Canterbury and District Football League 1907 League History
November 2025
I have been involved with the Canterbury and District Football League 1907 since 1962/63 when I started playing football for Chilham. In those days there were 37 clubs with 46 teams in 4 leagues. The number of clubs fluctuated in the following years and in 1971/72 the most clubs in the league was 55 with 72 teams in 6 division, it remained at this level until1978/79 when it reduced to 5 divisions until 1998/99 when it again reduced to 4 divisions. Even in 2007/08 we managed to field 48 teams. Unfortunately, today we only have 14 teams and 2 divisions.
There were quite a few Cup competitions in the earlier years (The League Challenge Cup started pre-war but there are no existing records)
Season Cup 1907/1908 Faversham Charity Cup 1952/1953 Whitstable Charity Cup and Reserve Challenge Trophy 1978/1979 Bert Dowell Cup 1984/1985 Anniversary Cup 1991/1992 Bugden Memorial Cup Donated by Chilham FC in honour of George and Don Bugden father and son both connected to Chilham FC and Elgars Cricket Club 1994/1995 Gordon Hodgman Memorial Trophy 1997/1998 Ben Hogben Reserve Challenge Trophy, John Wortham Cup (Div. 3 cup) , Joe French Cup (Div. 4 Cup), Selwyn Gaudan Cup (Premier Div. Cup), Bill Nicholls Cup (Div 1 Cup) 2007/2008 Dave Elliott Memorial Cup All these cups were given in honour of people connected to the League.
In 1922/23 season a new trophy was donated and the Faversham Charity Cup Competition was divided into 2 sections Senior and Junior, The finals were played at the Faversham Recreation Ground on the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, the ground was given free of charge by Swale Council and as no admission fees could be charged, donations were collected in buckets and shared amongst local charities. In 1975/76 The Whitstable Charity Cup competition divided into 2 sections (Senior and Junior). In later years we have the Dave Elliott Memorial Cup and the Les & Sue Barleycorn Challenge Cup, both Dave and Les served on the League Council for a number of years. In 1985 I was elected to serve on the League Council as a club delegate, I remained in that capacity and at present I’m serving as President. I have seen a lot of changes during my time especially in the playing facilities available to clubs. When I started playing most teams played on farmer’s fields which were usually grazed by animals that had to be herded off the pitch before play could start, most of the teams were from local villages and relied heavily on the farmers goodwill to allow them to play. Changing facilities were practically non-existent, a shed in the field with no water or electric or even in a room of a nearby pub and the toilets were a hole in the ground surrounded by corrugated tin sheets for privacy. How times have changed. I have served with a number of characters during my time on the Council the one that stands out mostly in my mind is Joe French, the League Secretary from 1967 to 1995 who if he didn’t get his way at a meeting say ‘that’s it I’m resigning’ and we either persuaded him to stay or we gave into him. There have been many changes over the years and I sincerely hope the League will continue to provide football for the area for many years to come.
Our longest serving Football Club, Wingham FC. Click on the images to enlarge them.
