Isthmian League
The Isthmian League /ˈɪs(θ)miən/ is a regional men's football league covering London, East and South East England featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. It is currently known as the BetVictor Isthmian League for sponsorship reasons.
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| Founded | 1905 |
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| Country | England |
| Other club(s) from | Guernsey |
| Divisions | Premier Division North Division South Central Division South East Division |
| Number of teams | 82 Premier Division: 22 North Division: 20 South Central Division: 20 South East Division: 20 |
| Level on pyramid | 7–8 |
| Promotion to | National League South |
| Relegation to | Combined Counties League Eastern Counties League Essex Senior League Hellenic League Southern Combination League Southern Counties East League Spartan South Midlands League |
| Domestic cup(s) | FA Cup FA Trophy Isthmian League Cup |
| Current champions | None (season abandoned) |
| Website | www |
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It was founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area. It now consists of 82 teams in four divisions; the Premier Division above its three feeder divisions, the North, South Central and South East divisions. Together with the Southern League and the Northern Premier League, it forms the seventh and eighth levels of the English football league system. It has various regional feeder leagues and the league as a whole is a feeder league mainly to the National League South.
History
Before the Isthmian League was formed, there were no leagues in which amateur clubs could compete, only cups. Therefore, a meeting took place between representatives of Casuals, Civil Service, Clapton, Ealing Association, Ilford and London Caledonians to discuss the creation of a strong amateur league. All the clubs supported the idea and the Isthmian League was born on 8 March 1905. Membership to the league was through invitation only. The league was strongly dedicated to amateurism; the champions did not even receive a trophy or medals; the league motto was honor sufficit.
Teams less able to compete financially thus gravitated to it rather than the Southern League, while those with ambition and money would move in the opposite direction. Although the league established itself as one of the strongest amateur leagues in the country, routinely providing the winners of the FA Amateur Cup, it was still seen as being at a lower level than the Southern League which was the top regional semi-professional league. By 1922 the league had fourteen clubs and over the next five decades, only a few new members were admitted, mainly to fill vacancies left by clubs leaving the league. Most new Isthmian League members joined from the Athenian League, which was similarly dedicated to amateurism. The Isthmian League was most likely named after the ancient Isthmian Games, with the later Athenian League, Corinthian League and Delphian League all adding a Classical flavour to amateur football competition. In 1962 an 'all-star' team from the Isthmian League entered the 1962 Ugandan Independence Tournament, drawing both their games versus Kenya and Ghana.
The league began to admit professionalism in the 1970s – the FA abolished the distinction between amateur and professional status with effect from the 1974–75 season. A second division of sixteen clubs was formed in 1973 and a third division followed in 1977. The league refused to participate in the formation of the Alliance Premier League in 1979 and whilst two Isthmian clubs, Enfield and Dagenham, defected to the APL in 1981, it was not until 1985 that the Isthmian League champions were given a promotion place to the newly renamed Football Conference. The reward of promotion into the Conference means that, since 1985, no team has retained the title (as had happened on 22 occasions previously). The Athenian League disbanded in 1984 when the Isthmian League Second Division split into North and South Divisions. These were restructured again to Second and Third Divisions in 1991.
In 2002, the league was restructured again, with the First and Second Divisions merging to become Division One North and Division One South (later renamed simply the North and South divisions), and the Third Division being renamed as Division Two. In addition, the league's three feeder leagues—the Combined Counties League, Essex Senior League and Spartan South Midlands League—ran in parallel with Division Two, and were able to feed directly into the regional Division Ones.
In 2004, The Football Association pushed through a major restructuring of the non-league National League System, creating new regional divisions of the Football Conference. The Isthmian League was reduced back down to three divisions, and its boundaries were changed to remove the overlap with the Southern League.
In 2006, further reorganisation saw a reversion to two regional Division Ones and the disbandment of Division Two. This current plan calls for clubs based on the edges of the Isthmian League's territory to transfer to and from the Southern League as necessary to maintain numerical balance between the leagues. One team, Clapton, was ever present in the Isthmian League since its foundation, but they moved to the Essex Senior League for the 2006–07 season. Dulwich Hamlet, who joined the league in 1907, became its longest serving member until their promotion to the National League South for the 2018–19 season.
