Reg Phillips first appeared on the local scene with the amateur Brighton & Hove club during the latter stages of the Great War, and played a major role when, as Brighton & Hove Amateurs, they carried off the championship of the West Sussex Senior League and the Royal Irish Rifles Charity Cup in the initial post-war season, 1919-20.
A Sussex representative at senior level, Reg was invited to assist Albion’s reserve team as an amateur in February 1920, and was offered a professional engagement two months later. He helped the ‘Lambs’ to the Southern League title in 1921, and made his three first-team appearances early in the 1921-22 campaign; although he was normally a full-back, equally at home on the left or right, Reg somewhat oddly came into the side at outside-left in the absence of Zach March.
After giving loyal service to the ‘Lambs’ until 1923 when he was sidelined through illness, Reg sadly died in March 1924 aged just 23. A benefit match, Albion reserves v. Southampton, was arranged on 2 April with the proceeds donated to his family.