Hassocks FC were extremely sad to hear about the recent passing of Grahame ‘Hans’ Lehkyj, a long time friend of the football club.
Grahame was a familiar figure on the Mid Sussex football circuit for many years and was Hassocks club linesman back in our Sussex County League Division Three days at Adastra Park.
Many future Hassocks first team players had their first experiences of adult football under the management of Grahame, who was a bit of a character in the dugout.
Former Hassocks programme editor Paul Elphick recalls his Haywards Heath Town III team and how there “was never a dull moment” when watching a match with Hans.
Over the past decade, he could be found with his large camera photographing the action of whichever club his son Simon was playing for at the time.
We were lucky enough to benefit from Grahame’s photography when Simon spent the second half of the 2012-13 season with the Robins.
Grahame became a popular figure for his passion from the stands and we were fortunate that he would often pop back to the Beacon even after Simon had moved on, most notably to Haywards Heath Town where the goalkeeper helped the Blues lift the Southern Combination League title in 2017-18.
It was at Hanbury Park where Grahame spent most of his time following Simon signing for his hometown club.
His 1000s of photos documented Heath’s remarkable rise from the second tier of the Southern Combination League right the way through to becoming an established Isthmian League side.
Grahame will be sorely missed by football supporters across Sussex and our thoughts go out to Barbs, Simon and the rest of the Lehkyj family.
RIP Hans.
