Isthmian League

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.

The league began to admit professionalism in the 1970s. 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, 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, had been 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, are currently its longest serving member.

Champions

For the 1973–74 season, the Second Division was added.

For the 1977–78 season, the Premier Division was added.

For the 1984–85 season, the Second Division was reorganised into North and South regions.

For the 1991–92 season, the regional Second Divisions were merged and the Third Division was added.

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, the First Division was reorganised into North and South regions and the Third Division was disbanded.

For the 2004–05 season Division Ones North and South were merged.

For the 2006–07 season, Division One was reorganised into North and South regions and Division Two was disbanded.

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) and Ryman (1997–present).

Ryman also sponsored the Isthmian Youth League and Isthmian Development League upon their creations in 2007 and 2013 respectively. 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 announced they would be stepping down as sponsors at the end of the 2016–17 season after 20 years.

League Cup

The Isthmian League Cup has run since 1975 and involves all Isthmian League teams.

Development League

The Isthmian Development League was formed in 2013 for Under-21 teams as an expansion from the Isthmian Youth League. Split into two divisions, Enfield Town and Maidstone United were named inaugural champions with 10 teams in each league. The league has since expanded to 13 teams in the North Division and 14 teams in the South Division for the 2016-17 season.

AFC Hornchurch were crowned Development League Cup champions during the 2014-15 season, and remain the only victors to date. The competition did not run for the proceeding two years. The Champion of Champions fixture was added the following season, with Worthing beating Billericay Town 5-3 on penalties following a 2-2 draw.

Champions

For the 2014-15 season, the Development League Cup was added.

Youth League

The first sign of youth football in the Isthmian League emerged in 1990 with the creation of the Isthmian Youth Cup. Epsom & Ewell emerged 4-0 victors over Bromley to become inaugural champions, and Lewes claimed success the following year with a 3-1 win against Clapton. However, the competition would disband for 14 years before a return in 2005.

The Isthmian Youth League was formed in 2007 to allow youth teams to compete. The competition began as an individual league with Leatherhead crowned as the first champions, but has undergone regular changes to complete its current four division set-up. There are 38 teams competing during the 2016-17 season.

A Champions of Champions competition was set-up ahead of the 2012-13 season, allowing an overall champion to crowned from the Central, East, South and West divisions. Sutton United are the reigning champions, after topping the Youth Central table with 16 wins from 18 games. Staines Town are the most successful club to date, with five titles and one Champions of Champions victory.

Sutton United became the first team to complete an 'Invicibles' season after 10 wins and three defeats in the 2009-10 Central Division. Corinthian also achieved the feat with nine victories and five draws in the 2011-12 East Division. Thamsmead Town became the first team to record an undefeated season without winning the league title in the 2014-15 East Division. 14 victories and four draws meant they missed out on the title by a single point to Corinthian due to their superior win rate.

Champions

For the 2005-06 season, the Youth Cup returned after a 14 year absence.

For the 2007-08 season, the Youth League was formed.

For the 2008-09 season, the Youth League was reorganised into North-East and South-West regions

For the 2009-10 season, the North-East and South-West divisions were reorganised into Central, East, South and West regions.

For the 2010-11 season, the South and East regions were merged into the South-East Division.

For the 2011-12 season, the South-East Division was reorganised into East and South regions.

For the 2012-13 season, the Champion of Champions competition was added.