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Former Brighton striker checks in at Hove CURC Club

It’s not every day our Clubs get to welcome a hero from a local football team, but this was the case for our Hove Central United Reform Church Club (CURC), when they welcomed former Brighton and Hove Albion forward Glenn Murray to their session recently. 

Glenn joined the regular Sporting Memories session held at CURC to share various anecdotes from his near 20-year career in the game.

From starting in non-league and making it to the top

Glenn begun by sharing stories of growing up in a small town in Cumbria and loving football, and playing non-league football locally before getting a chance to forge a career in America.

Following a short spell in the states, he returned to play for Clubs across the North West, before his career rocketed when he started scoring goals regularly for Rochdale.

It was there where Brighton took interest in Glenn and brought him down to the South Coast for a significant fee. After a successful first stint with the Seagulls, Glenn made the controversial move to rivals Crystal Palace where he had his first spell playing in the Premier League.

Five years after initially leaving, Glenn would then return for a second spell for Brighton where he would end up scoring nearing 50 goals and ensuring his hero status, with the Club becoming an established Premier League side.

Answering questions from our members

During his time with our Hove CURC Club members, Glenn reflected on his experiences with the wide range of managers he worked under during his career, listing some of the positive and negative aspects of management.

He was also asked a range of questions on his career, including playing for both Brighton and Crystal Palace considering the rivalry. However, Glenn stated that he felt that players were professional enough to deal with their own careers and performances without being affected by the opinions of supporters. Glenn also stated that for some players rivalries are not such a big issue, particularly those not originally from the area.

Following the questions, Glenn then joined in with the members in their usual Sporting Memories activities including playing Spot The Ball and quizzes which take place.

Members enjoyed ‘best guest yet’

It was a great session, with the members sharing their thoughts on an enjoyable morning with Glenn. Here are some of the comments from our Hove CURC members:

“Best guest speaker we have had. Very honest and answered all questions “

“I felt elevated after the session. Glenn was very interesting”

“As good a speaker as a player”

“Thanks for coming. Please come again Glenn”

We also asked for Nicola Hyman, a volunteer at the Club, thoughts on Glenn’s visit: “It was really nice to welcome Glenn along recently to the Club and the members really seemed to enjoy his visit.

“We’ve had a number of guests visit us lately and we’re always grateful for their time as the members seem to really engage with them, particularly when it comes to asking questions about their sporting experience.”

Our Hove CURC Club runs every Thursday morning from 10am to 11:30am at the Central United Reformed Church. To find out more about joining their sessions, get in touch with emma.brooke@sussexcricket.co.uk