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West Midlands Regional Football League |
The West Midlands (Regional)
League is a competition for semi-professional and amateur teams
based in the West Midlands, Shropshire, Herefordshire,
Worcestershire and South Staffordshire. It has three divisions,
the highest of which is the Premier Division, which sits at step
6 of the National League System, or the tenth level of the
overall English football league system.
The league was formed in 1889 as the Birmingham & District
League to cater for teams in Birmingham and the surrounding
area, but soon became established as one of the strongest
leagues outside the Football League itself, with teams from
as far afield as Bristol and Wales taking part. After the
Second World War it absorbed the rival Birmingham
Combination to become firmly established as the leading
league in the area, but a gradual decline in its status
began in the late 1950s and it now operates at a much lower
level than in its heyday. The league currently acts as a
feeder to the Midland Football Alliance, to which one or
more teams are promoted each season. Approximately fifty
teams compete in the league each season, with new members
regularly joining from smaller local leagues. In the late
1880s, Birmingham and the surrounding region boasted many of
the country's strongest football teams. Six of the region's
leading clubs joined the first two national leagues set up
in England, the Football League and the Football Alliance,
but there were still many teams in the area keen to
participate in league play. On 31 May 1889 a meeting took
place at Birmingham's Grand Hotel with the view to forming a
Birmingham & District League. A total of 17 clubs were
invited but only 13 attended, of which 12 were selected to
form the new league, to commence play in the 1889–90 season.
The one club which sent a representative to the meeting but
was not invited to take part in the league, for unknown
reasons, was Worcester Rovers.
The 12 clubs competing in the league's inaugural season were
Aston Victoria, Great Bridge Unity, Hednesford Town,
Ironbridge, Kidderminster Harriers, Kidderminster Olympic,
Langley Green Victoria, Oldbury Town, Smethwick Carriage
Works, Unity Gas Department, Wellington St George's, and
Willenhall Pickwick. Although Kidderminster Olympic topped
the final table, no championship was awarded as a number of
fixtures had not been completed. This situation was to be
repeated in each of the subsequent two seasons, in both of
which Brierley Hill Alliance, who had joined the league for
its second season, topped the table but did not win the
title. The early years of the league also saw new teams
joining and existing ones dropping out almost every season,
but once the league's structure settled down, it came to be
regarded as one of the strongest leagues outside the
Football League itself, rivalled only by the Southern League
and the Midland League.
Despite the league's name, in the years prior to the First
World War it came to include teams from as far afield as
Bristol, Wrexham and Crewe, as well as including the reserve
teams of local Football League clubs. A number of clubs
which had enjoyed success in the Birmingham Combination also
joined the league, which was seen as a step up to a better
standard of football. The league's large coverage area began
to create problems in the 1930s, however, as many clubs
found the long and costly journeys to away matches
difficult, and began to drop out in favour of playing in
leagues which covered smaller areas. In 1938, Bangor City,
Worcester City, Wellington Town and the reserve teams of
Cardiff City and Wrexham all resigned from the league,
reducing the numbers so much that instead of the usual
format the organising committee decided to run two separate
competitions each lasting for half of the 1938–39 season,
the first named the Keys Cup and the second the League Cup.
By the time competitive football was abandoned in 1939 due
to the outbreak of the Second World War, the rival
Birmingham Combination, which had not chosen to accept teams
from such a wide area, had consolidated and come to be
regarded as the region's top league
Post-war years
Although the league lost further clubs to the Combination,
which was quicker to re-start after the war, within a few
years the League had regained its position of pre-eminence
in the region, increasing to almost twice its pre-war size.
During the 1952–53 season the League's committee proposed a
merger of the two competitions, but the Combination rejected
the idea, whereupon the Combination's six best teams all
resigned and joined the League. The Combination's committee
then attempted to re-open the merger talks but, having just
bolstered its ranks with six new members, the League was not
interested. A year later, all of the Combination's 14
remaining clubs, with the exception of West Bromwich
Albion's 'A' (third) team, left to join the League, which
effectively absorbed its former rival. The 40 member clubs
were split into Northern and Southern divisions, which a
year later were re-arranged into Divisions One and Two, with
promotion and relegation taking place between the two.
