The 2023–24 Southern Counties East Football League season was the 58th in the history of the Southern Counties East Football League, and the eighth year the competition will have two divisions, the Premier Division and Division One, at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system.
The provisional club allocations for steps 5 and 6 were announced by The Football Association on 15 May 2023.[1] Starting this season, the Premier Division (step 5) in the league promotes two clubs; one as champions and one via a four-team play-off. This replaced the previous inter-step play-off system. For this season only, there was only one club relegated from the division.[2]
| Competition: | Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division |
| Season: | 2023–24 |
| Winners: | Deal Town |
| Promoted: | Deal Town Erith Town |
| Relegated: | Welling Town |
| League Topscorer: | Stefan Payne (35) |
| Prevseason: | 2022–23 |
| Nextseason: | 2024–25 |
The Premier Division comprised 16 clubs from the previous season, along with five new clubs after Erith & Belvedere and Phoenix Sports were promoted to Isthmian League South East Division and Canterbury City and K Sports were relegated to Division One.
The five clubs joining the division were:
| Competition: | Southern Counties East Football League Division One |
| Season: | 2023–24 |
| Winners: | AFC Whyteleafe |
| Promoted: | AFC Whyteleafe Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers |
| Relegated: | Greenways |
| League Topscorer: | Matt Day (31) |
| Prevseason: | 2022–23 |
| Nextseason: | 2024–25 |
Division One consisted of sixteen teams, down from eighteen teams in the previous season. Teams that left Division One from the previous season were Snodland Town and Lydd Town who had been promoted to the Premier Division and Bermondsey Town who were relegated to the Kent County League
The two new teams that joined the division were:
The 2023–24 SCEFL Challenge Cup was contested by all 37 clubs from both the Premier and First divisions (indicated by '(PD)' and '(FD)' respectively in the results listings below).
Defending champions Hollands & Blair (who defeated Fisher in the previous season's final) were knocked-out in the second round.
The cup was won by Erith Town for the second occasion in their history (having previously been winners in the 2007–08 season). The final match was played at a neutral venue, this season at Star Meadow the home of Hollands & Blair F.C.
| Round | Dates | Matches | width=100 | Clubs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round | 2 October to 4 October | 5 | 37 → 32 | |
| Second round | 31 October to 21 November | 16 | 32 → 16 | |
| Third round | 29 November to 9 January | 8 | 16 → 8 | |
| Quarter-finals | 16 January to 10 February | 4 | 8 → 4 | |
| Semi-finals | 20 February to 27 February | 2 | 4 → 2 | |
| Final | 29 March | 1 | 2 → 1 |
Ten clubs participated in five first round ties, with byes for the other 27 clubs.
| Tie | Home team (tier) | Score | Away team (tier) | ||
| 1 | SC Thamesmead (FD) | 0–3 | Lewisham Borough (FD) | 75 | |
| 2 | Deal Town (PD) | 8–2 | Faversham Strike Force (FD) | 370 | |
| 3 | Canterbury City (FD) | 1–2 | Snodland Town (PD) | 67 | |
| 4 | Bridon Ropes (FD) | 0–2 | Croydon (FD) | 40 | |
| 5 | Sutton Athletic (PD) | 2–3 | Welling United (PD) | 37 |
Thirty-two clubs competed in sixteen second round times.
| Tie | Home team (tier) | Score | Away team (tier) | ||
| 1 | Bearsted (PD) | 0–2 | Deal Town (PD) | 73 | |
| 2 | Erith Town (PD) | 3–1 | Tooting Bec (FD) | 53 | |
| 3 | Holmesdale (PD) | 3–3 | Fisher (PD) | 38 | |
| 4 | Kennington (PD) | 3–3 | Hollands & Blair (PD) | 125 | |
| 5 | Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers (FD) | 2–2 | Rochester United (FD) | ||
| 6 | Meridian VP (FD) | 2–0 | Croydon (FD) | 20 | |
| 7 | Rusthall (PD) | 4–0 | Forest Hill Park (FD) | ||
| 8 | Stansfeld (PD) | 2–6 | Corinthian (PD) | ||
| 9 | Whitstable Town (PD) | 5–2 | Lordswood (PD) | 172 | |
| 10 | Lewisham Borough (FD) | 3–0 | Welling Town (PD) | ||
| 11 | Greenways (FD) | 1–3 | Snodland Town (PD) | ||
| 12 | Faversham Town (PD) | 3–1 | Lydd Town (PD) | 186 | |
| 13 | Punjab United (PD) | 1–0 | FC Elmstead (FD) | 77 | |
| 14 | Tunbridge Wells (PD) | 2–0 | Glebe (PD) | ||
| 15 | K Sports (FD) | 0–4 | Staplehurst Monarchs (FD) | ||
| 16 | VCD Athletic (PD) | 2–2 | AFC Whyteleafe (PD) | 80 |
Sixteen clubs competed in eight third round times.
| Tie | Home team (tier) | Score | Away team (tier) | ||
| 1 | Snodland Town (PD) | 0–1 | Tunbridge Wells (PD) | 104 | |
| 2 | Erith Town (PD) | 3–0 | Rusthall (PD) | 53 | |
| 3 | Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers (FD) | 0–1 | Faversham Town (PD) | 60 | |
| 4 | Meridian VP (FD) | 1–3 | Corinthian (PD) | 30 | |
| 5 | Punjab United (PD) | 1–1 | Holmesdale (PD) | 84 | |
| 6 | Kennington (PD) | 1–0 | Whitstable Town (PD) | 102 | |
| 7 | AFC Whyteleafe (FD) | 2–0 | Lewisham Borough (FD) | 168 | |
| 8 | Deal Town (PD) | 5–1 | Staplehurst Monarchs (FD) | 256 |
| Tie | Home team (tier) | Score | Away team (tier) | ||
| 1 | AFC Whyteleafe (FD) | 2–1 | Tunbridge Wells (PD) | ||
| 2 | Corinthian (PD) | 2–1 | Faversham Town (PD) | 80 | |
| 3 | Kennington (PD) | 0–5 | Deal Town (PD) | 151 | |
| 4 | Holmesdale (PD) | 1–3 | Erith Town (PD) |
| Tie | Home team (tier) | Score | Away team (tier) | ||
| 1 | Corinthian (PD) | 3–0 | AFC Whyteleafe (FD) | 78 | |
| 2 | Deal Town (PD) | 2–1 | Erith Town (PD) | 473 |
| Tie | Home team (tier) | Score | Away team (tier) | ||
| 1 | AFC Whyteleafe (FD) | 2–2 (agg. 2–5) | Corinthian (PD) | ||
| 2 | Erith Town (PD) | 4–2 (agg 5–4) | Deal Town (PD) | 171 |
sources:
The 2023–24 SCEFL Division One Cup was contested by the sixteen clubs of Division One.[3] This was a re-introduction of a cup competition for the league's second tier clubs, previously contested as the Reserves Division cup in the 2012–13 season.
The competition was organised with an initial phase comprising four groups of four teams who played on a home and away basis with the group winners progressing to the semi-finals. Lewisham Borough were the cup winners.
| Home team | Score | Away team | |
| 0–4 | Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers | ||
| 3–1 | Faversham Strike Force |
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | |
| 2–3 | Lewisham Borough |