History of the Competition

The competition was founded in 2008 and was the brain child of Rob Parker and Onur Gokdemir. Having identified a lack of charity focused football competitions in the local area, particularly for Sunday teams, they successfully created this inter-league competition and it proved to be a big hit in its first season. Since then the competition has grown and raised thousands of pounds for charity.

The competition started with 9 founder clubs who were involved from the Sunday Independent League, The Essex Sunday Corinthian League and the Essex Sunday Combination League.

The first match in the competiton’s history took place on the 30th November 2008 between Esprit and St. Antony’s with Esprit settling the encounter with a single goal. Lonsdale reached the final without conceding a goal that season, but the competition was eventually won 1-0 by Eyehurst Eagles who won their 4 games, 2 of them on a penalty shoot-out.

Lonsdale however didn't have to wait too long to get their hands on the prestigious trophy as they stormed into a second consecutive final and won 3-2 after extra time over Gold FC the following season at Brentwood Town's ground.

The following season CFC Flamengo, in their debut season, won the cup in a tight encounter against Coral, again the final was settled in extra time. Like Lonsdale before them, Coral made it to a consecutive final and won the silverware at the second time of asking.

With the final now being played at Thurrock FC it saw the closest match as CFC Flamengo made it to their second final and they drew 2-2 with Valiant after extra time. The contest was finally settled by penalties, 7-6 in Valiant's favour.

Our sixth final brought our sixth winner as West Thurrock won the cup at the first time of asking against the holders Valiant after yet another thrilling tense final winning 3-1 after extra time.

With a change of venue to Aveley FC, Mill Fields, for the competition's seventh final in it's history, Romford Elite and Lonsdale met in 2015 with a competition record crowd raising a record amount of money for charity. After a tensely fought match, first-time finalists, Romford Elite, ran out 2-1 winners. The following year, with the final at the same venue, Romford Elite repeated their heroics and created history by beating Chingford Celtic and being the first team to defend their title with back to back cup victories.

The following season the competition had grown so much that it expanded into 2 tiers, and the West Essex Trophy was also introduced, therefore for the first time there were 2 finals in 2017. The West Essex Cup final had debutants Valentines, who lost a hard fought match 2-0 against Eva Hart. In the final competitive match at Mill Fields, the first West Essex Trophy was played with Alliance winning a tight match 3-2.