The anniversary was marked by a special match against a Cambridgeshire League representative side.

Although Lakenheath lost 3-1, the first team and the reserves had much to celebrate after a fantastic season.

The first team won the Kershaw Senior A William Cockell league cup and were league champions. They have now been promoted to the Kershaw premier division.

The reserve team have also enjoyed success and were runners up in the BIS (Business in Sport) Cambs League Division 3 B, gaining promotion. They also won the John Ablett League Cup.

Kevin Fincham, club chairman, said: "We're very, very, pleased. It couldn't have come at better time especially as it's our centenary year. All the players and staff have worked extremely hard."

Early records show that Lakenheath players have been kicking a ball around since the 1907/1908 season, but the team may have been going longer than that, said Bruce Rutterford, one of the club's vice-presidents.

He said: "While early records are very limited, the club was definitely up and running in the 1907/08 season but may have been going before that."

"We do not have any record of the matches played or the opposition, but I believe there are reports of games played against local opposition in 1910-11.

"We do know that the club had some seasons in the Ouse Valley League through the 1920s and, according to the medals I have that belonged to my late uncle Harry Bennett, the MDL, which I can only take to mean the Mildenhall and District League, in 1928/29 and 1929/30."

The club moved up into senior football in the 1939/40 season, when they joined the Essex and Suffolk Border League.

They played just one game on September 2, 1939 – the day before war was declared against Germany. Their opponents on that occasion were Sudbury Town, now known as AFC Sudbury.

Football restarted after the war in 1946/47. The club had by then moved from the Eriswell ground to the current ground off Wings Road.

Vic Rutterford, 87, played for Lakenheath in the 1930s and 1940s.

"In my day, when we were playing, there was not so much shouting," said Mr Rutterford. "You didn't have to shout because we knew what we were going to do.

"We still got stuck in though, like they do today. The ball was heavier as well, especially when it got wet."

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