Sports set to hit the big screen

By Neil Harvey

LIFE BEHIND A LENS: Eastbourne’s former manager Adam Murray speaks to the cameras. Inset: In the dressing room, top, and chairman Simon Leslie, below

A NEW behind-the-scenes docuseries charting unprecedented access to one of the most extraordinary chapters in the history of Eastbourne Borough will be aired in the UK for the first time this week.

A bold new seven-part series available from today, Owning Eastbourne follows the club’s entrepreneur chairman Simon Leslie as he takes on the challenge of reinventing a Non-League club and the town it represents.

Filmed throughout the 2024-25 season, it charts Eastbourne’s remarkable turnaround in a season like no other; the highest points tally in its 59-year existence, record crowds, and play-off heartache, all while revealing the realities of running a community club on tight budgets and big ambitions.

It captures the trials and triumphs of balancing commercial battles with touchline tension – a story of community, resilience and belief and what happens when passion collides with pressure.

The docuseries also brings to life the huge contributions of the players, staff, and fans as they navigate the realities of Non-League football: tight budgets, big dreams, and the unrelenting pursuit of progress.

“This isn’t just about football,” Leslie says. “It’s about building something that matters, a story of a town, belief and sometimes lack of it, purpose and possibility.”

Owning Eastbourne premiered in the USA on ReachTV last week, reaching millions of viewers across airports, hotels and airlines.

It is now available globally on Eastbourne Borough FC’s official YouTube channel and is set to further enhance a social media following which has already surpassed the likes of Coventry, Bolton, Wigan and Reading in terms of numbers.