Founded | 1892 |
---|---|
Country | England |
Other club(s) from | Wales |
Divisions | Premier Division Division One |
Number of teams | 42 21 (Premier Division) 21 (Division One) |
Level on pyramid | Levels 9–10 |
Feeder to | Southern League Division One South & West |
Relegation to |
Dorset Premier League Gloucestershire County League Somerset County League Wiltshire League South West Peninsula League† †Only relegated from & promoted to Premier division |
Domestic cup(s) | Les Phillips Cup |
Current champions |
Bristol Manor Farm (Premier Division) Wellington (Division One) (2016–17) |
Website | Official |
2016–17 season |
The Western Football League is a football league in South West England, covering Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, western Dorset, parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The league's current main sponsor is Toolstation, so it is also known as the Toolstation League.
Recent restructuring of the English football league system has placed the two divisions, known as the Premier Division and Division One (each a maximum of twenty-two clubs) at the ninth and tenth tiers overall, known as Step 5 and Step 6 of the National League System.
The champion club may apply for promotion to a Step 4 league, which in practice will almost certainly be the Southern League Division One South and West. Below the Western League are four local leagues covering smaller areas, the Gloucestershire County League, the Somerset County League, the Dorset Premier League and the Wiltshire League. The South West Peninsula League Premier Division is also a feeder to the Western League but due to having Step 6 status (the same level as the Western League Division One), it feeds directly into the Western League Premier Division.
Premier Division:
Division One:
The league was formed in 1892 as the Bristol & District League, and became the Western League in 1895. (There is also a Bristol & District League today, but this is a feeder league to the Gloucestershire County League). In the years before World War II, many teams played in both the Southern and Western Leagues; the Western League was considered as secondary to the Southern League.