At the end of the 1957–58 season, Burton Albion and Nuneaton
Borough left to join an expanding Southern League, followed
a year later by Hinckley Athletic. In an attempt to
consolidate the league decided to expel all remaining
reserve teams, reducing to a single division of 22 clubs.
Four years later it changed its name to the West Midlands
(Regional) League to more accurately reflect its catchment
area, which now included very few teams from Birmingham or
its immediate environs. For the 1965–66 season the league
was able to revert to a two-division structure when it
rebranded its existing single division the Premier Division
and added a new Division One. By 1976, a steady flow of
teams joining from smaller regional leagues led to Division
One being split into Divisions One (A) and One (B), revised
a year later to Divisions One and Two.
Modern era
The Alliance Premier League was formed in 1979, pushing the
Regional League further down the English football league
system. Successful Regional League clubs such as Bilston
Town, Hednesford Town and Halesowen Town began applying to,
and being accepted into, the Southern League, reducing the
Regional League to the status of a feeder league, although
their departures continued to be offset by a flow of new
members from lower-level leagues. Reflecting the
demographics of the West Midlands area, a number of British
Asian teams joined the league, including Sikh Hunters,
England's first ever all-Sikh team. At the same time the
catchment areas of the Regional League and the Midland
Football Combination were increasingly converging, and by
the early 1990s the standard of play and geographical
coverage of the two competitions were considered to be
almost identical. A new competition was formed in 1994 to
cater for the best clubs previously split across the two
leagues, and thus the Regional League lost ten of its member
clubs to the new Midland Football Alliance, further reducing
its own status.
The reduction in numbers forced the league to revert to a
two-division structure, but within two seasons numbers had
grown again to the extent that Division One was split into
Divisions One (North) and One (South) for the 1996–97
season, a format retained until 2004 when the two Division
Ones were re-organised into Division One and Division Two.
Although the league now operates at a level much below that
which it occupied in its heyday it continues to survive and
holds the distinction, jointly with the Northern League, of
being the second oldest football league in existence, behind
only the Football League itself.
Structure
Under the terms of a sponsorship deal, the league is
currently known as the FTL Futbol West Midlands (Regional)
League. Previous sponsors include the Wolverhampton-based
Express & Star newspaper, and Black Country brewery Banks's.
In the 2009–10 season 53 teams are competing in the league,
comprising 21 in the Premier Division, 18 in Division One
and 14 in Division Two. Some of the teams in the lower two
divisions are reserve teams of clubs playing at a higher
level. Each division is contested on a double round-robin
basis, with each team playing each of the other teams in the
division once at home and once away. Three points are
awarded for a win (increased from two with effect from the
1988–89 season), one for a draw and zero for a defeat. Goal
difference is used to separate teams on the same points,
having replaced goal average at the start of the 1978–79
season.
Since the 1994–95 season the Regional League, along with the
Midland Football Combination, has served as one of the two
official feeders to the Midland Football Alliance. The
highest-placed team which meets the Alliance's entry
requirements is promoted to the Alliance, and one or more
teams may be relegated into the Regional League from the
Alliance depending on the number of clubs remaining in each
league. Prior to the 2006–07 season, the league was defined
as a step 7 league within the National League System, even
though it fed into the Alliance, which is graded as step 5.
In 2006 the Regional League was re-graded by the Football
Association as a step 6 league. Teams in the top two
divisions are eligible to take part in the FA Cup and FA
Vase as long as their grounds meet the required standards.
