League History
The League was formed following an amalgamation of the South Western Football League and the Devon County Football League in June 2007, having been in the planning stages for several years prior to that.
The initial constitution saw 51 clubs of which 20 came from the Devon County League, 18 from the South Western League, 3 clubs each from the Cornwall Combination League, Devon & Exeter League, East Cornwall Premier League & South Devon League and 1 club from the Western League. These clubs were placed in 1 of 3 divisions : Premier Division : Clubs from throughout Devon & Cornwall and placed at Step 6 of the National League System, Division 1 East : Clubs all from Devon and placed at Step 7 of the National League System and Division 1 West : Clubs of which the majority come from Cornwall and the others from West Devon and again placed at Step 7 of the National League System.
At the end of each season 1 club can be promoted from the Premier Division to the Western League Premier (Step 5), the bottom 2 clubs can be relegated to Division 1 East & West and 1 club from each of Division 1 East & West can be promoted to the Premier Division. The bottom side in each of the Division 1's can be relegated to 1 of 6 feeder leagues beneath the league, each of whose member clubs can apply for promotion to the league.
In addition the league runs a knock-out Cup Competition that involves all member clubs with the first & second rounds played on a regional basis before the last 16 clubs compete over the whole 2 county area.
The league is a Limited Company (Number 06255952) and is run by a 12 man board of directors who meet regularly to govern the league. Half the board are Officers and the other half are elected club representatives. In addition we are affiliated to the Football Association in London and are both a "National League System" member and a "Supply League" for the purpose of Referee development and promotion.
The first season saw Bodmin Town crowned as both Premier Champions and Throgmorton Cup Winners with Wadebridge Town winning Division 1 West and Budleigh Salterton lifting the Division 1 East title. In the summer of 2008 the league took in an additional 5 clubs to allow a Premier Division of 20 clubs and 2 division ones of 18 clubs each. 2009 saw Bodmin Town retain both the league title and the league Cup with Division 1 East being won by Exeter Civil Service and Division 1 West by Penzance. 2010 saw the first Devon based club become league Champions with Buckland Athletic winning the title. They also completed the "double" by winning the Throgmorton Cup. East and West were both won by clubs who had joined the league since its inception with Royal Marines winning in East and Perranporth in West.
2011 saw Buckland Athletic retain the Premier crown but the Throgmorton Cup was, for the 1st time, not won as a league & cup "double" with Plymouth Parkway lifting the Cup. East was won by Liverton United whilst West was won by Camelford, for the 2nd year running both Step 7 Champions were clubs who had joined the league as new clubs rather than members of the two former leagues. The 2011/12 season sees 55 clubs in membership with 20 in the Premier, 18 in the East and 17 in the West. Three new sides having joined, all 3 being Chamipions of their feeder leagues.
The League is greatful to its sponsors and in particular it thanks :
CARLSBERG : Main Sponsors
WESTWARD INVESTMENTS : Cup Sponsors
DEVON VALLEY HOLIDAY VILLAGE : Respect Sponsors |
