The Suffolk and Ipswich Football League is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition based in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The league has a total of eight divisions; the Senior Division and Divisions 1–3 for first teams, three divisions (Leagues A, B and C) for reserve teams, and Division 4, which is for open to both first teams and reserves and is subordinate to both Division 3 and League C. The Senior Division is at step 7 (or level 11) of the

National League System The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Football Association. The National League System has a ...

. The league was founded in 1896 as the Ipswich & District League changing its name in 1978. The Senior Division champions may apply for promotion to the Eastern Counties League Division One. Clubs from the league to progress up the pyramid include Whitton United, Sudbury Town, Hadleigh United, Woodbridge Town,

Needham Market Needham Market is a small town in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, set in the Gipping Valley. Nearby villages include Barking, Suffolk, Barking, Darmsden, Badley and Creeting St Mary. The town is located just east of the A14 road ( ...

Walsham-le-Willows Walsham le Willows is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district, in Suffolk, England, located around 3 miles (4 km) south-east of Stanton. Queen Elizabeth I granted Walsham le Willows to Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great ...

, and Debenham LC. The league is affiliated to the

Suffolk County Football Association The Suffolk County Football Association is the governing body for football in the county of Suffolk, England. Football in Suffolk before formation Before the formation of the Suffolk County football Association, the county lacked both a footba ...

History

The Ipswich and District League was established in 1896 at the initiative of Frederick Gibbons, the secretary of St Lawrence Works. Gibbons placed an advert in the ''

East Anglian Daily Times The ''East Anglian Daily Times'' is a British local newspaper for Suffolk and Essex, based in Ipswich. History The newspaper began publication on 13 October 1874, incorporating the ''Ipswich Express'', which had been published since 13 August ...

'' stating that he intended to launch a football league for Ipswich and the surrounding area.League History
Suffolk & Ipswich League The inaugural meeting on 10 September 1896 was attended by officials from 18 clubs including Brantham Athletic,

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

and Orwell Works. Local MP

Daniel Ford Goddard Rt Hon. Sir Daniel Ford Goddard Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC JP (17 January 1850 – 6 May 1922) was a British civil engineer, businessman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (United ...

, who became the league's first president, promised to provide a trophy for the league, and the league commenced in October with two divisions of eight clubs. Although Ipswich Town had opted not to join, several other clubs that had not attended the initial meeting did, including Felixstowe Town,

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

and Woodbridge Old St Mary's. Divisions between the

Amateur Football Association The Amateur FA (Football Alliance) is a county football association in England. It is unusual among county FAs in not serving a particular geographical area. It was founded in 1906 as the Amateur Football Defence Council, was briefly known as t ...

(AFA) and

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

(which had created a split in the

) led to a small number of clubs leaving the league (which was affiliated to the AFA) in 1910 and setting up a rival FA Ipswich & District League.Wood, pp. 26–38 More clubs left the AFA version of the league in 1911, which ran with just twelve clubs across its two divisions. Although 21 clubs attended the league's annual general meeting in August 1912 and it was initially agreed to have ten clubs in Division One and eleven in Division Two, seven of the clubs elected to Division One walked out of the meeting. the 1912–13 season saw ten clubs compete in the AFA version of the league and 14 in the FA version, a situation that continued in 1913–14. Although the dispute between the AFA and FA were resolved in 1914, resulting in rival leagues merging to form a three-division competition, the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

saw the league abandoned in September 1914. When the league resumed in 1919 it had grown to five divisions. Division One was renamed the Premier Division in 1950, with a new Division One created above the sectional Division Twos. By 1971 the league had expanded to ten divisions. In 1978 the league was renamed the Suffolk & Ipswich League and the Premier Division became the Senior Division.Wood, p. 184

2024–25 members

Senior Division

Benhall St. Mary , Bildeston Rangers , Claydon , Coplestonians , East Bergholt United , Halesworth Town , Haughley United , Henley Athletic , Leiston St Margarets , Old Newton United , Ransomes Sports , Sporting 87 , Trimley Red Devils , Westerfield United , Wickham Market