Since the formation of the Midland Alliance, the Regional
League has accepted applications for membership from
successful teams in smaller local leagues within its
catchment area. Leagues whose clubs have joined the Regional
League include the Shropshire County League, the
Herefordshire League, the Wolverhampton Combination, and the
Kidderminster & District League. Several ambitious local
Sunday league teams have also switched to Saturday play and
entered the league. Bewdley Town, Bromyard Town and
Ellesmere Rangers have all joined from county leagues since
1994 and subsequently gone on to gain promotion to the
Premier Division. Regional League teams could also
theoretically be relegated to the local leagues but in
practice this almost never happens. The only teams in recent
history to drop down to a county league have been Leominster
Town, Kington Town and Hinton, who dropped down to the
Herefordshire League in 2004, 2006 and 2007 respectively,
although all three clubs resigned voluntarily in favour of
playing in a more local league as opposed to being relegated
due to finishing at the bottom of the table. Attendance
At one time the league attracted large crowds for matches,
with 3,000 spectators watching a match between Coventry City
and Shrewsbury Town in 1899. By the early 1960s, despite the
league's decline in status, Kidderminster Harriers were
still able to attract crowds of around 1,000 fans for home
matches. In the modern era, however, crowds are much
smaller. In the 1993–94 season Rocester averaged around 100
fans for home games, and several of the team's away matches
drew crowds of less than 40. Attendance figures are not
currently published for league fixtures, however in the FA
Vase in the 2005–06 season home attendances for Regional
League teams averaged around 50, with only Wellington's
match against Alvechurch of the Midland Alliance drawing
over 100 spectators |
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Brmngham & Dist League |
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Season |
Champions |
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1889–90 |
no
championship awarded |
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1890–91 |
no
championship awarded |
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1891–92 |
no
championship awarded |
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1892–93 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers Res |
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1893–94 |
Old Hill Wanderers |
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1894–95 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1895–96 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1896–97 |
Hereford Thistle |
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1897–98 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers Res |
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1898–99 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers Res |
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1899–00 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1900–01 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers Res |
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1901–02 |
West Bromwich Albion Res |
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1902–03 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1903–04 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1904–05 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1905–06 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1906–07 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1907–08 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1908–09 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1909–10 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1910–11 |
Stoke |
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1911–12 |
Aston Villa Res |
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1912–13 |
West Bromwich Albion Res |
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1913–14 |
Worcester City |
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1914–15 |
Birmingham Res |
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1919–20 |
West Bromwich Albion Res |
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1920–21 |
Wellington Town |
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1921–22 |
Willenhall |
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1922–23 |
Shrewsbury Town |
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1923–24 |
Stourbridge |
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1924–25 |
Worcester City |
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1925–26 |
Cradley Heath |
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1926–27 |
Stafford Rangers |
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1927–28 |
Burton Town |
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1928–29 |
Worcester City |
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1929–30 |
Worcester City |
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1930–31 |
Cradley Heath |
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1931–32 |
Cradley Heath |
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1932–33 |
Wrexham Res |
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1933–34 |
Wrexham Res |
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1934–35 |
Wellington Town |
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1935–36 |
Wellington Town |
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1936–37 |
Bristol Rovers |
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1937–38 |
Kidderminster Harriers |
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1938–39 |
Kidderminster Harriers |
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1946–47 |
Halesowen Town |
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1947–48 |
Kettering Town |
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1948–49 |
Worcester City Res |
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1949–50 |
Hereford United Res |
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1950–51 |
Brierley Hill Alliance |
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1951–52 |
Brierley Hill Alliance |
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1952–53 |
Oswestry Town |
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1953–54 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers 'A' |
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Northern Section |
