Page "Eastern Counties Football League" Paragraph 6

Prior to the start of the 1948 – 49 season the league was expanded to 16 clubs, largely through the addition of the ' A ' teams of four London clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.

The following season Gillingham reserves joined, becoming the only Kent-based club to ever play in the league ( Dartford also applied to join at the same time, but were rejected ).

In 1951 the league gained its first Cambridgeshire club with the admission of Cambridge United, and by 1955 – 56 the league was up to 20 clubs, of which five were reserve or ' A ' teams.

Although a succession of clubs leaving the league saw it reduced to fourteen clubs by 1964, it quickly regained numbers and was back up to 18 members two years later.

In 1976 the league was renamed the Eastern League, but returned to its original name six years later.

The league was among the first to be sponsored by an external company when, in the late 1970s, it was sponsored by local building societies Magnet and Planet, and Town and Country.

More recently it has been sponsored by building supplies company Jewson, and under the latest such deal is currently known as the Ridgeons Football League.