20th June 2011

Guernsey joined the Football Association

Guernsey FC was founded with the specific aim of giving the island’s footballers a mechanism through which they can compete with teams beyond the island. On 20 June 2011 it joined the Combined Counties League.

The League started out as a gathering of largely Surrey-based teams but, in the 1970s, greatly expanded and renamed itself the Home Counties League. Following a threat of legal action, this was further changed to the Combined Counties Football League, which is the name under which it exists today. It affiliated with the Football Association in 1988.

The League has two divisions – Division One and Permier Division – and comprises 39 teams. It competes at levels nine and ten of the English football league system, making its teams eligible to compete for the FA Vase. Guernsey FC joined the league at Division One (the lower of the two).

Guernsey FC in the League

Guernsey FC had an excellent first season. It won the 2011 – 12 Combined Counties Football League Division One season and was immediately promoted to the Premier Division. Across 33 games it won 30, lost two and drew one. Many of its games were won by a very comfortable margin. This included 9–0 against Sheerwater, 8–0 against Knaphill and 7–0 against Bookham. It finished the season with 94 points and a goal difference (the number of goals it had scored minus those scored against it) of 116.

In the 2012 – 13 season, it won 30 Premier Division matches, drew six and lost six. It finished the season on 96 points with a goal difference of 75. This put it second in the division. It also earned it a place in the semi final of the FA Vase competition. Perhaps more importantly, though, it earned the team promotion to the Isthmian League.

In its new league, it would score a remarkable 11 – 0 against Crawley Down Gatwick in January 2014. In tn the following season it suffered an 8 – 0 defeat to Merstham FC.