| Eastern Counties Football League | |
| Pixels: | frameless |
| Country: | England |
| Founded: | 1935 |
| Divisions: | Premier Division (1935–present) Division One (North) (1988–present) Division One South (2018–present) |
| Teams: | 20 in Premier 21 in North 22 in South |
| Feeds: | Isthmian League Division One North Northern Premier League Division One Midlands (from Premier Division) |
| Relegation: | Anglian Combination Cambridgeshire League Essex Alliance League Essex & Suffolk Border League Essex Olympian League Peterborough and District League Suffolk & Ipswich League |
| Levels: | Levels 9–10 |
| Domest Cup: | League Cup First Division Cup |
| Champions: | Ipswich Wanderers (Premier Division) Heacham (Division One North) Frenford (Division One South) |
| Season: | 2022–23 |
| Current: | 2023–24 Eastern Counties Football League |
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, Essex, Cambridgeshire, eastern Hertfordshire, southern Lincolnshire, and north and east London. The league is a feeder to Division One North of the Isthmian League, but may also see sides promoted to the Northern Premier League Midlands Division.
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.[1] 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.[1] 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.
The first season commenced on 31 August 1935 and ended with Harwich and Lowestoft level at the top of the league with 26 points each. Although Lowestoft had a better goal average, the championship was decided by a play-off match held at Layer Road on 29 August 1936. The match ended in a 3–3 draw and the two were declared joint champions and allowed to hold the trophy for six months each.[1] At the end of the first season Ipswich left to join the Southern League and were replaced by their reserve team.
At the end of the 1936–37 season there were concerns about the league's viability. All five Essex clubs had left to join the newly established Essex County League, whilst Thetford had resigned after finishing bottom of the league, leaving only six remaining clubs. However, four new members (Colchester United reserves, Cromer, Newmarket Town and Norwich CEYMS) were recruited. The following season the league expanded to 13 clubs as three of the Essex clubs rejoined (the Essex County League had been a failure with only five members completing the season and was not continued).[1]
The 1939–40 season started on 26 August, but was abandoned after the outbreak of World War II. After the war ended in May 1945 a meeting was held in late June to see whether the league could be restarted. However, a further meeting on 28 July decided that too few clubs were ready to resume footballing activities as many were unable to sign players and some grounds remained under the control of the armed forces. The league finally resumed for the 1946–47 season with ten clubs.
Prior to the start of the 1948–49 season the league was expanded to 16 clubs, largely through the addition of the 'A' teams of four London clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. The following season Gillingham reserves joined, becoming the only Kent-based club to ever play in the league (Dartford also applied to join at the same time, but were rejected).[1] In 1951 the league gained its first Cambridgeshire club with the admission of Cambridge United, and by 1955–56 the league was up to 20 clubs, of which five were reserve or 'A' teams. Although a succession of clubs leaving the league saw it reduced to fourteen clubs by 1964, it quickly regained numbers and was back up to 18 members two years later. In 1976 the league was renamed the Eastern League, but returned to its original name six years later. The league was among the first to be sponsored by an external company when, in the late 1970s, it was sponsored by local building societies Magnet and Planet, and Town and Country.[2] More recently it has been sponsored by building supplies company Jewson, Ridgeons, and current sponsor Thurlow Nunn.
There had been occasional discussions about adding a second division to the league since its formation, but in 1983 it seemed about to become a reality. However, it was then delayed by the Football Association at the request of the Essex Senior League. The idea was resurrected during the 1987–88 season and a meeting was held to discuss it on 22 November 1987. The league contacted 21 clubs who were considered potential members, of which fifteen were interested in joining. A further four clubs were contacted and another (Long Sutton Athletic) asked for details. Ultimately fourteen clubs applied to join the league; eight from the Peterborough & District League (Downham Town, Huntingdon United, King's Lynn reserves, Ortonians, Somersham Town, Warboys Town and Yaxley – Parson Drove also applied later in the year, but were rejected), three from the Anglian Combination (Diss Town, Fakenham Town and Wroxham) and three from the Essex & Suffolk Border League (Bury Town reserves, Hatfield Peverel and Little Oakley). All were accepted except Hatfield Peverel and Little Oakley, whose grounds were deemed inadequate, whilst Ortonians later withdrew after difficulties getting their reserve and 'A' teams into the Peterborough & District League. Mildenhall Town from the Cambridgeshire League and Ipswich Wanderers from the Ipswich Sunday League were later invited to join, whilst Halstead Town were persuaded to transfer from the Essex Senior League after Ortonian's late withdrawal, allowing the inaugural Division One season in 1988–89 to start with 14 clubs.
On 3 October 2017, The Football Association ratified the creation of a new Step 6 (level 10) division in the league, Division One South, which started playing in the 2018–19 season.[3] It covers the rest of Essex, as well as East London and parts of North London and east Hertfordshire and is intended to enable promotion to the Essex Senior League and relegation to the Essex Olympian League.
Ninety-four teams 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.
Notes
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
Approached by the league but declined
The champions of the league have been as follows:[4]
| Season | Town & Country League | League Cup | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978–79 | Haverhill Rovers | Cambridge United reserves | |
| 1979–80 | Gorleston | Ely City | |
| 1980–81 | Gorleston | Great Yarmouth Town | |
| 1981–82 | Tiptree United | Tiptree United |
| Season | Premier Division | Division One North | Division One South | League Cup | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | Histon | Swaffham Town | Hashtag United | Long Melford | |
| 2019–20 | Season abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2020–21 | Season curtailed due to anti-COVID-19 lockdown regulations | ||||
| 2021–22 | Gorleston | Sheringham | Ipswich Wanderers | Not held | |
| 2022–23 | Ipswich Wanderers | Heacham | Frenford | Lakenheath | |
| 2023–24 | Mildenhall Town | Great Yarmouth Town | Benfleet | Harlow Town | |