Southern Counties East Football League

The current league was formed in 1966, from teams in and around the county of Kent, when the Thames & Medway Combination (which had its origins in 1896) was expanded and renamed the Kent Premier League.[1] The league began with fourteen teams - five of the six members of the final Thames & Medway Combination season (Deal Town Reserves, Orpington Athletic, Sittingbourne Reserves, Snowdown CW and Tonbridge Reserves) plus nine additional members (Ashford Town Reserves, Bexley United Reserves, Canterbury City Reserves, Faversham Town, Folkestone Town Reserves, Margate Reserves, Ramsgate Athletic Reserves, Sheppey United Reserves,Tunbridge Wells Rangers Reserves). Two years later in 1968 it was renamed the Kent Football League[2] and the league knock-out competition, the Challenge Cup, was introduced. Over its first ten years many of its members were reserve sides of Southern League teams, however, following the 1978–79 season the existing single league was named as Division One with the reserve sides remaining in the competition shifted into a newly formed Division Two (which additionally included some first teams); a Division Two knock-out cup competition was also initiated. Subsequently all divisions below the league's top division were known as the 'Reserves Section' and there was no automatic promotion/relegation from the Reserves Section into/from the top division.

The league continued with this format until the 1998–99 season when the divisions were renamed as the Premier Division and Division One (from Division One and Division Two respectively). For the two seasons 2000–01 and 2001–02 the Reserves Section Division One was split into two equal ranked regional (North and South) Divisions with a play-off match between the two winners to decide the Division One champion. Thereafter, for the next nine seasons, Division One reverted to a single league, initially comprising the higher ranked teams from the two regional Division One leagues, with a new Division Two taking the remaining teams, with promotion/relegation between Division One and Division Two. For the 2012–2013 season, the last of which the league was known as the Kent League, the competition reverted to a two division format, comprising the Premier Division and Reserves Section Division One.

Prior to the 2011–12 season, clubs could be relegated to the Kent County League, although in practice this rarely happened. The formation of the new Kent Invicta Football League for the 2011–12 season meant there was a lower ranked (Step 6) league allowing for more frequent promotion/relegation between the leagues.

In 2013 the league changed its name to the Southern Counties East League, to reflect that many of its member clubs no longer played within the county of Kent.[3] and reverted to a single division for three seasons. At the end of the 2015–16 season, the league merged with the Kent Invicta League: the former single Southern Counties East League was designated as the Premier Division and the former Kent Invicta league became Division One.[4][5]

For 15 seasons between 1985 and 1999 the league was sponsored by cable making company Winstonlead, and was styled as the Winstonlead Kent League, they were succeeded by brewing company Bass as sponsors for three seasons during which the league was titled the Bass Brewers Kent League.[6] In 2002 Kent based travel agency business Go Travel were the sponsor with the competition known as the Go Travel Kent League. The sponsor changed in 2005 to the Kent on Sunday newspaper and for a single season, 2005–06, the league was known as the Kentish Observer League.[7] There followed two years without a title sponsor until 2008 when it was sponsored for two seasons by Bulmers and named the Bulmers Cider Kent League.[8] For the 2010–11 season, training and consultancy business Safety Net Associates were the sponsors with the league known as the Safety Net Associates Kent League.[9] Thereafter for two seasons commencing with the 2011–12 season the league was sponsored by Hürlimann Sternbräu lager (brewed by Kentish brewers Shepherd Neame) and billed as the Kent Hurlimann Football League.[10] After six seasons without a title sponsor, in November 2019 shipping company Sea Pioneer was named as sponsor with the competition known as the Sea Pioneer Southern Counties East Football League[11] – this arrangement ceased with the interruption of football in March 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The League's knock-out cup competitions have intermittently attracted separate sponsorship: from 2011 to 2018 the Challenge Cup was sponsored by sportswear brand Macron; the Reserves Section cup was known for the 2008–09 season as the HAUC (Highways Agency Utilities Committee) Reserves Cup and for the following two seasons to 2010–11 was sponsored by (infrastructure provider) Blu3.

Since 2016–17 the Premier Division is designated at Step 5 with Division One at Step 6 of the National League System (which equates to Levels 9–10 of the overall English football league system). Clubs are able to move upwards to the Step 4 divisions of the Isthmian League; teams are relegated into the Kent County League which is the feeder league into Division One.

As of the 2023–24 season the two divisions comprise the following clubs

Premier Division Bearsted Corinthian Deal Town Erith Town Faversham Town Fisher Glebe Hollands & Blair Holmesdale Kennington Lordswood Lydd Town Punjab United Rusthall Snodland Town Stansfeld Sutton Athletic Tunbridge Wells VCD Athletic Welling Town Whitstable Town

Division One AFC Whyteleafe Bridon Ropes Canterbury City Croydon FC Elmstead Faversham Strike Force Forest Hill Park Greenways K Sports Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers Lewisham Borough Meridian VP Rochester United Sporting Club Thamesmead Staplehurst Monarchs Tooting Bec

The area covered by the Southern Counties East Football League is coloured in maroon

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  Cray Wanderers celebrate winning the title in 1981
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  Maidstone United celebrate winning the title in 2006

• Official website