The St. Edmundsbury Football League was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition based around the town of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

in Suffolk, England. At various points it had up to four divisions and sits at level 18 of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

. The league was affiliated to the

Suffolk County FA The Suffolk County Football Association is the governing body for football in the county of Suffolk, England. Football in Suffolk before formation Before the formation of the Suffolk County football Association, the county lacked both a footbal ...

History

The league was founded in 1907 and for most of its history has been known as the Bury & District Football League. In its early years the league had a much higher status and served a good standard of football in the West Suffolk area. However, in the last 25 years those clubs with better facilities left the league for higher standard competitions with Bacton Utd 89, Bartons, Cockfield Utd, Elmswell, Sporting 87, Stanton, St. Edmunds 65, Thurston,

Walsham-le-Willows Walsham le Willows is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district, in Suffolk, England, located around 3 miles (4 km) south-east of Stanton. Queen Elizabeth I granted Walsham le Willows to Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great ...

moving to the

Suffolk and Ipswich Football League The Suffolk and Ipswich Football League is a football competition based in Suffolk, England. The league has a total of eight divisions; the Senior Division and Divisions 1–3 for first teams, three divisions (Leagues A, B and C) for reserve tea ...

and Barton Mills, Exning Athletic, Lakenheath, Tuddenham Rovers and West Row Gunners moving to the Cambridgeshire League. As a consequence there was a significant reduction in the number of divisions from three in the 1990s to two over the last decade (with the exception of 2006–07) and eventually just one division. At the same time the number of teams participating in the league has halved from around 40 teams in the 1990s to 20 teams in the 2011–12 season. The league temporarily re-added Division Three for the 2014–15 season. In 2007 the Bury & District Football League celebrated its centenary and in the same year made the decision to rename the league as the St. Edmundsbury Football League. Among the clubs that at one time played in the Bury & District Football League and now compete at a higher level are: * Cambridge City (known as Cambridge Town) * Cornard United * Mildenhall Town *

Newmarket Town Newmarket Town Football Club is a football club based in Newmarket, Suffolk, England. Affiliated to the Suffolk County FA, they are currently members of the and play at Cricket Field Road. History The club was formed at a meeting at the Star ...

* Sudbury Town *

Many of the remaining clubs had very basic changing and pitch facilities and in later years the Division One Champions had not taken advantage of seeking promotion to the

Suffolk and Ipswich League The Suffolk and Ipswich Football League is a association football, football competition based in Suffolk, England. The league has a total of eight divisions; the Senior Division and Divisions 1–3 for first teams, three divisions (Leagues A, B ...

competition. This trend was broken by the 2011–12 champions Bartons, who moved to Division Three of the

for the 2012–13 season. Bartons subsequently gained promotion from Division Three to the Suffolk and Ipswich League Division Two in their first season.

Final member clubs

*Beck Row * Bury Town Rams 'A' *RF Saints *St Edmunds 1965 *Vipers *

'A' *

'B'

Divisional champions

Knock-Out Cup winners

Thetford & District Football League Challenge Cup

Founded in 1905, presented by the first president G.H.Verrall, renamed 1907 Bury Junior & District Football League

References

External links

League websiteWickhambrook F.C.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Edmundsbury Football League Football in Suffolk Bury St Edmunds Sports leagues established in 1907 1907 establishments in England 2019 disestablishments in England Defunct football leagues in England