The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's football league in south-eastern England with members in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Jersey, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and the western half and south-eastern quarter of Greater London, featuring a number of professional clubs. It is sponsored by Cherry Red Records and is officially known as the Cherry Red Records Combined Counties Football League.
It was founded in 1922 as the Surrey Senior League and was renamed in 1978 to the Combined Counties League. Initially, the league was a single division, but it consists now of 61 teams in three divisions: Premier Division North, Premier Division South and Division One. The league also has a new Division Two of ten reserve and development teams, six teams competing in an Under-23 Development Division, known as the John Bennett Development Division, and 20 Under-18 teams split across North and South divisions, known as the Tony Ford Under-18 Youth Divisions. These four leagues are outside the National League System.
The Premier Divisions North and South are two of sixteen recognised leagues to form the ninth level of the English football league system (known as Step 5 of the National League System), and Division One is one of seventeen recognised leagues at level 10 (known as Step 6 of the National League System). The Combined Counties Football League is a feeder to the Isthmian League and the Southern League.
History
The league was renamed on 18 June 1978 when the Surrey Senior League underwent a metamorphosis to try to attract clubs from outside the county. The expanded league was initially called the Home Counties League but there was an objection to the title from the Home Counties Conference, which forced the league to change its name.
The league had a verbal agreement with the Surrey County Football Association to revert to a similar title to the former league – the Surrey Senior Football League. However, this name was later rejected as the Surrey County Football Association intended to reform the Surrey Senior League at a later date. It was first suggested by the FA that the league should be called the Corinthian Football League, but this was frowned upon by the Athenian Football League within which the old Corinthian Football League was incorporated. The alternative suggestion, the Combined Counties Football League, was approved for the 1979–80 season.
With increasing numbers for the 1981–82 season, the clubs were split into two equal divisions: the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The winners then met in a two-legged play-off final, with Ash United winning 3–0 in aggregate against Malden Town. The league reverted to a single division for the 1982–83 season.
The league began with nine founder-member clubs and continued to steadily grow, resulting in the league becoming a feeder to the Isthmian League in 1984 with 16–18 teams usually competing in the Combined Counties Football League. Southwick became the first team promoted to the Isthmian League from a feeder club in 1985, and Chertsey Town followed a year later.
In 1987, the league announced a four-year sponsorship agreement with Dan-Air worth a five figure sum. As part of the agreement, the league became known as the Dan-Air Football League and a representative team was introduced. The Dan-Air Class Elite Cup was also launched in 1989.
The Dan-Air Youth League was formed for the 1991–92 season and opened to youth teams from all member clubs. However, the league attracted just seven clubs for the inaugural season and reluctantly abandoned the competition after one year. With the Dan-Air sponsorship coming to an end at the end of the season, the league agreed a sponsorship deal with Parasol Professional Portrait Photography and became known as the Parasol Combined Counties Football League. The League Challenge Cup became known as the Parasol Challenge Cup, and the Dan-Air Class Elite Cup was replaced by the Frazer Freight Vase with sponsorship from Frazer Freight International.