2012–13 Western Football League

The 2012–13 Western Football League season (known as the 2012–13 Toolstation Western Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 111th 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 began on 4 August 2012.

Western Football League
Season2012–13

The league champions for the first time in their history were Bishop Sutton. The champions of Division One were Sherborne Town.

Premier Division

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The Premier Division featured five new clubs in a league of 20, increased from 18 the previous season after Merthyr Town were promoted to the Southern League, and Corsham Town and Sherborne Town were relegated to the First Division:

  • Buckland Athletic, promoted as runners-up in the South West Peninsula League.
  • Cadbury Heath, champions of Division One.
  • Melksham Town, runners-up in Division One.
  • Gillingham Town, third in Division One.
  • Winterbourne United, promoted from the Hellenic League.
  • Only Brislington and Hallen applied for promotion to Step 4 (Southern League Division One South & West), and one of them would have been promoted if their application had been accepted and that club won the league. If neither club won the league, one could have been promoted if a second- or third-place finish had been achieved. They could not both win promotion.[1][2] However, Brislington failed to achieve the required ground grading, and Hallen failed to finish in a top three position, so no club was promoted.

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Relegation
1 Bishop Sutton (C) 38 24 10 4 94 34 +60 82
2 Brislington 38 22 10 6 73 42 +31 76
3 Gillingham Town 38 23 4 11 93 59 +34 73
4 Cadbury Heath 38 22 4 12 85 53 +32 70
5 Larkhall Athletic 38 21 6 11 77 50 +27 69
6 Street 38 18 6 14 74 62 +12 60
7 Bitton 38 17 8 13 60 63 −3 59
8 Odd Down 38 16 10 12 84 58 +26 58
9 Hallen 38 17 6 15 78 68 +10 57
10 Buckland Athletic 38 15 10 13 77 59 +18 55
11 Willand Rovers 38 15 10 13 52 53 −1 55
12 Winterbourne United 38 15 4 19 66 84 −18 49
13 Melksham Town 38 14 6 18 62 74 −12 48
14 Bridport 38 11 14 13 55 63 −8 47
15 Longwell Green Sports 38 12 9 17 49 64 −15 45
16 Ilfracombe Town 38 13 5 20 52 70 −18 44
17 Radstock Town 38 10 10 18 60 85 −25 40
18 Bristol Manor Farm 38 11 6 21 55 72 −17 39
19 Wells City (R) 38 7 6 25 57 90 −33 27 Relegation to the First Division
20 Barnstaple Town (R) 38 3 4 31 23 123 −100 13
Updated to match(es) played on 8 May 2013. Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

First Division

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The First Division featured five new clubs in a league of 21, increased from 19 the previous season after Cadbury Heath, Melksham Town and Gillingham Town were promoted to the Premier Division:

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Sherborne Town (C, P) 40 28 9 3 116 53 +63 93 Promotion to the Premier Division
2 Hengrove Athletic (P) 40 29 4 7 93 34 +59 91
3 Bradford Town 40 26 5 9 103 48 +55 83
4 Corsham Town 40 24 8 8 92 55 +37 80
5 Oldland Abbotonians 40 24 7 9 77 37 +40 79
6 Chard Town 40 24 4 12 94 59 +35 76
7 Shepton Mallet 40 21 7 12 85 63 +22 70
8 Cribbs Friends Life 40 19 8 13 79 55 +24 65
9 Calne Town 40 16 12 12 67 58 +9 60
10 Almondsbury UWE 40 15 8 17 67 65 +2 53
11 Cheddar 40 15 3 22 76 85 −9 48
12 Elmore 40 14 7 19 88 100 −12 48[a] Transferred to the South West Peninsula League[b]
13 Keynsham Town 40 15 6 19 59 73 −14 48[c]
14 Portishead Town 40 15 3 22 63 82 −19 48
15 Warminster Town 40 10 11 19 60 83 −23 41
16 Welton Rovers 40 11 7 22 54 88 −34 40
17 Roman Glass St George 40 9 10 21 49 76 −27 37
18 Wellington 40 9 6 25 62 99 −37 33
19 Westbury United 40 8 8 24 46 82 −36 32
20 Shrewton United 40 8 6 26 43 105 −62 30 Resigned at the end of the season[d]
21 Devizes Town 40 8 5 27 65 138 −73 29
Updated to match(es) played on 8 May 2013. Source: [2]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Elmore had one point deducted for fielding an ineligible player against Shrewton United on 15 September 2012.
  2. ^ Elmore resigned from the Western League at the end of the season, and transferred to the South West Peninsula League which operates at the same level of the football pyramid. This was to increase the number of local matches the club would play.[3]
  3. ^ Keynsham Town had three points deducted for fielding an ineligible player against Shrewton United on 22 September 2012.
  4. ^ Shrewton United also resigned from the Western League at the end of the season, and dropped down to the Wiltshire League for financial reasons.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Applications For Promotion - Step 5 To Step 4". The Official Website of The North West Counties Football League. 11 December 2012.
  2. ^ "Step 4 applications received". TheFA.com. 6 December 2012.
  3. ^ "Elmore to quit Western League". Pitchero non-league. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Shrews confirm Western League departure". Sport 4 Salisbury. 13 April 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-01-19. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
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