SWPL Announcement

[Seagull]

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Statement by the Board of Directors of the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League

Issued at 11am on Tuesday 2nd April 2008

Any enquiries please contact Philip Hiscox on 01392 493995

Consitution of League

The South West Peninsula Football League received a request from the Football Association Ltd (The FA) a month ago seeking an increase in the size of the Premier Division (Step 6) next season. The main reasons for the request were to provide additional marking games for Level 4 Referees (Supply League) and to give this league a similar number of clubs compared to other Step 6 leagues in the country.

The Board of the SWPL considered this request at its March Board meeting but deferred acceptance until two conditions were approved by the FA. We have now received written confirmation from Mike Appleby, National Leagues Manager at the FA, that these conditions have been approved.

The request was originally for the Premier Division to expand from its present 18 clubs to 22 but the league board instead sought that the size increase to 20 clubs for the foreseeable future and that any move to 22 clubs could only occur once all clubs in the division had floodlights installed, this was 1 of the conditions agreed by the FA.

In order to achieve 20 clubs for the 2008/09 season there will be no relegation at the end of the current season and 1 club from each of Division 1 East & West will be promoted to the Premier Division. Priority will be given to the applicant in each division that finishes the highest and meets the grading criteria even if that club does not actually finish in the Top 2 positions. Additionally we have received written confirmation from Plymouth Parkway AFC confirming that they have withdrawn their request to join the Western League.

With 20 clubs in the Premier Division the constitution of the 2 Division One’s would fall from the current 33 clubs to 31. This was the 2nd area of concern and the FA have approved the league taking this number up to 34 clubs (54 being the maximum number of clubs our Rules allow).

In order to achieve the increase from 31 to 34 the following will apply: There will be no relegation from either Division 1 East or West this season. The 3 additional vacancies will be filled by taking clubs from those that have already applied. No more than 1 club will be taken from any 1 of the individual feeder leagues and priority will be given to clubs that achieve both a top 2 finish and the ground grading, if that does not provide 3 clubs we will next look at clubs that did not finish in the top 2 but achieved the ground grading and finally we will look at the next best applicant clubs that are not in membership of a league that we have already taken a club from.

This increase will occur only this summer, after this change we are required to run with no more than 54 clubs and no more than 20 of them in the Premier Division, therefore in future any club being promoted or joining the league can occur only by another club leaving the league or being relegated.

Finally the board wishes to stress that it had no intention of increasing its numbers at this early stage but we have reacted and co-operated with the FA in order to provide a set up that supports not just the member clubs but the referees promotion system in both Devon & Cornwall.

By Order

P A Hiscox (Company Secretary)

[Guest]

Excellent news. It gives the league another season to settle down, a vey wise move.

[Seagull]

So...forgive me if this is an stupid question.

Will the West and East Div 1's both contain 17 clubs?

[Mike Odgers]

Yes Seagull,

It appears the SWPL will increase to a maximum 54 clubs.(This season 51 clubs)

The Premier Division to increase to 20 clubs -therfore no relegation

Leaving 34 clubs to compete in two divisions(East-West) of 17

With three clubs required from the six feeder leagues and a stipulation that only one club from any league it looks unlikely for Helston who will have a lot do to pip Truro for the JCCL.

Did I read the SWPL statement correctly?

[Mike Odgers]

Didn't know you could read Mike!!!!!!!!

Believe it or not Eddie,I failed English O'Level three times

[cornishteddyboy]

Yes 17 teams in the Div 1 East and West

I knew about this a little while ago and was sworn to secrecy. There might be some more news to come out yet but I must keep quiet.

Good to see John Mitchell and the lads at Goonhavern get another bite at the cherry.

It will mean that the Div 1 West will be looking for 2 teams to join but can only take 1 from each of it's feeder leagues.

[Guest Man on the Post]

All divisions should have an even number of teams. :SM_carton:

[Deano11]

Brilliant absolutly Brilliant

[John Mead]

The statement only states that there will be 34 teams in Div 1 East & West: it could be 16 & 18 or two of 17. Once the promoted Clubs are selected, the 34 teams will be split into two divisions. There are good arguments for having both odd and even numbers in each division but the final decision will be based upon the geograhical position of the Clubs involved.