five years in coaching and management roles with Colorado Rapids and three months in Colombia working with underprivileged kids. He returned home in 2020 and worked for Premier League sides Southampton and Chelsea as development coach at their academies. But last year he went transatlantic again, joining Vancouver Whitecaps as head coach of their academy.
Martin said, “My experience with Beckley Rangers has in many ways shaped my footballing philosophy. My memories of playing for Beckley inspire thoughts of a competitive and fun environment, where all were welcome and the game wasn’t taken too seriously! In the world of modern football where everybody seems to be striving to become a professional footballer, I think back fondly of an environment that was about playing with your friends for the fun of the game.
“That in turn has shaped my coaching style to one where I never want players to forget that we all started playing because we enjoyed it, and at the centre of any good football team is a shared love for the game and camaraderie between the group. Whilst only a very select few will go on to play or work in the game professionally, I believe that everyone involved in youth football should be enriched by the experience; learning how to compete, making lifelong friends, and creating lasting memories that can be shared over a pint!”
Martin comes from a footballing family. His great, great uncle Jimmy Brain was the first player to score 100 goals for Arsenal including 12 hat tricks. Martin’s father Phil set up Beckley Rangers in 1996 with Peter Sands. It served the villages of Beckley, Peasmarsh, Broad Oak/Brede, Northiam and others. In its heyday there were seven teams from Under 8s to Under 18s. Martin played for the club from 1999 to 2006 when he moved to Hastings Town. He returned in 2009 as coach of the Under 14s and got them promoted to the top flight of the Crowborough League. In his second season he took the Under 15s to the runners-up spot in the top division.
Martin regularly visits Sussex to see his dad Phil and mother Jill who now live in Winchelsea and his brother Simon, who also played for Beckley, in Staplehurst.
Martin said: “I feel very fortunate for my experience of youth football, and it’s made me passionate to pass that experience on to as many others as possible.”