The Essex County League was a short-lived football league in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 1930s. The league was established in 1937 and seen as a threat to the viability of the

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suff ...

, which had only been formed two years earlier. However, it failed to attract enough clubs to join and lasted only a single season before folding.

History

The league was formed following a meeting at the Liverpool Street Hotel in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in March 1937. The five

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

clubs who were members of the recently established

(including

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

, whose president was also the president of the ECL) agreed to join and find other clubs from the county which were interested in joining,Blakeman, M (2010) ''The official history of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935-2010 Volume II'' One reason behind the move was the time and cost of travelling to coastal towns in Norfolk and Suffolk, who comprised most of the members of the ECL at the time. Despite hoping to attract teams from mid-Essex and the north-east edge of London, Dagenham Town of the London League were the only other club to join, and as the season was about to start in September, the president of Crittall Athletic admitted that the clubs had made a mistake by leaving the ECL. The league began with six clubs, but Colchester Town went bust in December, resulting in their record being expunged (at the time they had played six matches, drawing one and losing five). The league continued with the clubs playing each other four times each. At the end of the season Harwich & Parkeston (the champions), Clacton Town and Crittall Athletic returned to the ECL and Dagenham Town to the London League, whilst Chelmsford were transformed into Chelmsford City, who joined the Southern League.

League table

References

{{reflist Defunct football leagues in England Football in Essex 1937 establishments in England