2002–03 Kent Football League

The 2002–03 Kent Football League season (known as the Go Travel Kent League for sponsorship reasons) was the 37th in the history of Kent Football League a football competition in England.

The League structure comprised three divisions: a Premier Division together with a Reserves Section comprising two equal ranked geographically based divisions known as Division One North and Division One South – with a play-off between the winners of these two divisions to decide the Division One champion. Reserves teams were not permitted in the Premier Division. Additionally there were two league cup competitions: the Challenge Cup for the Premier Division clubs and another for the teams in the Reserves Section.

Premier Division
The league featured 16 clubs which competed in the previous season, no new clubs joined the league this season.

Faversham Town resigned towards the end of the season with eight games to play. As per league rules as they resigned after 1 March their record was not expunged and, owing to the resulting unequal number of matches played by the remaining clubs, the final league positions were decided on a points per game basis.

Challenge Cup
The 2002–03 Kent Football League Challenge Cup was won by Cray Wanderers who completed the League and Cup double.

The competition was contested by the 16 teams from the Premier Division over four rounds: the first two a single match knock-out followed by the semis-finals on an aggregate basis (home and away matches) and the final match played on a neutral ground (at Folkestone Invicta F.C. this season).

First Round
Sources: Beckenham Town FC: Cup Draws & Results (archived) & Herne Bay FC (archived)
 * Tunbridge Wells v Hythe Town
 * Beckenham Town v Herne Bay
 * Faversham Town 2 – 5 Maidstone United
 * Cray Wanderers 2 – 1 Thamesmead Town
 * Deal Town v Greenwich Borough
 * Lordswood v Slade Green
 * VCD Athletic v Ramsgate
 * Erith Town 1 – 0 Whitstable Town

Reserves Section
The letter "R" following team names indicates a club's reserves team.

The 2002–03 Reserves Section comprised two equal ranked geographically based divisions, Division One North and Division One South. The top club in each division played a single match to decide the Division One Champion. Promotion from the Reserves Section into the Premier Division was not permitted. There was a single League Cup competition for all teams in the section.

Division One Champion Play-off
Deal Town R were the Division One champions. They won the single play-off match, played at Herne Bay F.C., between the top team from each of the Division One North and Division One South:
 * Cray Wanderers R 2 – 3 Deal Town R

Division One North
The division featured 12 clubs, 10 of which had competed in the previous season together with two additional clubs: Prior to the season the Swanley Furness club was renamed Danson Furness
 * Corinthian, returning to the Kent League after resigning in 1998 from Division One (subsequently renamed the Premier Division).
 * Erith & Belvedere R

At the end of the season the top six teams were moved to the newly formed Division One and the bottom six to the newly formed Division Two.

Division One South
The division featured 12 clubs, 11 of which had competed in the previous season together with one additional club: Prior to the season the Hastings Town club was renamed Hastings United
 * Maidstone United R

At the end of the season the top six teams were moved to the newly formed Division One, Margate R resigned from the league and the remaining five clubs were moved to the newly formed Division Two.

Division One Cup
The 2002–03 Kent Football League Division One Cup was won by Cray Wanderers R.

The competition was contested by all 24 teams from both the Division One leagues over a total of five rounds: the first two were on an aggregate home and away basis; the third round, the quarter-finals a single match; the semis finals again on an aggregate basis; and a single final match which was played on a neutral ground (played at Ashford Town (Kent) F.C. this season).

Second Round
(Matches played on an aggregate home and away basis)
 * Tunbridge Wells R v Erith Town R
 * Ashford Town (Kent) R v Dover Athletic R
 * Maidstone United R 5 – 3 Danson Furness (3–0; 2–3)
 * Corinthian 2 – 3 Hastings United R (1–2; 1–1)
 * Hythe Town R 1 – 6 Dartford R (1–3; 0–3)
 * Deal Town R v Cray Wanderers R
 * Herne Bay R 2 – 5 Sittingbourne R (1–3; 1–2)
 * Lordswood R 1–3 Beckenham Town R (0–0; 1–3)

First Round
(Matches played on an aggregate home and away basis) Byes for the remaining eight clubs
 * Corinthian v Chatham Town R
 * Cray Wanderers R v Folkestone Invicta R
 * Dartford R v Margate R
 * Dover Athletic R 9 – 2 Erith & Belvedere R (8–1; 1–1)
 * Thamesmead Town R v Danson Furness
 * Tunbridge Wells R v Ramsgate R
 * VCD Athletic R v Deal Town R
 * Whitstable Town R 0 – 6 Herne Bay R (0–2; 0–4)

Sources: Herne Bay FC: team pages (archived) & Beckenham Town FC: results (archived)