Orpington and Bromley District Sunday Football League
The Orpington and Bromley District Sunday Football League is a football competition in the areas of South-East London and North West Kent, England. The league was founded in 1948 and operates under the auspices of the London Football Association. It consists of seven divisions: the Senor division, the Premier division, the Division One, Division Two, Division Three, Division Four and Division Five. Kent-born and former FIFA referee, Steve Bennett, is the league’s chairman and treasurer.[1] The league’s first president was Charlie Gibbons, while Jack Standen of Petts Wood FC was the vice-president.
| Founded | 1948 |
|---|---|
| Country |  England |
| Divisions | Swnior Division Premier Division Division One Division Two Diviosn Three Division Four Division Five |
| Number of teams | 74 |
| Domestic cup(s) | FA Sunday Cup London FA County Cups Presidents’ Charity Cup Senior Cup Sunday Intermediate Cup |
| Current champions | FC Bickley (Senior) Palace Saint Germain (Premier Division) Sydenham Sport (Division One) Westerham (Division Two) AFC Wilgar(Division Three) FC United of Bromley (Division Four) Kingsdale (Division Five) (2022-23) |
| Website | website OBSL at FA |
Former Cyprus -21 international Jack Sammoutis and ex-Arsenal player Zak Ansah play in the league with SE Dons, one of the most popular amateur football clubs worldwide.[2][3]
History
The league was founded by Charlie Gibbons in 1948, and hosted its first ever season in the 1949-50 with just one division. In 1951 it expanded to 3 divisions. The 1950s and 1960s saw the league moving from strength to strength setting high standards for the clubs involved with the most prominent ones the Oakley Rovers, the Bideford Rovers and Southboroug. The latter won the old Premier Division for 7 consecutive seasons, a record that still stands. The 1960s also saw the addition of Division’s Three, Four and Five.
In the 1970s the League grew still further as Red Barrel, Billet Villa, Partridge and Spartak won the majority of the trophies. The addition of a Senior Division in 1975-76 saw stronger sides attracted to the league due to the new private facilities required. Billet Villa set a record in the President’s Charity Cup where they won it from 1968-69 to 1976-77 only losing to Partridge in the 1971-72 season. Roger Pester, current vice-president, was involved with Billet Villa at the time. In the 1980s the league created Divisions 5A and 5B for 2 seasons before settling with a 6th Division in 1982-83. Eight divisions continued in the heyday of Sunday morning football in the 1980s until 1995 when the League settled to its current format of seven Divisions.[4]
Domestic cups
The clubs compete for several Cups. The main trophy is the Presidents’ Charity Cup which is now open to all teams. Like the FA Cup, the Senior and Premier teams only become involved in Round 3 onwards. The Vic Farrow Cup named after a long serving member of the League and Farnborough Old Boys Guild has taken over from the former Smales’ Cup and is for those team’s in Division 3, 4 and 5. The Paul Picard Cup is for teams in Divisions Senior and Premier whilst the Jack Standen (previously Howard) Cup is for teams in Divisions One & Two. All in all, this gives sides a sufficient cup interest together with League involvement to have meaningful competitive football from mid September through to, usually, the 1st Sunday in May. The Presidents’ Charity Cup is used to support a local charity each year with over £1000 collected and distributed to the worthy local cause from Charity Cup Final gate fees, a League Golf day and raffles held throughout the year.
Several additional cups can also be arranged in case of particularly good weather in a season: the Senior, Intermediate and Junior League Cups and the Reg Logan Invitation Cup and Fairweather Trophy. In recognition of efforts made by clubs in this respect the league awards the Jim Harris Sportsman Cup to the team who attracts the highest sportsman marks each season from Referees.
Referees
The Referees Panel of the league is also honoured in a similar way where the referee with the seasons highest average marks from clubs is also given a trophy, named in honour of the late Roger Abbott a well respected former referee-member, ex-President and Kent County Football Association member. The league has benefitted from the addition of a former FIFA referee, Steve Bennett, taking over in the Chairman and Treasurer roles.
Recent champions
Senior Division
- 2012–13 – Eltham Town
- 2013–14 – Kenningwell United
- 2014–15 – Vista
- 2015–16 – FC Bickley
- 2016–17 – FC Bickley
- 2017–18 – Kenningwell United
- 2018–19 – AFC Kumazi Strikers
- 2019–20 – Kenningwell United
- 2020–21 – SE Dons[5]
- 2021–22 – SE Dons[6]
- 2022–23 – FC Bickley [7]
Prmier Division
- 2010–11 –
- 2011–12 –
- 2012–13 – Bromley Knights
- 2013–14 – FC Bickley
- 2014–15 – Crystal City
- 2015–16 – Midway
- 2016–17 – Kenningwell United Reserves
- 2017–18 – Cray
- 2018–19 – Metrogas
- 2019–20 – Orpington Rovers
- 2020–21 – Blendon
- 2021–22 – SportsKing Allstars
- 2022–23 – Palace Saint Germain
Notable players
The following players either started their careers from the league or featured in later stages.
Notable clubs
References
- "Birthdate and Biographical detail". the Football League official website. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
- "How SE Dons Became the Sunday League Club That Took on the World". versus.uk.com.
- "Hashtag United, SE Dons and Stretford Paddock FC's success shows how YouTube football is pulling in new fans". inews.co.uk (Archived).
- "Brief History". obdsfl.net.
- "2020-21 season". obdsfl.net.
- "2021-22 table". obdsfl.net.
- "2022-23 table". obdsfl.net.
- "SE Dons, the most popular Sunday league club". bbc.co.uk. 22 August 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
- "2021-22 SE Dons squad". theFA.