2016–17 Eastern Counties Football League

The 2016–17 Eastern Counties Football League season (known as the 2016–17 Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 74th in the history of the Eastern Counties Football League, a football competition in England.

Premier Division
Eastern Counties
Football League
Premier Division
Season2016–17
ChampionsMildenhall Town
PromotedMildenhall Town
RelegatedSwaffham Town
Matches played420
Goals scored1,430 (3.4 per match)

The Premier Division featured 18 clubs which competed in the division last season, along with three new clubs, promoted from the Division One:

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Mildenhall Town 40 32 3 5 97 29 +68 99 Promoted to the Isthmian League
2 Felixstowe & Walton United 40 29 3 8 94 31 +63 90
3 Newmarket Town 40 26 6 8 122 70 +52 84
4 Gorleston 40 24 6 10 88 51 +37 78
5 Great Yarmouth Town 40 20 8 12 61 47 +14 68
6 Stanway Rovers 40 19 9 12 67 47 +20 66
7 Thetford Town 40 18 11 11 75 46 +29 65
8 Brantham Athletic 40 17 9 14 67 57 +10 60
9 Saffron Walden Town 40 15 10 15 62 67 −5 55
10 Ipswich Wanderers 40 17 4 19 67 75 −8 55
11 Kirkley & Pakefield 40 15 9 16 73 61 +12 54
12 Godmanchester Rovers 40 15 8 17 69 74 −5 53
13 Ely City 40 12 11 17 63 73 −10 47
14 Walsham-le-Willows 40 13 8 19 67 87 −20 47
15 Fakenham Town 40 13 7 20 60 73 −13 46
16 Haverhill Rovers 40 11 11 18 57 72 −15 44
17 Long Melford 40 11 7 22 42 74 −32 40
18 Hadleigh United 40 10 8 22 51 82 −31 38
19 Wivenhoe Town 40 7 12 21 51 99 −48 33 Reprieved from relegation[lower-alpha 1]
20 Clacton 40 9 4 27 52 114 −62 31
21 Swaffham Town 40 6 8 26 45 101 −56 26 Relegated to Division One
Source: FA Full-Time
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Number of matches won; 5) Head-to-head results [2]
Notes:
  1. Wivenhoe Town and Clacton were reprieved from relegation.[1]

Promotion criteria

To be promoted at the end of the season a team must:[3]

  1. Have applied to be considered for promotion by the end of November
  2. Pass a ground grading examination by the end of March
  3. Finish the season in a position higher than that of any other team also achieving criteria 1 and 2
  4. Finish the season in one of the top three positions

The following four teams have achieved criterion one:[4]

Division One
Eastern Counties
Football League
Division One
Season2016–17
ChampionsStowmarket Town
PromotedStowmarket Town
Coggeshall Town
Haverhill Borough
Matches played420
Goals scored1,596 (3.8 per match)

Division One featured 16 clubs which competed in the division last season, along with five new clubs:

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion
1 Stowmarket Town 40 28 10 2 108 22 +86 93[lower-alpha 1] Promoted to the Premier Division
2 Coggeshall Town 40 27 9 4 127 34 +93 90
3 Haverhill Borough 40 27 7 6 116 41 +75 88
4 Woodbridge Town 40 26 5 9 126 46 +80 83
5 Holland 40 23 8 9 105 48 +57 77
6 Diss Town 40 21 8 11 88 60 +28 71
7 Framlingham Town 40 20 10 10 82 62 +20 70
8 Braintree Town reserves 40 22 3 15 72 59 +13 69
9 Halstead Town 40 18 11 11 72 64 +8 65
10 King's Lynn Town reserves 40 19 6 15 69 55 +14 63
11 Whitton United 40 17 3 20 73 90 −17 54
12 Debenham LC 40 15 8 17 58 69 −11 53
13 Wisbech St Mary 40 15 7 18 68 76 −8 52
14 Downham Town 40 13 12 15 74 70 +4 51
15 Cornard United 40 13 8 19 63 72 −9 47
16 March Town United 40 9 10 21 49 91 −42 37
17 Team Bury 40 11 3 26 56 104 −48 36
18 AFC Sudbury reserves 40 10 5 25 63 92 −29 35
19 Needham Market reserves 40 6 4 30 54 151 −97 22
20 Dereham Town reserves 40 5 4 31 36 136 −100 19 Resigned from the league
21 Leiston reserves 40 3 3 34 37 154 −117 12
Source: FA Full-Time
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Number of matches won; 5) Head-to-head results [2]
Notes:
  1. Stowmarket Town were deducted one point on 21 December for a contravention of league rules.

References
  1. Plummer, Matt (2017). "Clacton and Wivenhoe are granted a reprieve from relegation". Daily Gazette. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  2. "The FA Handbook 2016-17 (page 545, section 13.2)". The FA. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  3. "Promotion criteria for Step 5 to Step 4 for 2016–17 season". FA. 26 Oct 2015.
  4. "Step 4 Applications". FA. 12 Dec 2016. Retrieved 15 Dec 2016.
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