Southern Section |
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1954–55 |
Nuneaton Borough |
Redditch United |
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1955–56 |
Nuneaton Borough |
Tamworth |
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1956–57 |
Walsall Res |
Bilston |
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1957–58 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers 'A' |
Oswestry Town |
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1958–59 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers 'A' |
Birmingham City 'A' |
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1959–60 |
Bromsgrove Rovers |
Aston Villa 'A' |
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1960–61 |
Bilston |
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1961–62 |
Lockheed Leamington |
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WMRL |
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1962–63 |
Lockheed Leamington |
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1963–64 |
Tamworth |
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1964–65 |
Kidderminster Harriers |
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Season |
Premier Division |
Division One |
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1965–66 |
Tamworth |
Wrockwardine Wood |
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1966–67 |
Boston United |
Tamworth Res |
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1967–68 |
Boston United |
Warley |
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1968–69 |
Kidderminster Harriers |
Wrockwardine Wood |
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1969–70 |
Kidderminster Harriers |
Warley County Borough |
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1970–71 |
Kidderminster Harriers |
Brereton Social |
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1971–72 |
Tamworth |
Warley County Borough |
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1972–73 |
Bilston |
Tividale |
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1973–74 |
Alvechurch |
Armitage |
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1974–75 |
Alvechurch |
Staffordshire Police |
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1975–76 |
Alvechurch |
Willenhall Town |
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Premier Division |
Division One (A) |
Division One (B) |
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1976–77 |
Alvechurch |
Wednesfield Social |
Wolverhampton United |
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Premier Division |
Division One |
Division Two |
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1977–78 |
Hednesford Town |
Chasetown |
Worcester City Res |
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1978–79 |
Willenhall Town |
Shifnal Town |
Ludlow Town |
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1979–80 |
Sutton Coldfield Town |
Rushall Olympic |
Brewood |
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1980–81 |
Shifnal Town |
Oldswinford |
Bromsgrove Rovers Res |
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1981–82 |
Shifnal Town |
Atherstone United |
GKN Sankey |
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1982–83 |
Halesowen Town |
Brewood |
Great Wyrley |
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1983–84 |
Halesowen Town |
Tipton Town |
Halesowen Town Res |
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1984–85 |
Halesowen Town |
Harrisons |
Halesowen Harriers |
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1985–86 |
Halesowen Town |
Halesowen Harriers |
Springvale-Tranco |
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1986–87 |
Atherstone United |
Westfields |
Donnington Wood |
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1987–88 |
Tamworth |
Rocester |
Hinton |
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1988–89 |
Blakenall |
Newport Town |
Broseley Athletic |
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1989–90 |
Hinckley Town |
Darlaston |
Hill Top Rangers |
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1990–91 |
Gresley Rovers |
Cradley Town |
Clancey Dudley |
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1991–92 |
Gresley Rovers |
Ilkeston Town |
K
Chell |
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1992–93 |
Oldbury United |
Knypersley Victoria |
Rushall Olympic Res |
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Premier Division |
Division One |
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1993–94 |
Ilkeston Town |
Stafford Town |
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1994–95 |
Pelsall Villa |
Wolverhampton Casuals |
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1995–96 |
Wednesfield |
Goodyear |
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Premier Division |
Division One (North) |
Division One (South) |
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1996–97 |
Wednesfield |
Great Wyrley |
Kington Town |
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1997–98 |
Lye Town |
Bandon |
Smethwick Rangers |
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1998–99 |
Kington Town |
Heath Hayes |
Wellington |
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1999–00 |
Stafford Town |
Shawbury United |
Bromyard Town |
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2000–01 |
Ludlow Town |
Wolverhampton United |
Ledbury Town |
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2001–02 |
Causeway United |
Ounsdale |
Sedgley White Lions |
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2002–03 |
Westfields |
Newport Town |
Bewdley Town |
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2003–04 |
Malvern Town |
Goodrich |
Gornal Athletic |
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Premier Division |
Division One |
Division Two |
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2004–05 |
Tipton Town |
Great Wyrley |
Parkfields Leisure |
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2005–06 |
Market Drayton Town |
Ellesmere Rangers |
AFC Wulfrunians |
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2006–07 |
Shifnal Town |
Darlaston Town |
Heath Town Rangers |
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2007–08 |
Bridgnorth Town |
Birchills United |
Wellington Amateurs |
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2008–09 |
AFC Wulfrunians |
Wellington Amateurs |
Hanwood United |
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