2019–20 Essex Senior Football League

The 2019–20 season was the 49th in the history of Essex Senior Football League, a football competition in England.

The provisional club allocations for steps 5 and 6 were announced by the FA on 19 May 2019.[1] The constitution was ratified by the league at its AGM.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, and in line with directives from The FA, the Essex Senior League issued a statement on 16 March confirming the postponement of forthcoming matches.[2] As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this season's competition was formally abandoned on 26 March 2020, with all results from the season being expunged, and no promotion or relegation taking place to, from, or within the competition.[3] On 30 March 2020, sixty-six non-league clubs sent an open letter to the Football Association requesting that they reconsider their decision.[4]

The league featured 16 clubs which competed in the division last season, along with three new clubs:

League table

Essex Senior
Football League
Season2019–20
Matches played252
Goals scored913 (3.62 per match)
Top goalscorerDwade James (27 goals)
Highest attendance395
Hoddesdon Town 2–6 Hashtag United (12 October 2019)
Lowest attendance12
Sawbridgeworth Town 2–3 Sporting Bengal United (20 August 2019)
12
Southend Manor 1–0 Clapton (2 November 2019)
Average attendance68
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or qualification
1 Saffron Walden Town 29 20 6 3 69 28 +41 66
2 Hashtag United 26 21 2 3 66 27 +39 65
3 Walthamstow 26 20 3 3 73 17 +56 63
4 Hadley 26 17 6 3 80 24 +56 57
5 Stansted 27 16 2 9 55 36 +19 50
6 Takeley 24 13 4 7 46 34 +12 43
7 Hoddesdon Town 27 11 8 8 50 35 +15 41
8 Redbridge 25 12 2 11 57 56 +1 38
9 Woodford Town 28 10 4 14 43 48 −5 34
10 Cockfosters 26 10 4 12 42 47 −5 34
11 West Essex 24 9 4 11 51 51 0 31
12 Clapton 27 9 4 14 40 59 −19 31
13 Ilford 28 8 6 14 31 50 −19 30
14 St Margaretsbury 28 6 8 14 36 48 −12 26
15 Sporting Bengal United 26 8 4 14 44 62 −18 25[a]
16 Enfield 26 6 6 14 36 66 −30 24
17 Southend Manor 26 6 5 15 28 61 −33 23
18 Tower Hamlets 27 6 4 17 36 65 −29 22 Transferred to the Southern Counties East League
19 Sawbridgeworth Town 28 2 2 24 30 99 −69 8
Updated to match(es) played on 11 March 2020. Source: Essex Senior Leaguefchd
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Number of matches won; 5) Head-to-head results [5]
Notes:
  1. ^ Sporting Bengal United penalised by three points on 6 Nov for contravention of league rules.

References

  1. ^ "Provisional Step 5 and 6 club allocations confirmed" (PDF). The Non League Football Paper. 19 May 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  2. ^ "ESL suspend all fixtures". Essex Senior League. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Coronavirus: All football below National League to end". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Sixty-six non-league clubs send open letter to FA over expunging season". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  5. ^ "The FA Handbook 2019/20 (part 30 Standardised Rules section 12.2)". The FA. Retrieved 8 July 2019.