The 1980–81 Kent Football League season was the fifteenth 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 structure comprised two divisions: Division One and Division Two with the latter known as the Reserves Section (reserves teams were not permitted in Division One). Additionally there were two league cup competitions: the Challenge Cup for the Division One clubs and another for the teams in Division Two.
Season | 1980–81 |
---|---|
Champions | Cray Wanderers |
Matches played | 272 |
Goals scored | 826 (3.04 per match) |
← 1979–80 1981–82 → |
The division featured the seventeen clubs which had competed in the previous season.
The division was won by Cray Wanderers.[1]
At the end of the season Dartford Glentworth left the league.[2]
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Season End Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cray Wanderers | 32 | 24 | 5 | 3 | 92 | 27 | +65 | 53 | |
2 | Chatham Town | 32 | 22 | 6 | 4 | 61 | 23 | +38 | 50 | |
3 | Crockenhill | 32 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 63 | 37 | +26 | 45 | |
4 | Erith & Belvedere | 32 | 19 | 5 | 8 | 57 | 30 | +27 | 43 | |
5 | Sittingbourne | 32 | 18 | 5 | 9 | 74 | 29 | +45 | 41 | |
6 | Hythe Town | 32 | 18 | 5 | 9 | 70 | 45 | +25 | 41 | |
7 | Sheppey United | 32 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 45 | 33 | +12 | 41 | |
8 | Faversham Town | 32 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 36 | 28 | +8 | 35 | |
9 | Tunbridge Wells | 32 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 33 | 49 | −16 | 29 | |
10 | Darenth Heathside | 32 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 45 | 52 | −7 | 28 | |
11 | Deal Town | 32 | 10 | 7 | 15 | 46 | 49 | −3 | 27 | |
12 | Dartford Glentworth | 32 | 11 | 3 | 18 | 40 | 60 | −20 | 25 | Resigned |
13 | Slade Green Athletic | 32 | 10 | 5 | 17 | 39 | 51 | −12 | 23[a] | |
14 | Whitstable Town | 32 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 33 | 58 | −25 | 21 | |
15 | Kent Police | 32 | 5 | 9 | 18 | 43 | 67 | −24 | 19 | |
16 | Herne Bay | 32 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 23 | 67 | −44 | 14 | Re-elected |
17 | Ramsgate | 32 | 2 | 3 | 27 | 26 | 121 | −95 | 7 |
The 1980–81 Kent Football League Challenge Cup was won by Sittingbourne[3] (whose reserves team won their Divisional cup too).
The competition, contested by all seventeen clubs in the Division One, comprised five single match tie rounds (with the first round featuring one tie) culminating in the final which was played on a neutral ground (at Sheppey United F.C.[4] this season).
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
Hythe Town | 1 | |||||||||||||
Darenth Heathside | 2 | |||||||||||||
Darenth Heathside | 1 | |||||||||||||
Whitstable Town | 0 | |||||||||||||
Whitstable Town | 5 | |||||||||||||
Faversham Town | 1 | |||||||||||||
Darenth Heathside | 1 | |||||||||||||
Sittingbourne | 2 | |||||||||||||
Erith & Belvedere | 4 | |||||||||||||
Crockenhill | 2 | |||||||||||||
Erith & Belvedere | 0 | |||||||||||||
Sittingbourne | 2 | |||||||||||||
Deal Town | 1 | |||||||||||||
Sittingbourne | 2 |
Sources:
The letter "R" following team names indicates a club's reserves team.
Division Two featured mostly reserves teams (which were not permitted in Division One) from clubs from Kent and the adjacent area whose first team played in Division One and other higher ranked leagues. There was a League Cup competition for the teams in the section.
Season | 1980–81 |
---|---|
Champions | Welling United R |
← 1979–80 1981–82 → |
The league featured nineteen clubs including one non-reserve team (Snowdown Colliery Welfare). Fourteen of the teams had competed in the previous season and they were joined by five additional, all reserves, teams:[5]
Newly joined club Welling United R were the division winners.[7]
At the end of the season Faversham Town R and Dartford Glentworth R resigned from the league.
(The table below is not the final table, maximum potential matches per team = 36)
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Season End Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Welling United R | 35 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 116 | 26 | +90 | 62 | |
2 | Maidstone United R | 34 | 26 | 3 | 5 | 113 | 30 | +83 | 55 | |
3 | Dartford R | 33 | 22 | 3 | 8 | 69 | 34 | +35 | 47 | |
4 | Chatham Town R | 32 | 21 | 4 | 7 | 83 | 29 | +54 | 46 | |
5 | Erith & Belvedere R | 33 | 19 | 6 | 8 | 63 | 26 | +37 | 44 | |
6 | Faversham Town R | 36 | 19 | 1 | 16 | 70 | 66 | +4 | 39 | Resigned |
7 | Folkestone R | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 63 | 62 | +1 | 37 | |
8 | Darenth Heathside R | 35 | 15 | 7 | 13 | 49 | 52 | −3 | 37 | |
9 | Sittingbourne R | 35 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 45 | 41 | +4 | 35 | |
10 | Deal Town R | 35 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 60 | 70 | −10 | 34 | |
11 | Dover R | 35 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 52 | 60 | −8 | 31 | |
12 | Sheppey United R | 36 | 12 | 7 | 17 | 55 | 68 | −13 | 31 | |
13 | Ashford Town R | 36 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 50 | 76 | −26 | 31 | |
14 | Hythe Town R | 35 | 11 | 6 | 18 | 49 | 75 | −26 | 28 | |
15 | Dartford Glentworth R | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 51 | 63 | −12 | 25 | Resigned |
16 | Whitstable Town R | 34 | 10 | 4 | 20 | 41 | 72 | −31 | 24 | |
17 | Hastings United R | 36 | 9 | 5 | 22 | 36 | 74 | −38 | 23 | |
18 | Herne Bay R | 36 | 7 | 4 | 25 | 43 | 110 | −67 | 18 | Re-elected |
19 | Snowdown Colliery Welfare | 36 | 6 | 3 | 27 | 38 | 112 | −74 | 15 |
The 1980–81 Kent Football League Division Two Cup was won by Sittingbourne R (whose first team won the Challenge Cup) with Chatham Town R runners-up.[8]
The competition was contested by all nineteen clubs in the division and comprised five single match tie rounds (with the first round featuring three ties) culminating in the final.
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||
Faversham Town R | 6 | |||||||||||||
Deal Town R | 0 | |||||||||||||
Faversham Town R | 2 | |||||||||||||
Sittingbourne R | 4 | |||||||||||||
Sittingbourne R | 3 | |||||||||||||
Sheppey United R | 2 | |||||||||||||
Sittingbourne R | ||||||||||||||
Chatham Town R | ||||||||||||||
Hythe Town R | 4 | |||||||||||||
Whitstable Town R | 2 | |||||||||||||
Hythe Town R | 0 | |||||||||||||
Chatham Town R | 4 | |||||||||||||
Chatham Town R | 1 | |||||||||||||
Darenth Heathside R | 0 |
Sources: