Southern Amateur Football League
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| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1907 |
| No. of teams | c.200 (19 divisions) (3 senior divisions) |
| Country | England |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Polytechnic (Division 1) East Barnet Old Grammarians (Division 2) Norsemen (Division 3) |
The Southern Amateur League (SAL) is an association football league affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance (AFA). It is based in and around Greater London and caters for 11–a–side men's adult teams. A feature of the league is 'multi-team football', common in AFA leagues, with clubs fielding an average of just under 6 teams each. For season 2016-17 the league has 33 member clubs running around 185 teams in 19 divisions. All clubs are strictly amateur.
As in other AFA leagues it is common for clubs to run several teams with some SAL clubs running up to 9 teams. This allows players of all abilities to play against teams from other clubs of a similar standard. The best players will be picked for the 1st team, the best of the remainder going into the 2nd team and so on down the club.
The SAL places emphasis on sportsmanship and hospitality, with all players expected to socialise with their opponents and the match officials after the game. Disciplinary problems and cases of violent conduct are generally perceived to be experienced less in SAL football – and AFA football in general – than in other types of football.
The league is divided into four sections: Senior (1st teams only), Intermediate, Junior and Minor. The Senior and Intermediate divisions have three divisions each (1, 2 and 3) while the Junior Section has four. The Minor Section is divided into North (4 divisions) and South (5 divisions). Promotion and relegation takes place within each section and also between the Junior and Minor Sections. In the Minor Section 2 teams per club may play in the same division but only 1 is allowed in all other sections..
As well as league competitions the SAL runs five cup competitions. These are:
The Junior Cup and below were inaugurated for the 1995–96. The Senior and Intermediate Cups were introduced for season 2015-16. They were not previously considered necessary as 1st and 2nd teams were offered an extra 'county divisional' cup by the AFA (either the Middlesex/Essex Cup or the Surrey/Kent Cup, depending on location).
Three of the current members (Alleyn Old Boys, Civil Service and Crouch End Vampires) are founder members of the League while 19 have been in membership since before World War II.
The current member clubs are:
The League representative team has played a programme of friendly fixtures since 1907 against other AFA affiliated leagues and universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Two matches are played each season in memory of past servants to the League. The Champion Club plays against the Senior Cup winners at the beginning of each season for the Stuart Hyde Trophy, named for the former SAL and Southgate Olympic team manager. The League also player the Amateur Football Combination for the Steve Langley Cup in honour of the former SAL, AFA and Crouch End Vampires captain. This match is part of the Argonaut Trophy competition which also involves the Arthurian League and the Hertfordshire Senior County League in which the four league representatives teams play in a round-robin tournament. Since 2007 the team has played in the FA Inter-League Cup which it won at the first attempt in 2008. This earned the team the chance to represent England at the 2008 UEFA Regions Cup.
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