Eastern Suburban Churches Football Association

The ESPCFA was formed on the March 19, 1923, when representatives of six churches in the Camberwell district met at the Camberwell Methodist School office to discuss the possibility of forming a local competition between the churches.^[1] The association expanded to a 12-team competition by 1928, which necessitated the formation of a B-grade competition the following year. C-grade was introduced in 1933. ^[2] However, it disbanded before the 1936 season following the loss of a number of clubs^[3] and would not return until after World War II.^[4] D-grade was introduced in 1947.^[1]

The competition contracted back to three grades following the 1954 season after a number of clubs folded due to players moving to other local leagues.^[1] The 1950s were marked by the domination of Burwood United and Trinity Presbyterian, which won eight A-grade premierships between them from 1952 to 1959.^[1] The first reserve grade was introduced in 1959.

In 1971 Donvale United entered the competition, winning two A-grade premierships in their first three seasons in 1972 and 1973.^[5] St Marys Church of England achieved the league's first A-grade three-peat between 1978 and 1980.^[6] This would be bested by Donvale between 1988 and 1991 when they won four premierships in a row before departing for the Eastern Districts Football League.^[5]

As the population of the eastern suburbs aged, many clubs found it hard to field two sides, which led to a number of club mergers and disbandments during the 1970s.^[7][8] The requirement for clubs to be aligned with churches was dropped around the beginning of the 1980s,^[1] which allowed for the addition of district clubs to replace the dwindling numbers of church-aligned teams. The ESCFA absorbed a number of clubs from the defunct YCW National Football Association in 1986,^[9] which helped keep the number of clubs reasonably stable. However, the loss of eight clubs at the end of the 1989 season, many of them decades-long members of the league, saw E-grade dropped for 1990 and revealed that the competition's days were numbered.^[1] A number of prominent clubs left prior to the 1992 season, including the previous years' A-grade premiers Donvale^[5] and the oldest member club, St Marys Church of England,^[6] leading to the bottom two divisions being combined.^[1] The ESCFA merged with the Southern Football League following the 1992 season, with most clubs merging into the ranks of the new league.^[10]