Division One

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

, AFC Kesgrave , Bacton United 89 , Bramford Road Old Boys , Capel Plough , Cockfield United , Grundisburgh , Somersham , Stanton , Stowupland Falcons , Tattingstone United , Wenhaston United , Woolverstone United

Division Two

Bardwell Sport , Bramford United , Claydon Reserves , Coplestonians Reserves , Elmswell , Great Blakenham Chequers , Ipswich Athletic , Kesgrave Kestrels , Kirton Athletic , Saxmundham Sports , Sporting 87 Reserves , Stonham Aspal , Thurston

Division Three

AFC Kesgrave Reserves , Bacton United 89 Reserves , East Bergholt United Reserves , Halesworth Town Reserves , Haughley United Reserves , Ipswich Wanderers U23s , Laxfield , Needham Market Phoenix , Occold , Ransomes Sports Reserves , Trimley Red Devils Reserves , Wickham Market Reserves

Division Four

Capel Plough Reserves , Cockfield United Reserves , Coplestonians ‘A’ (founded by Samuel John-Gibson Copleston), Framlingham Town ‘A’ , Gipping Gnats , Grundisburgh Reserves , Hope Church , Kesgrave Kestrels Reserves , Old Newton United Reserves , Sporting 87 ‘A’ , Unity , Walsham Le Willows 'A'

Division Five

AFC Kesgrave ‘A’ , Benhall St. Mary Reserves , Bildeston Rangers Reserves , Coddenham Athletic , Debenham L.C. Reserves , East Bergholt United ‘A’ , Henley Athletic Reserves , Kirton Athletic Reserves , Leiston St Margarets Reserves , Stanton Reserves , Stowupland Falcons Reserves , Thurston Reserves , Wenhaston United Reserves , Woolverstone United Reserves

Division Six

Bacton United 89 ‘A’ , Capel Plough 'A' , Elmswell Reserves , Eye Saints Youth , Hadleigh United Brettsiders , Kesgrave Kestrels ‘A’ , Mendlesham , Samuels , Saxmundham Sports Reserves , Somersham Reserves , Stowupland Falcons ‘A’

List of divisional champions

League Cup

The league also runs a league cup, known as the Bob Coleman Cup. It has previously been known as the Omnico Cup and the McNeil League Knock–Out Cup/

List of winners

*1976–77 Hadleigh United *1977–78

*1978–79 Woodbridge Town *1979–80

*1980–81 Hadleigh United *1981–82 Hadleigh United *1982–83

Ransomes Ransomes is the common name for the Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies an engineering business of Orwell Works, Ipswich.It may also refer to several other associated organisations or locations: * Ransome & Marles, Newark-on-Trent and their brass band *Ranso ...

*1983–84 Westerfield United *1984–85 Westerfield United *1985–86 Haughley United *1986–87 Hadleigh United *1987–88

*1988–89 Grundisburgh *1989–90 Framlingham Town *1990–91 Grundisburgh *1991–92 Framlingham Town *1992–93 Grundisburgh *1993–94 Whitton United *1994–95 Stanton *1995–96 Haughley United *1996–97 Brantham & Stutton United *1997–98 Grundisburgh *1998–99

*1999–2000

*2000–01 Grundisburgh *2001–02

*2002–03 Old Newton United *2003–04 East Bergholt United *2004–05 Crane Sports *2005–06 Ransomes Sports *2006–07 Melton St Audrys *2007–08 Grundisburgh *2008–09 Ransomes Sports *2009–10 Ransomes Sports *2010–11 Crane Sports *2011–12 Haughley United *2012–13 Crane Sports *2013–14 Grundisburgh *2014–15 Ipswich Athletic *2015–16 Achilles F.C. *2016–17 Benhall St Mary *2017–18 Crane Sports *2018–19 Henley Athletic

References

External links

Official website
FA Full Time {{Men's football in England Football in Suffolk 1896 establishments in England Football leagues in England Sports leagues established in 1896