Southern Combination Challenge Cup

rdf:langString Southern Combination Challenge Cup

rdf:langString The Southern Combination Challenge Cup is a football competition contested by non-league clubs. An independent cup, it was directly affiliated to the Football Association until 2015, when a change in FA Rules required such competitions to affiliate with the county of the majority of its member clubs: this is currently the Surrey County FA for this competition. The competition was founded in March 1958, as the Southern Combination Amateur Challenge Cup Competition. The word "Amateur" was later dropped in 1974. It is often referred to as simply the Southern Combination Cup. The competition's rules state that entrants must be based within 25 miles of Weybridge, Surrey (until 1998, within 25 miles of Kingston upon Thames). At least two other competitions with similar names existed, in different areas of south east England: (1) the Southern Counties Combination Football League started in 1971 as a league competition in Sussex (and later southern parts of Surrey), with an associated League Cup and, a few years later, a Midweek Floodlight [Cup] Competition. This competition closed down in 2002, with the last winners being Fleet Town - a club from Hampshire who, incidentally, have also entered the Southern Combination Challenge Cup. (2) the Southern Combination Cup, which started around 1980, and offered a set of the sponsors', Phillips', floodlights to the inaugural winners. In some years, a Reserve Section was also contested. Known entrants were from the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire area, but the competition ceased following Stotfold's victory in 1996. Hampton & Richmond Borough are the most successful club in the competition's history, having lifted the cup eight times. With seven of those coming under the name of Hampton, their most recent success came during the 2004–05 season. There have been 24 different winners, with Sutton Common Rovers the current holders after beating Camberley Town in May 2017.