Kent Football League (1894–1959)

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The Kent League was a football league which existed from 1894 until 1959, based in the English county of Kent. Another, unrelated, Kent League was formed in 1966, and is now known as the Southern Counties East Football League.

History[edit]

The league was established by the Kent County Football Association in February 1894.[1] The initial proposal for a twelve-team league was subsequently changed to a nine-member Division I with the addition of a similar-sized Division II,[2] with promotion and relegation decided by a play-off between the bottom two clubs in Division I against the two top clubs in Division II.[3] For the first three seasons of the competition the champions of Division I were awarded the Kent County Challenge Cup, which had previously been presented to the Kent County FA knock-out tournament (Kent Cup) winners. The Division II champions were awarded a new trophy, the Kent County Challenge Shield.[2] From 1897, after the Kent County Challenge Cup returned to being the trophy for the knock-out tournament (now the Kent Senior Cup), the shield was used as the trophy for the Division I champions.[4]

The nine clubs who formed the inaugural Division I for the 1894–95 season were Chatham, Sheppey United, Dartford, Gravesend United, Sittingbourne, Ashford United, Folkestone, Maidstone United and the Training Battalion of the Royal Engineers. The latter two replaced Royal Ordnance Factories, who withdrew,[5] and New Brompton, who withdrew after adopting professionalism.[6]

Division II also commenced with nine clubs: Sevenoaks, Dover, Faversham, Swanscombe, Cray Wanderers, Folkestone Harveians, Chatham Reserves, Sheppey United Reserves and Sittingbourne Reserves. The latter two replaced Bromley and Rochester Defiance who had been originally selected.[5]

For the second season, after the league voted in January 1895 to allow professionalism,[7] Division I expanded to twelve clubs with the addition of New Brompton (who used it as a supplementary league while also competing in the Southern League), Woolwich Arsenal Reserves and Northfleet. Before the start of the following 1896–97 season, eight clubsleft the league (primarily to the Southern League),[8] and by the commencement of the 1897–98 season the league had only 15 members across its two divisions, leading to the amalgamation of the divisions into a single Division I for the following season.[9] There were further reductions in members and by 1910 there were only nine members (five of whom left at the end of the season).[8]

The league was reconstructed for the 1910–11 season under the auspices of the KCFA,[10] which had relinquished their role on the management committee a decade previously.[11] Two regional second divisions (East and West) were added, drawing their members from the top clubs of the East Kent and West Kent leagues. As a result, the league expanded to 32 clubs; twelve in Division I, with the Division II East and West divisions having eleven and nine members respectively.[9] As part of the reconstruction, reserve teams of Kent and South London clubs playing in the Southern League were invited to enter the Kent League. As a consequence of these stronger teams being introduced, between 1911 and 1914 the Division I championship was won by two of these teams – Millwall Reserves on three successive occasions and then Crystal Palace Reserves.[12]

In March 1923 informal discussions took place concerning a knock-out Kent League Cup competition for the Division I teams.[13] This came to fruition and in the 1923–24 season Northfleet United were the first winners of the competition. Apart from a five-season hiatus owing to World War I the league structure remained broadly the same until 1928, albeit with a churn of clubs. In 1923 the Division II Western Section became part of the Kent County Amateur League and a new Mid-Kent Section (effectively replacing the Western Section) was added at Division II level;[14] while the Division II Eastern Section, having had just three members in 1923–24, was suspended for three seasons before being reintroduced for the 1927–28 season, when the league comprised 26 clubs, 14 in Division I with just three in the East Section and nine in the Mid-Kent Section of Division II.[9]

With the lack of clubs at the Division II level, the two sections were merged into a single division in 1928.[9] The league continued in this format until its demise in 1959 apart from two seasons between 1935 and 1937 when Division II was temporarily discontinued in preference to it being part of the Kent County Amateur League,[15] after which it was reinstated.[16] Both divisions were suspended in September 1939 following the outbreak of World War II: Division I was restarted in 1944–45, but Division II did not return until 1946–47.

