The close season seems to get shorter with every passing year, although unlike 2024, this time round, Romford’s match days won’t extend into mid-May. Even without any Boro games, there’s much of interest happening, however.

Essex Senior League Play-Offs and relegation:

With Stanway Rovers promoted as Champions, attention now turns to who gets promoted with them. The Play-Off Semi-Finals take place on Wednesday 30th April and are as follows:

Takeley v Barking
Woodford Town v Great Wakering Rovers

The winners of each tie will face off in the Final on Saturday 3rd May.

FC Clacton’s torrid season ends with them finishing bottom; a place in the Thurlow Nunn League Division One North beckons for The Seasiders. Second from bottom and also relegated are Stansted – unless a reprieve comes their way.

Other Ups & Downs:

Relegated from the Isthmian League North are Haringey Borough, Ipswich Wanderers, Basildon United, and Sporting Bengal United. At least two of those teams will be joining us in the Essex Senior League next season. Meanwhile, Harlow Town have won the Thurlow Nunn League Division One South and one would expect them to be in the ESL next season along with the winners of the Play-Offs in which Hackney Wick will play either AS London or Rayleigh Town (who play their Semi-Final on Wednesday) in the Final on Saturday. It is also possible that a team from Thurlow Nunn League Division One North will be promoted to the ESL as Stanway Pegasus (who groundshare at Coggeshall Town) are one of the teams contesting the Play-Offs.

With as many as six clubs potentially coming into the Essex Senior League next season and a maximum of four leaving through promotion and relegation, it’s possible that there may be some lateral movement and that two clubs may make sideways moves from the division.

Summer dates:

Once the Play-Offs are settled, the league constitutions for 2025-26 will be decided by The FA. Although no date for the publication of the allocations has been announced yet, these normally come out a few days after the FA Trophy and FA Vase Finals, which this year take place at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 11th May, so we can probably expect an announcement during the following week. This season’s FA Vase Final sees Whitstable Town play AFC Whyteleafe, while the FA Trophy Final will be between Spennymoor Town and Aldershot Town.

The football club AGM took place in mid-June last year, so keep your eye on this website and social media for the date of this year’s meeting.

If last year is any guide, we can expect the Essex Senior League fixtures to be published during the third or fourth week in June, by which time we should have had some news about the make up of next season’s squad and the pre-season friendlies. Remember that no players can be registered until 1st July however, and no official friendlies can be played before that date either. To give clubs a league game before the FA Cup kicks off, the season is likely to start on the last Saturday in July.

As well as the league fixtures, something else that we all look forward to learning of are the FA Cup and FA Vase draws. These are normally published on the first Friday in July. As a Step 5 club, Romford will start in the Extra-Preliminary Round of the FA Cup (which is normally scheduled for the first Saturday in August), while defeat in the Second Round last season will probably require Boro to begin start in the Preliminary Round of the FA Vase.

This website and the club’s official social media channels will be updated with news as we have it during the summer. You can follow Romford FC on Facebook, X, Bluesky, and Threads.