1977–78 Kent Football League

The 1977–78 Kent Football League season was the twelfth in the history of the Kent Football League, a football competition featuring teams based in and around the county of Kent in England.

The league comprised one division and there was also a league cup competition, the Challenge Cup.

League table

Kent Football League

Season	1977–78
Champions	Faversham Town
Matches played	306
Goals scored	972 (3.18 per match)
← 1976–77 1978–79 →

The league featured teams from eighteen clubs, including three reserves teams. Seventeen of the clubs competed in the previous season and they were joined by Hythe Town from the Kent County Amateur League.^[1]

The league was won by Faversham Town, they had been champions seven seasons previously.^[2]

At the end of the season, following the decision taken in August 1977 to form a Second Division for reserve sides with Division One for 'first teams' only,^[3] Dover Reserves, Folkestone & Shepway Reserves and Maidstone United Reserves moved to a newly formed Division Two. The two lowest ranked non-reserve clubs, Slade Green Athletic and Kent Police, were re-elected to continue their membership of the league which was now named Division One.^[4]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Season End Notes
1	Faversham Town	34	23	8	3	83	24	+59	54
2	Sheppey United	34	24	5	5	87	32	+55	53
3	Tunbridge Wells	34	21	10	3	84	36	+48	52
4	Hythe Town	34	19	6	9	73	57	+16	44
5	Maidstone United Reserves	34	18	6	10	46	39	+7	42	Moved to Division Two
6	Crockenhill	34	15	8	11	62	46	+16	38
7	Dartford Glentworth	34	15	8	11	59	45	+14	38
8	Medway	34	15	8	11	55	49	+6	38
9	Ramsgate	34	12	13	9	54	51	+3	37
10	Deal Town	34	13	7	14	47	53	−6	33
11	Whitstable Town	34	13	6	15	52	43	+9	32
12	Herne Bay	34	10	9	15	43	72	−29	29
13	Sittingbourne	34	8	9	17	37	60	−23	25
14	Snowdown Colliery Welfare	34	8	6	20	44	76	−32	22
15	Slade Green Athletic	34	4	12	18	40	60	−20	20	Re-elected
16	Folkestone & Shepway Reserves	34	6	7	21	37	61	−24	19	Moved to Division Two
17	Kent Police	34	6	6	22	34	81	−47	18	Re-elected
18	Dover Reserves	34	9	0	25	35	87	−52	18	Moved to Division Two

Source: "How it all finished: Kent League". Kent Messenger. 19 May 1978. p. 75. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.; "(column 1) Kent League: Final Table". East Kent Times. 24 May 1978. p. 15. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Challenge Cup

The 1977–78 Kent Football League Challenge Cup was won by Tunbridge Wells, their second win in four seasons.^[5]

The competition, contested by all eighteen clubs in the league, comprised five single match tie rounds (with the first round featuring two ties) culminating in the final which was played on a neutral ground (at Sittingbourne^[6] this season).

Quarter-finals, Semi-finals and Final

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	Whitstable Town		3
	Sittingbourne		1
						Whitstable Town		0
						Sheppey United		1
	Sheppey United		3
	Hythe Town		1
											Sheppey United		0
											Tunbridge Wells		1
	Snowdown Colliery Welfare		0
	Dartford Glentworth		3
						Dartford Glentworth		0
						Tunbridge Wells		1
	Medway		2
	Tunbridge Wells		6

Second Round

• Dover Reserves 1 – 4 Whitstable Town
• Sittingbourne 2 – 1 Slade Green Athletic
• Faversham Town 1 – 4 Sheppey United
• Crockenhill 1 – 2 Hythe Town
• Snowdown Colliery Welfare 4 – 0 Herne Bay
• Dartford Glentworth 3 – 1 Maidstone United Reserves
• Kent Police 1 – 2 Medway
• Tunbridge Wells 2 – 1 Deal Town

First Round

• Folkestone & Shepway Reserves 0 – 1 Faversham Town
• Kent Police 1 – 1 Ramsgate
• REPLAY: Ramsgate 1 – 2 Kent Police
• Byes for the other fourteen clubs

Sources:

• Final: Mighall, John (2 May 1978). "Sheppey Hand it to Big Jim". Evening Post. p. 19. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
• Semi-finals: "Football Results: Kent League Cup". Thanet Times. 14 March 1978. p. 30. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.;
• Quarter-finals: "Results: Kent League Cup". Thanet Times. 17 January 1978. p. 27. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.;
• Second Round: "All the senior soccer details: Results: Saturday: Kent League Cup 2nd round". Kent Messenger. 7 October 1977. p. 75. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.; "Senior soccer details: Results: Saturday: Kent League Cup 2nd round". Kent Messenger. 25 November 1977. p. 77. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.; "Senior soccer details: Results: Saturday: Kent League Cup 2nd round". Kent Messenger. 16 December 1977. p. 67. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
• First Round: "All the senior soccer details: Results: Saturday: Kent League Cup 1st round". Kent Messenger. 7 October 1977. p. 75. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.; "County Soccer Details: Results: Tuesday: Kent League Cup 1st round replay". Kentish Express. 11 November 1977. p. 56. Retrieved 9 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.

References

1. Carpenter, Gordon (20 June 1977). "Reserves are given the boot". Evening Post. Chatham. p. 20.
2. "First Division past winners / runners-up". kentleague.com. 2013. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
3. "Clubs in Favour of Division 2". Whitstable Times. Whitstable. 26 August 1977. p. 3.
4. "Police get a reprieve". Mid-Kent Gazette. Larkfield, Maidstone. 4 July 1978. p. 72.
5. "Archives: League Cup Winners". SCEFL: Southern Counties East Football League. February 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
6. "Going to a game? Saturday: Kent League Cup Final". The Courier. Tunbridge Wells. 28 April 1978. p. 32.