East Anglian Cup

The East Anglian Cup was a football competition that embraced East Anglian clubs in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, but also included clubs from a much wider geographical area, from Boston and Louth in Lincolnshire down to Oxford City, Chelsea and Gillingham in the South, plus Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire teams as well. Amateur teams and the lower sides of professional clubs competed alongside each other in a long-running competition.

It was originally started as the South East Anglian League in 1903 with three clubs from Colchester, (Town, Crown and Garrison), Ipswich Town and Harwich & Parkeston. The number of teams competing grew gradually and the “South” part of the name was dropped and the competition continued until the First World War. After the War it was competed for as the East Anglian Cup for the first time in 1920/21, whilst the East Anglian League continued until it merged with the Norfolk & Suffolk League in 1964 to form the current Anglian Combination.

From 1921 to 1939 the rules limited membership to 16 clubs and it continued during the Second World War, whilst most football was suspended, providing competition for RAF teams, works sides and top amateur clubs of the time. Post War expansion saw the limit on numbers eventually removed in 1960 and the draw was made on a geographical basis to prevent large distances being travelled. The matches were arranged by mutual agreement between clubs and usually consisted of two rounds, an area semi-final, an area final, with the four winners meeting in the semi-finals and final. The competition lasted over a hundred years but seems to have fallen out of favour with the last final taking place in 2009.

Norwich City were the most successful team in the history of the East Anglian Cup with 12 victories from the early days to the 1920s and a treble in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Cambridge were the next most successful with 6 wins as Cambridge Town plus four more when they had changed their name to Cambridge City. King's Lynn and Romford were next with 5 apiece, although one for Romford includes their modern incarnation.

Competition winners

Season	Winners	Ref
1903-04	Ipswich Town
1904-05	Colchester Crown
1905-06	King's Own Scottish Borderers
1906-07	Colchester Town
1907-08	King's Royal Rifles
1908-09	Norwich City
1909-10	West Yorkshire Regiment
1910-11	West Yorkshire Regiment
1911-12	Norwich City
1912-13	Norwich City
1913-14	Norwich City
1914-19	Competition suspended
1919-20	Norwich City
1920-21	Norwich City
1921-22	Norwich City
1922-23	Norwich City
1923-24	Cambridge Town
1924-25	Chelmsford
1925-26	Harwich & Parkeston
1926-27	Chelmsford
1927-28	Cambridge Town
1928-29	Chelmsford
1929-30	Lowestoft Town
1930-31	Cambridge Town
1931-32	Colchester Town
1932-33	Harwich & Parkeston
1933-34	Harwich & Parkeston
1934-35	Romford
1935-36	King's Lynn
1936-37	Romford
1937-38	Barking
1938-39	Walthamstow Avenue and Lowestoft Town jointly
1939-40	Walthamstow Avenue
1940-41	Ford Sports
1941-42	Walthamstow Avenue
1942-43	Cambridge Town
1943-44	Cambridge Town
1944-45	Grays Athletic
1945-46	Cambridge Town
1946-47	Crittall Athletic
1947-48	Cambridge City
1948-49	Chelmsford City
1949-50	Tottenham Hotspur
1950-51	Great Yarmouth Town
1951-52	Arsenal
1952-53	Gorleston
1953-54	Barking and March Town jointly
1954-55	Romford
1955-56	Romford
1956-57	Clacton Town
1957-58	Tottenham Hotspur
1958-59	Norwich City
1959-60	Cambridge City
1960-61	Boston United
1961-62	Cambridge United
1962-63	Hertford Town
1963-64	Stevenage Town
1964-65	Cambridge City
1965-66	King's Lynn
1966-67	King's Lynn
1967-68	King's Lynn
1968-69	Braintree & Crittall Athletic
1969-70	Hertford Town
1970-71	Lowestoft Town
1971-72	Dagenham
1972-73	Hitchin Town
1973-74	Ware
1974-75	Cheshunt
1975-76	Cambridge City
1976-77	Letchworth Garden City
1977-78	Lowestoft Town
1978-79	Norwich City
1979-80	Norwich City
1980-81	Norwich City
1981-82	Bishop's Stortford
1982-83	Gorleston	[1]
1983-84	Stansted
1984-85	King's Lynn
1985-86	Sudbury Town
1986-87	Not completed
1987-88	Wisbech Town
1988-89	Aveley
1989-90	Harlow Town	[2]
1990-91	Haverhill Rovers
1991-92	Sudbury Town
1992-93	St Albans City
1993-94	Heybridge Swifts
1994-95	Heybridge Swifts
1995-96	Braintree Town
1996-97	Potton United
1997-98	Romford
1998-99	Ipswich Wanderers
1999-2000	Clacton Town
2000-01	Cancelled - bad weather
2001-02	Harlow Town
2002-03	East Thurrock United
2003-04	Spalding United
2004-05	Spalding United
2005-06	Harlow Town
2006-07	Needham Market
2007-08	Leiston
2008-09	Tilbury

References

1. The East Anglian Football Cup Competition Official Handbook 1983-84 lists all the winners noted above
2. The winners from 1983-90 come from The Bureau of Non-League Football Volume 3 1983 to Volume 9 1990.

• East Anglian Football Cup Competition Official Handbook 1983-84.
• Roe, Keith (2007) The Essex Senior League: A Statistical Journey 1971-2007 pages 272-4.
• The Bureau of Non-League Football Volume 3 1983 to Volume 9 1990.
• The Cherry Red Non-League Newsdesk Annual 2004 to 2008.
• Various club websites and Wikipedia entries.