In April 1958 Folkestone Town and Dover, two of the larger club, indicated their intention to leave the Kent League and join the expanding Southern League,[17] with Bexleyheath & Welling and Tunbridge Wells United doing the same shortly afterwards. Although, owing to contractual arrangements, the clubs had to play in the Kent League for the 1958–59 season, the number of rebel clubs expanded to eight with the addition of Ashford Town, Margate, Ramsgate Athletic and Sittingbourne.[18] As a consequence, in December 1958 the Kent County FA stated they were unwilling to continue the Kent League and would be disbandingit after 65 years of existence at the end of the season.[19]

At the time of disbanding, the league had 18 clubs in both Division I and Division II.[9] Of the Division I clubs, the eight wantaway teams (who were mostly the top clubs in the final Kent League table) joined Division One of the Southern League; seven clubs joined the new Aetolian League (Snowdown Colliery Welfare, Herne Bay, Chatham Town, Faversham Town, Sheppey United, Whitstable and Deal Town), while Canterbury City joined the Metropolitan League, Betteshanger Colliery Welfare joined the Seanglian League (a lower division of the Aetolian League to which some of the ex-Kent League clubs' reserves teams from Division II had migrated) and Gillingham Reserves joined the Football Combination.

Later Kent League[edit]

A new Kent League was established seven years later. In the 1966–67 season the Kent Premier League was formed, derived from the Thames & Medway Combination.[20] The word 'Premier' was dropped the following season. The new league did not attract back the clubs from the Southern League but was taken up by some of the clubs that had formed the Aetolian and Seanglian Leagues. In 2013 the new league was renamed the Southern Counties East Football League.

Champions and League Cup winners[edit]

The champions of the league's divisions and League Cup winners were as follows:[9]

Season Division I Division II League Cup
1894–95 Chatham Swanscombe
–
1895–96 Northfleet Faversham
–
1896–97 Woolwich Arsenal Reserves New Brompton Reserves
–
1897–98 Swanscombe Sittingbourne Reserves
–
1898–99 Maidstone United
–
–
1899–1900 Maidstone United
–
–
1900–01 Maidstone United
–
–
1901–02 Cray Wanderers
–
–
1902–03 Sittingbourne
–
–
1903–04 Chatham
–
–
1904–05 Chatham
–
–
1905–06 Sheppey United
–
–
1906–07 Sheppey United
–
–
1907–08 Northfleet United
–
–
1908–09 Northfleet United
–
–
Season Division I Division II East Division II West League Cup
1909–10 Northfleet United 2nd Royal Irish Rifles Orpington
–
1910–11 Millwall Reserves 1st North Staffordshire Regiment Army Service Corps (Grove Park)
–
1911–12 Millwall Reserves Ashford Railway Works Army Service Corps (Grove Park)
–
1912–13 Millwall Reserves Ashford Railway Works 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers
–
1913–14 Crystal Palace Reserves Ashford Railway Works Strood
–
1914–19 Competition suspended due to World War I
1919–20 Northfleet United Ashford Railway Works Depot Battalion Royal Engineers (Chatham)
–
1920–21 Charlton Athletic Reserves Depot Machine Gun Corps (Folkestone) Maidstone United Reserves
–
1921–22 Maidstone United Dover United Maidstone United Reserves
–
1922–23 Maidstone United Dover United Maidstone United Reserves
–
Season Division I Division II East Division II Mid-Kent League Cup
1923–24 Charlton Athletic 'A' Dover United Chatham Reserves Northfleet United
1924–25 Chatham
–
 1st Royal Warwickshire Dartford
1925–26 Northfleet United
–
 Minster United Sittingbourne
1926–27 Chatham
–
 Chatham Reserves / RAF Eastchurch (joint) Royal Naval Depot (Chatham)
1927–28 Sheppey United Ashford Railway Works Whitstable Sittingbourne Paper Mills
Season Division I Division II League Cup
1928–29 Bexleyheath Town RAF Eastchurch Folkestone
1929–30 Gillingham Reserves Aylesford Paper Mills Folkestone
1930–31 Tunbridge Wells Rangers Aylesford Paper Mills Gillingham Reserves
1931–32 Northfleet United Aylesford Paper Mills Northfleet United
1932–33 Margate Sheppey United Reserves Tunbridge Wells Rangers
1933–34 London Paper Mills Whitstable Tunbridge Wells Rangers
1934–35 Northfleet United Chatham Northfleet United
1935–36 Northfleet United
–
 Margate
1936–37 Northfleet United
–
 Northfleet United
1937–38 Margate Margate Reserves Northfleet United
1938–39 Northfleet United Dover Ashford
1939–44 Competition suspended due to World War II
1944–45 Gillingham[21]
–
 Snowdown Colliery Welfare
1945–46 Gillingham
–
 Gillingham
1946–47 Margate Aylesford Paper Mills Folkestone Town
1947–48 Margate Folkestone Town Reserves Margate
1948–49 Ashford Folkestone Town Reserves Ramsgate Athletic
1949–50 Ramsgate Athletic Whitstable Canterbury City
1950–51 Folkestone Town Folkestone Town Reserves Snowdown Colliery Welfare
1951–52 Dover Dover Reserves Folkestone Town
1952–53 Folkestone Town Ashford Town Reserves Tunbridge Wells United
1953–54 Deal Town Margate Reserves Margate
1954–55 Snowdown Colliery Welfare Herne Bay Tunbridge Wells United
1955–56 Ramsgate Athletic Ashford Town Reserves Gillingham Reserves
1956–57 Ramsgate Athletic Margate Reserves Dover
1957–58 Sittingbourne Folkestone Town Reserves Deal Town
1958–59 Sittingbourne Gravesend & Northfleet Reserves Sittingbourne