In May 2017, The FA chose the Isthmian League to add a third regional division at Step 4 as part of further restructuring in the National League System, reducing all divisions at Step 4 to 20 teams. The new division started play in the 2018–19 season.[1]
Current members
Premier Division
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North Division
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South Central Division
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South East Division
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  AFC Sudbury Aveley Basildon United Brentwood Town Bury Town Cambridge City Canvey Island Coggeshall Town Dereham Town Felixstowe & Walton United Grays Athletic Great Wakering Rovers Heybridge Swifts Histon Hullbridge Sports Maldon & Tiptree Romford Soham Town Rangers Tilbury Witham Town  Ashford Town Barking Bedfont Sports Bracknell Town Chalfont St Peter Chertsey Town Chipstead FC Romania Hanwell Town Harlow Town Hertford Town Marlow Northwood South Park Staines Town Tooting & Mitcham United Uxbridge Waltham Abbey Ware Westfield  Ashford United Burgess Hill Town Chichester City Cray Valley Paper Mills East Grinstead Town Faversham Town Hastings United Haywards Heath Town Herne Bay Hythe Town Sevenoaks Town Phoenix Sports Ramsgate Sittingbourne Three Bridges VCD Athletic Whitehawk Whitstable Town Whyteleafe  Bishop's Stortford Bognor Regis Bowers & Pitsea Brightlingsea Regent Carshalton Athletic Cheshunt Corinthian-Casuals Cray Wanderers East Thurrock Enfield Town Folkestone Invicta Haringey Borough Hornchurch Horsham Kingstonian Leatherhead Lewes Margate Merstham Potters Bar Town Wingate & Finchley Worthing Locations of the Isthmian League clubs by division Not shown: Guernsey (further south)
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Champions
For the 1973–74 season, Division Two was added.
| Season | Division One | Division Two |
|---|---|---|
| 1973–74 | Wycombe Wanderers | Dagenham |
| 1974–75 | Wycombe Wanderers | Staines Town |
| 1975–76 | Enfield | Tilbury |
| 1976–77 | Enfield | Boreham Wood |
For the 1977–78 season, Division One was renamed the Premier Division, Division Two was renamed Division One and new Division Two was added.
| Season | Premier Division | Division One | Division Two |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977–78 | Enfield | Dulwich Hamlet | Epsom & Ewell |
| 1978–79 | Barking | Harrow Borough | Farnborough Town |
| 1979–80 | Enfield | Leytonstone/Ilford | Billericay Town |
| 1980–81 | Slough Town | Bishop's Stortford | Feltham |
| 1981–82 | Leytonstone & Ilford | Wokingham Town | Worthing |
| 1982–83 | Wycombe Wanderers | Worthing | Clapton |
| 1983–84 | Harrow Borough | Windsor & Eton | Basildon United |
For the 1984–85 season, Division Two was reorganised into North and South regions.
| Season | Premier Division | Division One | Division Two North | Division Two South |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984–85 | Sutton United | Farnborough Town | Leyton Wingate | Grays Athletic |
| 1985–86 | Sutton United | St Albans City | Stevenage Borough | Southwick |
| 1986–87 | Wycombe Wanderers | Leytonstone/Ilford | Chesham United | Woking |
| 1987–88 | Yeovil Town | Marlow | Wivenhoe Town | Chalfont St Peter |
| 1988–89 | Leytonstone/Ilford | Staines Town | Harlow Town | Dorking |
| 1989–90 | Slough Town | Wivenhoe Town | Heybridge Swifts | Yeading |
| 1990–91 | Redbridge Forest | Chesham United | Stevenage Borough | Abingdon Town |
For the 1991–92 season, regional divisions Two were merged and Division Three was added.
