30 Years Ago - Part 2 - How The League Was Formed
Thu 26th July 2012 | General | By Ian Templeman
Although the merger of the Cheshire County League and the Lancashire Combination, to form the NWCFL, took place in 1982, the seeds had been sown some years earlier.
A number of football history books over the years have observed that following the formation of the Northern Premier League (NPL) in 1968, the relationship between two leagues changed. Up to that point the leagues had been seen as on a par, but from the late 1960s and through the 1970s the Cheshire League became the stronger of the two.
As both leagues lost clubs to the NPL, the Cheshire League filled its gaps by actively recruiting clubs from the Lancashire Combination, and it got to the point where officials in both leagues accepted that the Lancashire Combination had become a junior partner, and in effect a feeder league, to the Cheshire League.
After a series of discussions over the course of a couple of years, the decision to formally merge the two leagues was finally agreed by the management committees of both leagues. The process by which the league structure was set up has been documented in a number of publications over the years, including various handboks, and the source of reference for this article has been the book entitled Non-League Football Tables 1889-2003”.
The book explains that a three division structure was put in place by the two committees, and 57 of the 58 clubs in the two leagues applied to join the new NWCFL, the exception being Middlewich Athletic of Division Two of the Cheshire League who applied initially, but then withdrew their application and rejoined the Mid-Cheshire League instead.
A points system was devised to decide which division of the new league the 57 clubs should play in and the results of this were recorded on 3rd June, 1982. The scoring system was as follows.
The previous two seasons, 1980-81 and 1981-82, were considered and for each of those two seasons the top team in Division One of the Cheshire League was awarded 40 points, the second team 39, and so on down the league table.
The top teams of the Lancashire Combination and Cheshire League Division Two were each awarded 20 points, the second team 19 and so on down the league tables, reflecting the perceived difference in strength between the two leagues. Champions and runners-up in the Lancashire Combination and Cheshire League Division Two were awarded 5 bonus points each.
In addition, each club was given a ground grading on a scale from A down to G, with A being top, and the clubs were ranked by ground grade, and then by points within each ground grade level, to give them a final ranking position.
Having calculated the points and rankings, the three Divisions were split as follows:
Division One - Included all clubs with ground grades of A to C with 35 points or more. The number of clubs was made up to 20 by adding the necessary number of D graded clubs with the most points.
Division Two - Included all remaining A to D clubs, all E clubs and the number of clubs was made up to 20 by adding the necessary number of F graded clubs with the most points.
Division Three - Included all remaining F graded clubs and all G graded clubs. The number was made even by electing new applicants.
The exceptions were that any club whose pitch size failed to meet the standards laid down was not considered for Division One. Likewise any club ground sharing was also not considered for Division One.
As it turned out, the two highest ranked clubs, Hyde United and Chorley did not take up their places in the NWCFL as they were later elected to the NPL. Their places were taken by Lancaster City who dropped down from the NPL due to financial problems and Penrith, who joined from the Northern League.
Division Three was made up to 18 clubs by Newton, who joined from the Mid-Cheshire League.
The full list of clubs, and the divisions they were allocated to, can obviously be seen in the finishing league tables for season 1982-83, which can be viewed here.
It is also worth noting that across the Pennines, a similar wind of change was sweeping through non-league football over there, with the Midland League and Yorkshire League also merging at the same time to form the Northern Counties East League. With the Northern League already in place for many years, the restructuring of the second layer of the non-league pyramid covering the northern half of the country was complete.
In the next two articles in the series, we take a look at the people involved on the first ever NWCFL Management Committee, starting with a profile of the man who was elected as the first League President.
30 Years Ago - Part 2 - How The League Was Formed
Thu 26th July 2012 | General
By Ian Templeman
Although the merger of the Cheshire County League and the Lancashire Combination, to form the NWCFL, took place in 1982, the seeds had been sown some years earlier.
A number of football history books over the years have observed that following the formation of the Northern Premier League (NPL) in 1968, the relationship between two leagues changed. Up to that point the leagues had been seen as on a par, but from the late 1960s and through the 1970s the Cheshire League became the stronger of the two.
As both leagues lost clubs to the NPL, the Cheshire League filled its gaps by actively recruiting clubs from the Lancashire Combination, and it got to the point where officials in both leagues accepted that the Lancashire Combination had become a junior partner, and in effect a feeder league, to the Cheshire League.
After a series of discussions over the course of a couple of years, the decision to formally merge the two leagues was finally agreed by the management committees of both leagues. The process by which the league structure was set up has been documented in a number of publications over the years, including various handboks, and the source of reference for this article has been the book entitled Non-League Football Tables 1889-2003”.
The book explains that a three division structure was put in place by the two committees, and 57 of the 58 clubs in the two leagues applied to join the new NWCFL, the exception being Middlewich Athletic of Division Two of the Cheshire League who applied initially, but then withdrew their application and rejoined the Mid-Cheshire League instead.
A points system was devised to decide which division of the new league the 57 clubs should play in and the results of this were recorded on 3rd June, 1982. The scoring system was as follows.
The previous two seasons, 1980-81 and 1981-82, were considered and for each of those two seasons the top team in Division One of the Cheshire League was awarded 40 points, the second team 39, and so on down the league table.
The top teams of the Lancashire Combination and Cheshire League Division Two were each awarded 20 points, the second team 19 and so on down the league tables, reflecting the perceived difference in strength between the two leagues. Champions and runners-up in the Lancashire Combination and Cheshire League Division Two were awarded 5 bonus points each.
In addition, each club was given a ground grading on a scale from A down to G, with A being top, and the clubs were ranked by ground grade, and then by points within each ground grade level, to give them a final ranking position.
Having calculated the points and rankings, the three Divisions were split as follows:
Division One - Included all clubs with ground grades of A to C with 35 points or more. The number of clubs was made up to 20 by adding the necessary number of D graded clubs with the most points.
Division Two - Included all remaining A to D clubs, all E clubs and the number of clubs was made up to 20 by adding the necessary number of F graded clubs with the most points.
Division Three - Included all remaining F graded clubs and all G graded clubs. The number was made even by electing new applicants.
The exceptions were that any club whose pitch size failed to meet the standards laid down was not considered for Division One. Likewise any club ground sharing was also not considered for Division One.
As it turned out, the two highest ranked clubs, Hyde United and Chorley did not take up their places in the NWCFL as they were later elected to the NPL. Their places were taken by Lancaster City who dropped down from the NPL due to financial problems and Penrith, who joined from the Northern League.
Division Three was made up to 18 clubs by Newton, who joined from the Mid-Cheshire League.
The full list of clubs, and the divisions they were allocated to, can obviously be seen in the finishing league tables for season 1982-83, which can be viewed here.
It is also worth noting that across the Pennines, a similar wind of change was sweeping through non-league football over there, with the Midland League and Yorkshire League also merging at the same time to form the Northern Counties East League. With the Northern League already in place for many years, the restructuring of the second layer of the non-league pyramid covering the northern half of the country was complete.
In the next two articles in the series, we take a look at the people involved on the first ever NWCFL Management Committee, starting with a profile of the man who was elected as the first League President.