Member clubs[edit]

During the league's history, member clubs included:[9][8]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Proposed Kent League". Kentish Mercury. Greenwich. 23 February 1894. p. 2.
  2. ^ a b "Kent Football Association". Sheerness Times Guardian. Sheerness. 3 March 1894. p. 4.
  3. ^ "Kent County Football Association". Kentish Mercury. Greenwich. 30 March 1894. p. 2.
  4. ^ "Kent County Football Association". The Sporting Life. London. 22 February 1897. p. 6.
  5. ^ a b "Football Notes And News". Tonbridge Free Press. Tonbridge. 28 April 1894. p. 5.
  6. ^ "Kent Football League". Sheerness Times Guardian. Sheerness. 14 July 1894. p. 4.
  7. ^ "Legalization of Professionalism". East Kent Gazette. Sittingbourne. 12 January 1895. p. 6.
  8. ^ a b c "England - Kent League". Rec. Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "The Original Kent League". Non-League Matters. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  10. ^ "Northfleet: United Football Club". Gravesend Reporter, North Kent and South Essex Advertiser. Milton-next-Gravesend. 29 May 1909. p. 8.
  11. ^ "Kent County Association". Tonbridge Free Press. Tonbridge. 27 May 1899. p. 5.
  12. ^ "England - Lower Level Leagues - Lists of Champions". Rec. Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  13. ^ "Football (column 5)". Kentish Express. Ashford. 10 March 1923. p. 10.
  14. ^ "Kent League (Mid-Kent Section)". Sheerness Times Guardian. Sheerness. 30 August 1923. p. 5.
  15. ^ "Kent County Football Association". Kent & Sussex Courier. Tunbridge Wells. 21 June 1935. p. 17.
  16. ^ "Football Notes". Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald. Whitstable. 19 June 1937. p. 5.
  17. ^ "The Kent League Survive?". Kentish Express. Ashford. 25 April 1958. p. 2.
  18. ^ "Southern League's Plan Approved". East Kent Gazette. Sittingbourne. 14 November 1958. p. 10.
  19. ^ "Kent League Folds Up". Tonbridge Free Press. Tonbridge. 5 December 1958. p. 9.
  20. ^ "Name Change". Thanet Times. Margate. 2 August 1966. p. 14.
  21. ^ Triggs, Roger (1984). Gillingham Football Club: A Chronology 1893–1984. Kent County Libraries. p. 54.
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