| Season | Premier Division | Division One | Division Two | Division Three |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–92 | Woking | Stevenage Borough | Purfleet | Edgware Town |
| 1992–93 | Chesham United | Hitchin Town | Worthing | Aldershot Town |
| 1993–94 | Stevenage Borough | Bishop's Stortford | Newbury Town | Bracknell Town |
| 1994–95 | Enfield | Boreham Wood | Thame United | Collier Row |
| 1995–96 | Hayes | Oxford City | Canvey Island | Horsham |
| 1996–97 | Yeovil Town | Chesham United | Collier Row & Romford | Wealdstone |
| 1997–98 | Kingstonian | Aldershot Town | Canvey Island | Hemel Hempstead Town |
| 1998–99 | Sutton United | Canvey Island | Bedford Town | Ford United |
| 1999–2000 | Dagenham & Redbridge | Croydon | Hemel Hempstead Town | East Thurrock United |
| 2000–01 | Farnborough Town | Boreham Wood | Tooting & Mitcham United | Arlesey Town |
| 2001–02 | Gravesend & Northfleet | Ford United | Lewes | Croydon Athletic |
At the end of the 1994–95 season, Enfield were denied promotion to the Conference. Their place was taken by Slough Town who finished as runners-up.
For the 2002–03 season, Division One was reorganised into North and South regions and Division Three was disbanded.
| Season | Premier Division | Division One North | Division One South | Division Two |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | Aldershot Town | Northwood | Carshalton Athletic | Cheshunt |
| 2003–04 | Canvey Island | Yeading | Lewes | Leighton Town |
For the 2004–05 season Division Ones North and South were merged.
| Season | Premier Division | Division One | Division Two |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004–05 | Yeading | AFC Wimbledon | Ilford |
| 2005–06 | Braintree Town | Ramsgate | Ware |
For the 2006–07 season, Division One was reorganised into North and South regions and Division Two was disbanded.
For the 2018–19 season, the South Division was reorganised into South Central and South East divisions.
| Season | Premier Division | North Division | South Central Division | South East Division |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | Dorking Wanderers | Bowers & Pitsea | Hayes & Yeading United | Cray Wanderers |
| 2019–201 | Worthing | Maldon & Tiptree | Ware | Hastings United |
1 The 2019–20 season was terminated on 26 March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic; the teams listed here were in first place in the standings at the time of the termination, but were not recognised as champions.
Sponsorship
The Isthmian League was the first league to have sponsorship, having been selected by Rothmans, who sponsored the league from 1973 to 1977. The company offered prize money for position in the league but money was deducted for bookings. Thus the money encouraged both more goals and fair play. The sponsors after Rothmans to the present day have been: Michael Lawrie (1977–78), Berger (1978–82), Servowarm (1982–85), Vauxhall-Opel (1985–90), Vauxhall (1990–91), Diadora (1991–95), ICIS (1995–97), Ryman (1997–2017)[2], Bostik (2017–19)[3] and BetVictor (2019–20).[4]
Ryman also sponsored the Isthmian Youth League and Isthmian Development League upon their creations in 2007 and 2013 respectively.[5] Ryman chairman Theo Paphitis added to his league sponsorship through his flagship companies. Robert Dyas became sponsors of the Isthmian League Cup, Isthmian Veterans Cup, Isthmian Disability Cup and Isthmian Youth Play-off Cup in 2014, and Boux Avenue sponsored the Isthmian Women's Cup from 2014 to 2017.
Becoming the longest running sports sponsorship in UK football, Ryman stepped down as sponsors at the end of the 2016–17 season after 20 years.[6]
League Cup
The Alan Turvey Trophy, formerly the Isthmian League Cup, has run since 1975 and involves all Isthmian League teams.
See also
Footnotes
- "The big shake up of non-League football confirmed". Pitchero.com. Pitch Hero Ltd. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- "English Non-League Archive 1965–98". city.ac.uk. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
- "Bostik signs sponsorship deal with the Isthmian Football League". Bostik.com. 2 July 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- "BetVictor sponsors the Isthmian, Northern Premier and Southern Leagues". 8 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
- "Record-breaking Ryman era to end – The Ryman Isthmian Football League". isthmian.co.uk. 14 January 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- "Ryman's 20-year sponsorship deal with the Isthmian League to end". Daily Mail. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
References
- "The Ryman Football League". isthmian.co.uk. Ryman Football League. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
- "Isthmian League History". fchd.info. Football Club History Database. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
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