Eastern Counties Football League

Eastern Counties Football League
Country	England
Founded	1935
Divisions	Premier Division Division One
Number of teams	39
Promotion to	Isthmian League
Relegation to	Anglian Combination Cambridgeshire League Essex and Suffolk League Suffolk and Ipswich League
Levels on pyramid	Levels 9–10
Domestic cup(s)	League Cup First Division Cup
Website	Official website
2023–24

The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk, northern Essex and eastern Cambridgeshire, and is a feeder to Division One North of the Isthmian League.

History

Formation

During the early part of the 20th century there were several leagues covering East Anglia, including the Norfolk & Suffolk League, the East Anglian League, the Essex & Suffolk Border League and the Ipswich & District League, whilst some of the larger clubs (including Ipswich Town and Cambridge Town) played in the Southern Amateur League. Suggestions of forming a league to cover the whole region had been made since the early 1900s, but intensified after Norwich City were promoted to Division Two of the Football League in 1934 and saw a significant rise in attendances. During the 1934–35 season there was a strong movement in Harwich and Ipswich for the formation of such a league and after canvassing, a 'Meeting of Representatives of East Anglian Football Clubs' was held at the Picture House in Ipswich on 17 February 1935. The ten clubs in attendance were Cambridge Town, Harwich & Parkeston and Ipswich Town from the SAL, Colchester Town and Crittall Athletic from the Spartan League, and Gorleston, Great Yarmouth Town, King's Lynn, Lowestoft Town and Norwich CEYMS from the Norfolk & Suffolk League. Although Cambridge Town and Norwich CEYMS later decided against joining, a further four clubs were recruited; Bury Town and Thetford Town from the Norfolk & Suffolk League, Chelmsford City from the London League and Clacton Town from the Ipswich & District League.

Current members

Premier Division Brantham Athletic Ely City FC Clacton Godmanchester Rovers Gorleston Hadleigh United Haverhill Rovers Kirkley & Pakefield Long Melford Mildenhall Town Newmarket Town Norwich United Stanway Rovers Stowmarket Town Swaffham Town Thetford Town Walsham-le-Willows Whitton United Woodbridge Town Wroxham

Division One North AFC Sudbury Reserves Cornard United Debenham LC Diss Town Downham Town Fakenham Town Framlingham Town Great Yarmouth Town Haverhill Borough Ipswich Wanderers King's Lynn Town Reserves Lakenheath Leiston Reserves March Town United Mulbarton Wanderers Needham Market Reserves Norwich CBS Sheringham Wisbech St Mary

Division One South Barkingside Benfleet Brimsdown Burnham Ramblers Coggeshall United Frenford Hackney Wick Halstead Town Harwich & Parkeston Holland Little Oakley Lopes Tavares May & Baker Newbury Forest White Ensign Wivenhoe Town Wormley Rovers

Former clubs

Sixty-six clubs have previously played in the Eastern Counties League, including several reserve and 'A' teams. The league's geographical span has previously stretched from Gillingham in Kent in the south to Boston in Lincolnshire in the north and Eynesbury in Cambridgeshire in the west. In the 1940s and 1950s it contained up to four 'A' teams from London.

• A.F.C. Sudbury (1999–2006)
• Arsenal 'A' (1948–55)
• Biggleswade Town (1955–63)
• Boston Town (1966–68)
• Braintree Town (four spells)
• Brightlingsea Regent (2011–14)
• Brightlingsea United (1990–2002)
• Bungay Town (1963–64)
• Bury Town (three spells)
• Bury Town Reserves (1988–96)
• Cambridge City Reserves (six spells)
• Cambridge Regional College (2006–14)
• Cambridge United (1951–58)
• Cambridge United Reserves (1959–60, 1978–79)
• Cambridge University Press (2010–13)
• Chatteris Town (1966–2001)
• Chelmsford (1935–37)
• Chelmsford City Reserves (1938–63)
• Chelsea Reserves (1948–53)
• Colchester Town (1935–37)
• Colchester United Reserves (1937–59, 1976–88)
• Cromer (1937–39)
• Dereham Town (1998–2013)
• Eynesbury Rovers (1952–63)
• Felixstowe Port & Town (1976–2000)
• Fulbourn Institute (2005–06)
• Gillingham Reserves (1949–54)
• Gothic (1963–78)
• Harwich & Parkeston (three spells)
• Hertford Town (1972–73)
• Histon (1965–2000)
• Histon reserves (2000–11)
• Holbeach United (1955–62)
• Huntingdon United (1988–92)
• Ipswich Town (1935–36)
• Ipswich Town Reserves (1936–38)
• Ipswich Town 'A' (1948–51)
• King's Lynn (1935–39, 1948–54)
• King's Lynn Reserves (four spells)
• Leiston (2001–11)
• Long Sutton Athletic (1988–95)
• Lowestoft Town (1935–2009)
• Maldon Town (1966–72, 1996–2004)
• Mildenhall Town (1988–2017)
• Needham Market (1996–2010)
• Norwich CEYMS (1937–39)
• Norwich City Reserves (1946–48)
• Norwich City 'A' (1949–58, 1963–75)
• Norwich United (1989–2016)
• Peterborough United Reserves (1954–60, 1972–73)
• Romford Reserves (1959–63)
• Saffron Walden Town (1974–84, 2004–11)
• Soham Town Rangers (1963–2008)
• Somersham Town (1988–2004)
• Southend United 'A' (1961–62)
• Spalding United (1955–60)
• St Neots Town (1969–73)
• Sudbury Town (1955–90, 1997–99)
• Sudbury Town Reserves (1990–97)
• Sudbury Wanderers (1991–99)
• Tiptree United (1979–2009)
• Tottenham Hotspur 'A' (1948–63)
• Warboys Town (1988–2004)
• Watton United (1986–2000)
• West Ham United 'A' (1948–56)
• Wisbech Town (three spells)
• Wroxham (1988–2012)
• Yaxley (1988–92)

Membership rejected

Between its inception in 1935 and the formalisation of promotion and relegation between the ECL and its feeder leagues in 1983, several clubs applied to join the Eastern Counties League but were rejected, or were approached by the league but turned the offer of admission down. These included:

Applied to the league but were rejected Chingford Town (1948) Dagenham (1949) Dagenham Town (1950) Dartford (1949) Exning Town (1959) Hoddesdon Town (1974) Hoffman Athletic (1938) Letchworth (1953) Luton Town 'A' (1949, 1950) RAFFC (1937) Rushden Town (1954) Queens Park Rangers 'A' (1948) Sheringham (1937) Stevenage Athletic (1974) Tunbridge Wells (1954)

Approached by the league but declined Brentford 'A' (1947, 1948) Charlton Athletic 'A', (1948) Fulham 'A' (1948) Leyton Orient 'A' (1947)

External links

• Official website