Kent Youth League

Founded 1981

Season 2017 - 2018

Welcome to season 2017 -2018 and I am sure that you are all looking forward to another season with us in the Kent Youth League. We are now ready to go for the new season, and a warm welcome to all our new clubs, and of course a very warm welcome to all you who have been part of the League before.

The League at time of putting this together has 190 teams wanting to play this season across 18 Divisions - this is our highest number ever, and a great compliment to the League that so many teams want to play in it.

We are still able to offer 2 Divisions at Under 18 Premier level - this is offered to clubs who use their senior club first team facility on a Sunday, and in return for this commitment the League offers 3 officials on every game. This continues to prove popular with our clubs. Many of the under 18 players from the last couple of seasons have made the break through into the senior teams.

I am very fortunate to have a group of Committee Members who work tirelessly to ensure that we maintain the very high standards that we set. Please work with my colleagues to make our job fun and it is after all our hobby and not our work but we are all very passionate about it.

Our Twitter account now has over 3,400 followers - an increase of over 33% on this time last year and we are very proud of this, and we hope to keep adding numbers across the season. Games will be tweeted live and it is the most up to date media for what is happening in the League. Please encourage all members of your club to follow us on #kentyouthleague.

Our website still remains the heartbeat of the League. You will find many articles through the season which I hope will be of interest. We cover all of our fixtures for each age group and division on the site, as well as the Kent, London Sussex and Surrey County Cups, The FA Youth Cup and the involvement of our under 18 clubs in the competition, the South East Counties Championship which will follow the progress of our Representative teams for both Kent and London, and the FA County Youth Cup.

My thanks to Jenny Prentice who maintains and look after the website for us. Jenny does an excellent job and we are grateful to her for the hard work that she puts in.

Last season, our clubs provided players for both the London and Kent FA Representative squads at under 16 and under 18 to participate in the South East Counties Championship. The League is committed to continue to assist both Counties and of course to support those players who are selected to play. To represent your County is a real honour. We are the competition sponsors this season which shows our commitment to Representative football.

This season, the League will continue to focus on discipline and good behaviour and we have set up a specific Disciplinary Committee to act on reports that we receive about the misbehaviour of anyone trying to spoil it for the majority. We will have a number of people attending games on a Sunday. As an established Charter Standard League we will work hard to maintain our status and to ensure that we are fair in the way that we treat everyone.

I would like to thank all our Cup sponsors, our advertisers, and our match officials all of whom support and commit to the League. It is much appreciated.

We are working on continuing our partnership with Gillingham FC. Last season we had tickets for many of the matches which enabled parents, players and referees to attend Gillingham games. We also played our U15 final at Priestfield and will continue that this season.

I would like to thank Lordswood, Glebe, Sheppey United and Corinthian for hosting our Cup Finals this coming season, and to Phoenix Sports for our play offs. This season there will be play offs for the U13 and U16 age groups where we have 4 Divisions and the winners of each Division will qualify.

I would like to take the opportunity of wishing all our teams every success for the coming season and I hope you enjoy being part of the League.

I enjoyed all of my visits on a Sunday to watch the different age groups play. The quality of the football was superb, and it was great to see the Sportsmanship that exists between players, Managers and indeed Parents. We have a really strong reputation now at Youth Level - let's all work to keep it that way. 

Please enjoy your season - and work with us to ensure that the players have a memorable experience of playing in the Kent Youth League. Most of all ENJOY.

Ken Brooke
Chief Executive