2019–20 Western Football League

The 2019–20 Western Football League season (known as the 2019–20 Toolstation Western Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 118th in the history of the Western Football League, a football competition in England. Teams were divided into two divisions; the Premier and the First. The season was abandoned on 26 March 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Western Football League
Season2019–20
Championsnone
Promotednone
Relegatednone

The constitution was announced on 19 May 2019.[1]

This season, the Premier Division champions were to be promoted to Step 4. The runners-up in this division and ten other Step 5 divisions in other leagues were to be ranked according to PPG (points per game), and the top four in that ranking would also have been promoted. The remaining seven runners-up were to compete in "winner takes all" play-offs with seven clubs finishing bottom in Step 4 leagues, the winners being placed at Step 4 and the losers at Step 5 for 2020–21.[2] Instead, alterations at Steps 4 and 5 were delayed until 2021–22.

The bottom clubs in all 14 Step 5 divisions were to be ranked according to PPG, and the 12 lowest-ranked clubs were to be relegated to Step 6.

In Division One, the top four clubs were to be promoted to Step 5, with the bottom two liable to relegation to Step 7.

League suspension and season abandonment

On 13 March 2020, on advice from the Football Association, the league announced that all Western League matches would be suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, initially for a period of two weeks.[3] On 16 March, the FA decided to postpone all matches across all FA Competitions until 3 April.[4]

On 26 March 2020, the league season was formally abandoned, with all results being expunged, and no promotion or relegation taking place to, from, or between the two divisions.[5] On 30 March 2020, sixty-six non-league clubs sent an open letter to the Football Association requesting that they reconsider their decision.[6]

Premier Division

The Premier Division consisted of 21 clubs, increased from 20 last season, after Willand Rovers were promoted to Southern League Division One South, Hengrove Athletic were relegated to the Western League First Division, and Shortwood United were relegated and transferred to Hellenic League Division One West. Four new clubs joined:

League table at the time of abandonment
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Tavistock 26 20 2 4 74 29 +45 62
2 Plymouth Parkway 23 19 2 2 80 21 +59 59
3 Bradford Town 22 19 1 2 69 20 +49 58
4 Hallen 29 17 6 6 64 48 +16 57
5 Exmouth Town 25 18 2 5 64 26 +38 56
6 Shepton Mallet 27 17 4 6 66 31 +35 55
7 Bitton 26 16 2 8 69 37 +32 50
8 Bridgwater Town 27 13 7 7 65 40 +25 46
9 Clevedon Town 29 12 5 12 58 62 −4 41
10 Roman Glass St George 29 12 4 13 62 47 +15 40
11 Street 30 12 4 14 61 65 −4 40
12 Westbury United 28 12 3 13 53 42 +11 39
13 Buckland Athletic 25 12 2 11 48 48 0 38
14 Keynsham Town 29 11 4 14 50 57 −7 37
15 Brislington 27 10 5 12 42 62 −20 35
16 Cribbs 27 8 3 16 37 66 −29 27
17 Cadbury Heath 30 6 7 17 34 78 −44 25
18 Chipping Sodbury Town 28 6 1 21 33 92 −59 19
19 Bridport 27 5 2 20 35 90 −55 17
20 Wellington 30 3 3 24 24 74 −50 12
21 Odd Down 28 3 1 24 26 79 −53 10
Updated to match(es) played on 22:57, 11 March 2020 (UTC). Source: .
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Stadia and locations
Club Finishing position last season Stadium[7]
Bitton3rdRapid Solicitors Stadium
Bradford Town7thBradford on Avon Sports Club
Bridgwater Town4thFairfax Park
Bridport13thSt Mary's Field
Brislington18thBrislington Stadium
Buckland Athletic9thKingskerswell Road
Cadbury Heath14thSpringfield
Chipping Sodbury Town10thThe Ridings
Clevedon Town6thThe Hand Stadium
Cribbs8thThe Lawns
Exmouth Town2nd South West Peninsula League Premier Division (promotion)King George V Ground
Hallen12thThe Hallen Centre
Keynsham Town1st Western League Division One (promotion)Crown Fields
Odd Down15thLew Hill Memorial Ground
Plymouth Parkway2ndBolitho Park
Roman Glass St George17thOaklands Park
Shepton Mallet11thPlaying Fields (Shepton)
Street8th Southern League Division One South (voluntary relegation)The Tannery Ground
Tavistock1st South West Peninsula League Premier Division (promotion)Langsford Park
Wellington16thThe Playing Field (Wellington)
Westbury United5thMeadow Lane

First Division

The First Division also remained at 20 clubs, after Keynsham Town were promoted to the Premier Division, Chard Town were demoted for failing ground grading requirements, and Chippenham Park folded. Three new clubs joined:

League table at the time of abandonment
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Calne Town 26 18 2 6 47 21 +26 56
2 Sherborne Town 25 17 2 6 58 33 +25 53
3 Longwell Green Sports 27 16 4 7 64 38 +26 52
4 Wells City 26 15 6 5 67 30 +37 51
5 Ashton & Backwell United 26 15 6 5 42 39 +3 51
6 Radstock Town 22 14 2 6 51 30 +21 44
7 Corsham Town 26 13 3 10 44 50 −6 42
8 Wincanton Town 23 13 2 8 47 46 +1 41
9 Oldland Abbotonians 22 10 6 6 30 33 −3 36
10 Cheddar 24 10 4 10 38 37 +1 34
11 Bishops Lydeard 23 10 3 10 48 38 +10 33
12 Lebeq United 26 11 0 15 50 60 −10 33
13 Portishead Town 26 9 4 13 45 46 −1 31
14 Hengrove Athletic 25 9 4 12 24 48 −24 31
15 Almondsbury 24 8 4 12 35 40 −5 28
16 Warminster Town 24 8 2 14 41 40 +1 26
17 Welton Rovers 25 7 4 14 33 44 −11 25
18 Devizes Town 26 3 7 16 34 57 −23 16
19 Bristol Telephones 25 4 2 19 34 70 −36 14
20 Bishop Sutton 25 3 3 19 27 59 −32 12
Updated to match(es) played on 23:06, 11 March 2020 (UTC). Source: .
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Stadia and locations
Club Finishing position last season Stadium[7]
Almondsbury6th Hellenic Football League Division One West (transferred)Almondsbury Sports & Social Club
Ashton & Backwell United4thLancer Scott Stadium
Bishop Sutton17thLakeview
Bishops Lydeard12thCothelstone Road
Bristol Telephones20thBTRA Sports Ground
Calne Town8thBremhill Road
Cheddar2ndBowdens Park
Corsham Town3rdSouthbank Ground
Devizes Town11thNursteed Road Ground
Hengrove Athletic19th Western Football League Premier Division (relegated)Paprika Park
Lebeq United1st Gloucestershire County League (promoted)Oaklands Park
Longwell Green Sports5thLongwell Green Community Centre
Oldland Abbotonians18thAitchinson Playing Fields
Portishead Town16thBristol Road
Radstock Town15thSouthfields Recreation Ground
Sherborne Town13thRaleigh Grove
Warminster Town6thWeymouth Street
Wells City10thAthletic Ground (Wells)
Welton Rovers9thWest Clewes
Wincanton Town14thWincanton Sports Ground

Les Phillips Cup

Preliminary Round ties were played from 17 September until 25 September 2019. 18 clubs from the First Division and Premier Division, entered at this stage of the competition.

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