Mid-season review 2014/15

2014 will be a year to remember. From the initial concept of a brand new football league for metropolitan Essex through to seeing that league come together and the first ball kicked, it is one that will go down in the history books.

What is clear is that the plans laid down at the very beginning are very quickly coming together and the interest in the competition continues to grow, stemming primarily from the quality of football established throughout every division.

No fewer than eleven new clubs put their faith in us and joined the new adventure in addition to those sides pulling together from the Ilford & District  and Essex Business Houses football leagues. Remarkably, whilst admittedly there are probably sides struggling to field sides at certain times, we have yet to lose a single team from our constitution since the season started.

Even greater excitement is in store for us all in 2015 as three extremely competitive divisions come to their conclusions in what is surely going to be an intriguing last few months of the season.

In the Premier Division, full credit must go to May & Baker EC A who performed admirably in the first three months of the season, sweeping away all before them to establish a lead which, at one point, totalled thirteen points. More recently, Chingford Athletic have been slowly cutting that lead while both new sides Jolof Sports Club and Chingford Town are within touching distance also based on their respective points/game average and could make this is a very close battle indeed come May time.

Looking at Division One, it is clear to say that this is going to be a two-way battle for the title as Blue Marlin and St John's Deaf both maintain unbeaten records heading into 2015. Indeed both sides are almost certain of promotion already which is some feat given that we are only at the halfway stage now. Having missed out on promotion last season in the Ilford & District Football League, Blue Marlin certainly set their stall out early on in this campaign and St Johns have quietly been sneaking up the table in between their various cup commitments which has seen them travel the country in the deaf cup competitions. In a division full of newly formed sides, admirable mentions also go to London Bari Res, Forest Green, Three Colts and Chingford Town Res who have each come in and made this an enjoyable and good quality division.

I think of all the divisions that are likely to be closely contended, Division Two may well be the one to watch this year as no less than four sides have a realistic chance of title and promotion glory. New side Grove United have started really well and currently hold top spot over Christmas. With an extra game in hand, second placed Cowley Community could be argued as the main contenders and with a striker banging in goals at a rate of knots in the shape of Izynna Uzokwe-Ogedi, could this be the defining factor? You'd be foolish to rule out the chances of Leyton Green who have had no difficulties finding the back of the net while the dark horses could be West Essex Res who, despite trailing behind in fixtures due to cup commitments, remain unbeaten and capable of beating any side above them on their day.

Another thing to look forward to in 2015 is our first cup finals at Dagenham & Redbridge FC. Provisionally scheduled to take place in May, it cannot be understated how much interest this has brought to the cup competitions this season with the possibility of a cup final on a Football League pitch at the end of the season. These marquee occasions are sure to draw the crowds and hopefully provide us with an entertaining end to the campaign.

There have been plenty of David and Goliath style cup shocks this year in the Fenton Cup, none more so than Custom House's win over Premier Division Eastside Rangers, Singh Sabha Barking pulling off the same feat against Newham Res, Dagenham United knocking out Chingford Town Res, St Johns Deaf beating Rainham Working Mens Club and Grove United eliminating Glendale. Well done to all sides involved!

Looking a little further afield, it has been a season of unprecedented success in the county cup competitions with 5 sides still involved in the later stages of their respective competitions. Chingford Athletic and Melbourne Sports maintain the league's interest in the Essex Junior Cup going into 2015 while Northend continue the fight in the Essex Junior Trophy last 16. In the London Junior Cup, St Francis have taken some big scalps along the way to securing a quarter final berth in February, another tremendous achievement. And last but not least, St Johns Deaf have been travelling up and down the country in the British and English Deaf Cup competitions and must be hot favourites to secure one of those titles in 2015.

What is certain is that we cannot rest on our laurels with the 2015/16 season just around the corner. There is plenty of work to be done to ensure that we can attract new clubs to the league and get closer to our aim of introducing a fourth division of football. We can only do this with the help of our clubs and excellent referees within the league to spread the word of the good work we are trying to do. There are so many ideas and initiatives that we would like to introduce both in the short and long term but we can only do this with your support.

So there we have it, goodbye 2014. On behalf of the Essex Alliance Football League, we would like to wish everybody a Happy New Year for 2015. See you all soon!