Welsh Football League

The Welsh Football League is a club football league in Wales, immediately below the Welsh Premier League in the Welsh football league system. It is often referred to as the MacWhirter Welsh Football League after its main sponsor. Despite its name, the league covers only the south of Wales. The Cymru Alliance and a number of regional leagues are its equivalents in the north. The Welsh Football League lies above the parallel Gwent County League, South Wales Amateur League, South Wales Senior League, and a number of feeder leagues in west Wales - Carmarthenshire League, Neath & District League, Pembrokeshire League and Swansea Senior League.

The Welsh Football League's history stretches back to 1904 when the competition was first formed.

It also has its own knock-out competition, the Shamrock Travel Welsh Football League Cup, which was lifted by Goytre United at the end of the 2007-08 season after they beat Bryntirion Athletic 2-0 in the final.

tructure

The league is made up of three divisions (named the First Division, the Second Division and the Third Division) each having 18 clubs. There is promotion and relegation between the divisions, with the top three teams in each division being promoted to the one above and the bottom three being relegated to the one below. The winner of the First Division may be promoted to the national Welsh Premier League (subject to ground facilities), the highest level of Welsh football. The bottom three teams in the Third Division may be relegated to the appropriate parallel regional league running below the Welsh Football League, subject to champions of the feeder leagues being promoted, again assuming ground criteria being met.

The 2005-06 champions were Goytre United, but they were not promoted to the Welsh Premiership even though Grange Quins resigned from the Welsh Premier. Normally, the top clubs from each of the two feeder leagues (the Welsh Football League and the Cymru Alliance) are promoted subject to an application for membership of the League of Wales being received and accepted and the stadium and infrastructure safety criteria of that League being met. Goytre United elected not to apply for promotion, and the First Division runners-up, Neath Athletic, failed to meet the stadium criteria and had their bid for promotion rejected. [http://www.welsh-premier.com/info.php]

Neath Athletic, though, were champions of the Welsh Football League for 2006-07 with 92 points, a record number for Division One, and took their place in Wales' top-flight for 2007-08.

Current clubs

* First Division
* Second Division
* Third Division

Champions

* 1904-1912 - Unknown
* 1913 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1914 - Llanelli
* 1915 - Barry Town
* 1920 - Mid Rhondda
* 1921 - Aberdare
* 1922 - Porth
* 1923 - Cardiff City Reserves
* 1924 - Pontypridd
* 1925 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1926 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1927 - Barry Town Reserves
* 1928 - Newport County Reserves
* 1929 - Cardiff City Reserves
* 1930 - Llanelli
* 1931 - Merthyr Town Reserves
* 1932 - Lovell's Athletic
* 1933 - Llanelli
* 1934 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1935 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1936 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1937 - Newport County Reserves
* 1938 - Lovell's Athletic
* 1939 - Lovell's Athletic
* 1946 - Lovell's Athletic
* 1947 - Lovell's Athletic
* 1948 - Lovell's Athletic
* 1949 - Merthyr Town Reserves
* 1950 - Merthyr Tydfil Reserves
* 1951 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1952 - Merthyr Tydfil Reserves
* 1953 - Ebbw Vale & Cwm
* 1954 - Pembroke Borough
* 1955 - Newport County Reserves
* 1956 - Pembroke Borough
* 1957 - Haverfordwest County
* 1958 - Ton Pentre
* 1959 - Abergavenny Thursdays
* 1960 - Abergavenny Thursdays
* 1961 - Ton Pentre
* 1962 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1963 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1964 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1965 - Swansea Town Reserves
* 1966 - Lovell's Athletic
* 1967 - Cardiff City Reserves
* 1968 - Cardiff City Reserves
* 1969 - Bridgend Town
* 1970 - Cardiff City Reserves
* 1971 - Llanelli
* 1972 - Cardiff City Reserves
* 1973 - Bridgend Town
* 1974 - Ton Pentre
* 1975 - Newport County Reserves
* 1976 - Swansea City Reserves
* 1977 - Llanelli
* 1978 - Llanelli
* 1979 - Pontllanfraith
* 1980 - Newport County Reserves
* 1981 - Haverfordwest County
* 1982 - Ton Pentre
* 1983 - Barry Town
* 1984 - Barry Town
* 1985 - Barry Town
* 1986 - Barry Town
* 1987 - Barry Town
* 1988 - Ebbw Vale
* 1989 - Barry Town
* 1990 - Haverfordwest County
* 1991 - Abergavenny Thursdays
* 1992 - Abergavenny Thursdays
* 1993 - Ton Pentre
* 1994 - Barry Town
* 1995 - Briton Ferry Athletic
* 1996 - Carmarthen Town
* 1997 - Haverfordwest County
* 1998 - Ton Pentre
* 1999 - Ton Pentre
* 2000 - Ton Pentre
* 2001 - Ton Pentre
* 2002 - Ton Pentre
* 2003 - Bettws
* 2004 - Llanelli
* 2005 - Ton Pentre
* 2006 - Goytre United
* 2007 - Neath
* 2008 - Goytre United

External links

* [http://www.welshleague.org.uk/ League Website]