Our League History

1st Committee Members of the league

Chairman Mr F. Smith
Secretary Mr T.C. Potts
Referee Secretary Mr G. Tomlin

A committee member was Mr R Knights of Limbury O.B.

The referee secretary Mr G. Tomlin who lived at 246 Leagrave Road put out an early appeal to all registered referee`s to make themselves available for matches in the new league that was to take place on Saturday mornings.

A peek into our past photos..!

The M&S Water Services Chiltern Youth Football League was formed in 1953  The league was formed due to the merger of the Luton Youth League and the Dunstable Youth League

In the first ever season there was a 14/16 section comprising of seven teams, and a 14/18 section which had 14 teams.

Many of those clubs that played in that first season are now long forgotten, but Luton Boys Club; now know as Luton Boys are still members today.

The only other club that remains are Luton Town who fielded their Under 18 team in the league.

Limbury O.B. who were amongst the founder members, only ceased to exist in recent years. Indeed Limbury were the first champions in the 14/16 section, and Luton Town were the 14/18 champions.

In those early years the league was led by Messer’s F.Smith (Chairman), T.C.Potts (Secretary) and G. Tomlin (Referee Secretary) Another prominent committee member was Ray Knights of Limbury O.B. who did so much for local youth football.

The first real growth in the league did not come until the commencement of the 1967/68 season when an Under 15 section was formed. An article in the local press at that time reported on the shortage of referee’s, only 10 registered with the league to cover 40 matches.  Back in the mid 1960s the referee’s match fee was five shillings or 25p per game, compare that now with the £20 fee for refereeing an Under 18 match

In 1970 a major change came when part of the league started playing Sunday football, starting with the Under 16 section. In the next few years all the age groups moved to Sunday football.

Younger age groups were soon formed, culminating with the introduction of Under 10s in 1991/92.
It was in 1972 that our Patron, Peter Brown joined the committee, and served in many roles until he resigned as Secretary in 1992 to become Secretary, and later Chief Executive of The Bedfordshire Football Association. He was joined, five years later in 1977 by our now President, Chris Davison .

With the coming of mini soccer the league ceased to run an Under 10 section.
The start of the 2012/13 season saw a new challenge due to Football Association policy with the introduction of 9v9 at Under 11. This would then become mandatory for Under 12 for the 2013/14 season. And optional for Under 13 in 2014/15.

As we start the 2015/16 season we have 3,300 players registered and 234 teams playing from Under 11 through to Under 18.