Page 19 - CHUFC v FC Elmstead

Southern Counties East

Football League

he Southern Counties East Therefore
T Football League is an English the South-
football league for teams based in ern Counties
Kent and the South East, which was East Football
established in 1966. Until 2013 it league now op-
was known as the Kent League. erates two Divisions. The Premier Divi-
sion is at Step 5 of the Non -League Pyr-
The first Kent League was formed in amid with the First Division at Step 6.
1894 and folded in 1959. Despite many The promoted teams from the Premier
of the same clubs having spells in mem- will enter the Isthmian League at Step 4
bership, there is no direct connection with relegated teams from the First Di-
between the two competitions. vision likely to enter the Kent County
League at Step 7.
The current incarnation of the league
was formed in 1966 as the Kent Pre- Like was the case for most all of the
mier League (changing to Kent Football leagues at our level, the 2019-20 and
League in 1968), and in its early years 2020-21 Seasons were both abandoned
many of its members were reserve sides due to the Worldwide Covid-19 pan-
of Southern League teams. Gradually, demic. The 2019-20 season was approx-
the reserve sides were all shifted down imately 75% completed but was made
into the lower divisions. null and void. The 2020-21 Season was
only around 25% through and was cur-
In 2013 the league changed its name to tailed.
the Southern Counties East League, to
reflect the fact that not all of its member
clubs played within the county of Kent.

At the end of the 2015–16 season, the
league merged with the recently formed
Kent Invicta League and the latter be-
came the lower division of the merged
league.