League

The South West Peninsula League Ltd

A Limited Company : Registered at Companies House (No. 6255952).
Affiliated to the Football Association Ltd, Wembley Stadium, London
A Member of the National League System (Step 6)
A Supply League for the Purposes of Referee Development
Governing organisation of the Peninsula League Benevolent Fund (Registered with the Charity Commisioners No. 1079397)
An FA “Accredited League”

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 two sides 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. 2012 saw Bodmin Town win all before them as they won the Premier Division title for a 3rd time, they also won both the Throgmorton & County Cups to complete a treble. Liverton United retained the East title but this time took promotion to the Premier and Newquay won the West and also took the step up. This season also saw the first club move up through the FA Pyramid with Buckland Athletic taking promotion to the Western League Premier Division.

In 2015 the League cup was renamed the Walter C Parson Funeral Directors Cup after the undertakers signed an initial 4 year sponsorship, the first Cup winners were Godolphin Atlantic.

Many clubs enter the FA Cup and FA Vase, with the league having some success especially in the Vase where Torpoint Athletic have reached the last 8 and in 2015 St Austell played in the semi finals, just one game from gracing Wembley.

In the 2017/18 season Plymouth Parkway, took promotion to the Western League (Step 5), the second club to do so from the Peninsula League since Buckland Athletic in 2012. 2019 saw both Tavistock and Exmouth take promotion to the Western League after winning the league and coming runners-up. In 2019/20 the FA decided to merge the 2 part seasons due to Covid-19 and do promotion to the Western League on average points per game. From the East Division Millbrook and Ilfracombe Town and, from the West Division, it was Helston Athletic, Mousehole and Saltash United that got promoted.

2019, saw two step 6 leagues due to restructuring by the FA, Premier Division East and Premier Division West. The two lower step 7 leagues are now run by the Cornwall FA (St Piran League) and Devon FA (Devon League).

After two Covid interrupted seasons, 2021/22 saw the league get back to normality with all competitions completed. The FA then talked of restructuring again and the 22/23 season will be the last season of the league as a merger with the Western League will start in 2023 with a new league covering the whole of the South West. To reduce travel and matches the new set up will run two divisions at Step 5, North & South and three at Step 6 (Western, Central & Eastern) the 80 clubs currently playing in the SWP and the Western Lge will form the backbone of the new set up.