2022 Year Review - NWCFL First Division North
Tue 27th December 2022 | A Look Back | By Jay Cooper
This is the second of three articles covering the major talking points surrounding all the divisions in the NWCFL throughout 2022. This piece will focus on the First Division North as the 2021/22 season came to a close and the 2022/23 season began.
As we moved into the new year of on-field action, it looked for all the world like there was only ever going to be one winner of the First Division North - Bury AFC. Having come into the NWCFL for the first time during the prematurely-ended 2019/20 season, this campaign would be their first full one of NWCFL football. Playing their home games at the Neuven Stadium, they made themselves comfortable perched atop the table.
Their closest challengers by the end of the season would be Barrow-based Holker Old Boys, who's evergreen midfielder Gareth Smith notched 500 appearances for the club during the back end of this campaign. However, eventually promoted via the play-offs were Golcar United. Finishing 3rd in the division, they would say goodbye to the NWCFL ahead of the 2022/23 season, relocating to the Northern Counties East League. AFC Blackpool and Nelson rounded out the play-off places.
Also saying goodbye to the NWCFL would be bottom side St. Helen's Town. After a dismal year on the pitch, they finished the season 21 points behind their closest competitors, Atherton LR, and with a goal difference of -83. Both Atherton and then-named AFC Darwen received a reprieve from relegation, same as Litherland REMYCA in the Prem. Finally, Campion made the lateral move to the Northern Counties East League after a one-year stay in the NWCFL.
There were two new sides in the league that would stick around through the summer of 2022 and beyond, however. After promotion from the West Yorkshire League, Ilkley Town managed a 15th placed finish in the table by the time the 2021/22 campaign came to a close, and South Liverpool, who arrived from the West Cheshire League, did even better, claiming 13th.
The long summer came and went, and by the time the 2022/23 season was ready to be played, the division's size had been reduced from 19 to 18 teams. That said, there were still some new names in the hat - Runcorn Town, as mentioned in the previous article, joined via relegation from the Prem; Euxton Villa earned promotion from the West Lancashire League and joined the division for the first time in their history; and FC St. Helen's replaced their local rivals, St. Helen's Town, with their promotion from the Cheshire League.
Since the season began, Euxton Villa have made themselves right at home in the First Division North, scoring in every league game they have played in at the time of writing, and currently sitting pretty in 3rd. They also managed an impressive 1-0 stonewalling of runaway league leaders, Pilkington, in Pilks' own back yard, in late autumn.
In spite of that game, Pilkington have had plenty to celebrate. They've been unmoved at the top of the table since the start this time out, after only managing 8th in the league last season. Holker Old Boys are in the mix again near the top of the league, as are NWCFL stalwarts Chadderton, and Ilkley Town are also holding down a play-off spot as it stands.
Runcorn Town have found it hard to adapt. After starting from scratch this season, with an entirely new squad and manager, they're currently below the dotted line for a second season running. With both Cleator Moor Celtic and Ashton Town below them, they have a bit of room for manoeuvre, but they'll be hoping for more from 2023. After a summer re-brand, AFC Darwen became Darwen FC, and they've also been too close to the drop for their own comfort so far, but they would survive if the season was to end right now.
As 2022 came around, there were no NWCFL First Division North teams left in the FA Vase, with last season's league winners Bury AFC coming closest before elimination by Abbey Hey in December '21. This time around, however, Holker Old Boys are flying the flag high for the league, and they take on Bury AFC, now representing the Premier Division, in the next round.
At this level of the game, there are transfers, managerial changes and shocking results a-plenty, and they can all happen at any time. After Christmas, elite level football can become somewhat predictable, but there's still everything to play for in the NWCFL, and the only way to see how it all happens is to come and watch.
2022 Year Review - NWCFL First Division North
Tue 27th December 2022 | A Look Back
By Jay Cooper
This is the second of three articles covering the major talking points surrounding all the divisions in the NWCFL throughout 2022. This piece will focus on the First Division North as the 2021/22 season came to a close and the 2022/23 season began.
As we moved into the new year of on-field action, it looked for all the world like there was only ever going to be one winner of the First Division North - Bury AFC. Having come into the NWCFL for the first time during the prematurely-ended 2019/20 season, this campaign would be their first full one of NWCFL football. Playing their home games at the Neuven Stadium, they made themselves comfortable perched atop the table.
Their closest challengers by the end of the season would be Barrow-based Holker Old Boys, who's evergreen midfielder Gareth Smith notched 500 appearances for the club during the back end of this campaign. However, eventually promoted via the play-offs were Golcar United. Finishing 3rd in the division, they would say goodbye to the NWCFL ahead of the 2022/23 season, relocating to the Northern Counties East League. AFC Blackpool and Nelson rounded out the play-off places.
Also saying goodbye to the NWCFL would be bottom side St. Helen's Town. After a dismal year on the pitch, they finished the season 21 points behind their closest competitors, Atherton LR, and with a goal difference of -83. Both Atherton and then-named AFC Darwen received a reprieve from relegation, same as Litherland REMYCA in the Prem. Finally, Campion made the lateral move to the Northern Counties East League after a one-year stay in the NWCFL.
There were two new sides in the league that would stick around through the summer of 2022 and beyond, however. After promotion from the West Yorkshire League, Ilkley Town managed a 15th placed finish in the table by the time the 2021/22 campaign came to a close, and South Liverpool, who arrived from the West Cheshire League, did even better, claiming 13th.
The long summer came and went, and by the time the 2022/23 season was ready to be played, the division's size had been reduced from 19 to 18 teams. That said, there were still some new names in the hat - Runcorn Town, as mentioned in the previous article, joined via relegation from the Prem; Euxton Villa earned promotion from the West Lancashire League and joined the division for the first time in their history; and FC St. Helen's replaced their local rivals, St. Helen's Town, with their promotion from the Cheshire League.
Since the season began, Euxton Villa have made themselves right at home in the First Division North, scoring in every league game they have played in at the time of writing, and currently sitting pretty in 3rd. They also managed an impressive 1-0 stonewalling of runaway league leaders, Pilkington, in Pilks' own back yard, in late autumn.
In spite of that game, Pilkington have had plenty to celebrate. They've been unmoved at the top of the table since the start this time out, after only managing 8th in the league last season. Holker Old Boys are in the mix again near the top of the league, as are NWCFL stalwarts Chadderton, and Ilkley Town are also holding down a play-off spot as it stands.
Runcorn Town have found it hard to adapt. After starting from scratch this season, with an entirely new squad and manager, they're currently below the dotted line for a second season running. With both Cleator Moor Celtic and Ashton Town below them, they have a bit of room for manoeuvre, but they'll be hoping for more from 2023. After a summer re-brand, AFC Darwen became Darwen FC, and they've also been too close to the drop for their own comfort so far, but they would survive if the season was to end right now.
As 2022 came around, there were no NWCFL First Division North teams left in the FA Vase, with last season's league winners Bury AFC coming closest before elimination by Abbey Hey in December '21. This time around, however, Holker Old Boys are flying the flag high for the league, and they take on Bury AFC, now representing the Premier Division, in the next round.
At this level of the game, there are transfers, managerial changes and shocking results a-plenty, and they can all happen at any time. After Christmas, elite level football can become somewhat predictable, but there's still everything to play for in the NWCFL, and the only way to see how it all happens is to come and watch.
