What a season!  It started so well for me, being appointed President was, as I stated in my letter of acceptance, such an honour.

By courtesy of John Gingell, Chairman, I have been chauffeured to all the meetings; and have been impressed by the really good feeling throughout those meetings and across the whole administration of the League.  I pick up that everyone is operating for the good of football and for the particular benefit of everyone involved with the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League.  I am sure that hardly anyone appreciates that it is the efficiency and professionalism displayed by the officers that leads to a fine organisation.

Of the clubs I visited, I was welcomed by both those I knew from days past and those who were new faces to me.

I certainly intend to visit some more clubs when the new season finally gets underway after the Covid-19 pandemic and will continue to attend meetings.

Ken Clarke

League President

Again, I would like to thank Chris Perry and David Kilmurray from Corsham Print, our League sponsors, for their continued support.

Our new President, Ken Clarke, is a great asset to our committee with his knowledge and experience.

Since March, the 2019/20 came to an abrupt halt due to coronavirus and all football was postponed.  No League Champions and no Senior KO Cup Final, which was very disappointing.

On a personal level, I would like to thank all the League Officers and Management Committee for all their assistance over the past season and to all Club Secretaries for their hard work and dedication.

John Gingell

Chairman

This was the 43rd season of the League and this is my 17th Annual Report as Hon General Secretary.

In my Annual Report, I would firstly like to extend the League’s sincere thanks to our sponsors: Chris Perry and David Kilmurray of Corsham Print who are the main sponsors of the League; Paul and Denise Sebastianelli of Fountain Trophies, who sponsor the Senior KO Cup and Ken Clarke of Westernsport Trophies who sponsors the Referees Appreciation Award.  Without their continued support, we would struggle to keep fees to a lower level than most other Step 7 Leagues.

We lost two fine supporters of the League during the season.  John Manning, a Referee from Swindon, who’d been involved with local football for over 40 years, sadly became a victim of the coronavirus pandemic at the beginning of April and, less than a month later, we lost Ray Burroughs, who was a League Vice-President.  Ray would have been well known to many who have played or managed in the league as the person responsible for the media reports in the newspapers across Wiltshire for many years, having taken over the role in 1994.

The main current topic is of course the coronavirus pandemic, which brought a premature end to the season in mid March.  I won’t go over all the “why’s and wherefore’s” as I’m sure everyone is well aware of the situation and, if you’re like me, getting fed up with it and looking forward to the time when we can start playing football again and return to some sort of normality.  At the time of writing this report, your guess is as good as mine as to quite when (and how) that will be.  When we do have a date to return and, depending on when that date is, we will have to review whether we can complete a full season and, if not, what we do instead.  If this does occur, we’ll obviously share our thoughts and invite comments / suggestions from all Clubs.

When last season was ended, The FA said that there would be no promotions or relegations at Steps 3 to 7 but, with quite a few teams having folded already, it remains to be seen if Leagues will be allowed to restore their numbers.  It was a particular shame that the season ended when it did as all Divisions were still very competitive and it wasn’t clear cut who any winners might be.  Mark Smedley will cover results, etc in his report, but the Premier Division was still very open when the season was ended.  Wroughton may have been considered favourites, having games in hand on the leaders but, with several fixtures to go and many possibly in mid week, advantage may have been to others who had points on the board already.  The U.18’s Division was possibly the most competitive and open than it’s ever been.  FC Chippenham Youth looked to be favourites, but recent results had shown that most teams were capable of beating most others, so it would’ve been a very interesting run in.

In last year’s report I mentioned that we’d been meeting with the Wiltshire FA with a view to setting up a Veterans’ Division.  This did come to fruition and we initially had 11 teams enter, which we grouped in two regionalised Divisions.  Unfortunately, due mostly to pitch hire problems, we lost some teams, the start of the Veterans’ Divisions was delayed and we reduced to one Division.  The Veterans’ League previously run by the Wiltshire FA, although successful, had been basically a “turn up and play” League, so the teams had to adapt to register players, pay Referees, submit results, etc.  After the expected initial problems, most teams adapted very well and fixtures got underway in October.  The League took it on themselves to hire a 3G pitch at New College, but this was basically the only venue we had regular use of except for one at the Defence Academy Shrivenham, who hosted several away games.  For next season, we have reserved two additional slots at the new Wiltshire FA Headquarters in Devizes, so fixtures should run a lot smoother.  At the time of writing, I’ve had enquiries from six new teams, so the Veterans’ Division is set to almost double in size and I expect it to continue to grow in the coming seasons.

The FA had completed their review of the National League System structure.  From season 2020/21, they were to create additional Leagues at Step 5 and reduce the number of Leagues at Step 6.  However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this has been delayed until season 2021/22.  Step 7 Leagues such as ourselves are to be renamed as Regional NLS Feeder Leagues.  There is to be a greater involvement with the Wiltshire FA but, unlike some Leagues at our level, we already have a good, close working relationship with our County FA and I envisage little change there.

The pyramid agreement that we have with the District Leagues in the county allows for the top three Clubs in each of the Swindon and Trowbridge Leagues to apply for promotion to our Premier Division.  At the same time, and providing our constitution is at our capacity, we will relegate up to three Clubs from this League.  Although they were not compelled to do so (because of coronavirus bringing the season to an early conclusion), both Leagues kindly agreed to allow promotions to continue.  There were no clubs in the Swindon & District League that applied / were eligible, but Devizes Town Res will be promoted from the Trowbridge & District League.  We also welcome Odd Down Res from just over the border in Somerset.  I also received enquiries from a further 7 clubs, which I believe is testament to this League being competitive and well run.  You will note that we’re proposing to run with 17 teams next season, which is one more than the FA’s ideal number of 16, but both they and the Wiltshire FA have given approval to this number.

At present, I’m expecting all of last season’s U.18 Youth Floodlight Division Clubs to re-enter.  I don’t currently know if any new Clubs will be applying to join but, if we do receive more entries, we will have to consider splitting the Clubs into two regionalised Divisions.

As most of you are aware, we were awarded Charter Standard League status by The FA back in season 2012/13.  It’s imperative that at least 60% of our Clubs are Charter Standard Clubs ….. preferably 100%.  In this League, there are a few Clubs who have yet to submit their applications and I would urge them to do so.  It is a requirement in the League Rules and, with the League being at capacity and new Clubs applying, Charter Standard is one of the factors we will take into consideration when accepting a new Club or considering whether to relegate an existing Club.  To become a Charter Standard Club really isn’t that time consuming or difficult.  I suspect that many of you are probably there without realising it.  If you have any doubts, please speak with either the Wiltshire FA Football Development Officer, or even one of the Clubs who have already been awarded Charter Standard.  Amongst other benefits, being a Charter Standard League gives us access to grants from The FA, which should mean fewer increases in fees for Clubs.  Alongside Charter Standard, the new Safeguarding requirements for Premier Division Clubs (who have players under 18 in their squads) are coming into force.  The Wiltshire FA will be running Safeguarding Courses, but obviously these are all currently on hold.

We’ve continued to operate our Premier Division with Level 5 Referees as The FA withdrew our Supply League status some 8 years ago.  Due to a lack of Match Officials and with Step 5 and 6 Leagues taking priority, this past season has again been a difficult one for Adie Cripps, trying to ensure that all games were covered.  This was only possible as Adie has developed a good relationship with the District Leagues and was able to move Match Officials around when postponements occurred.  If you have a game called off, it’s imperative that you let Adie know as soon as possible so that this can continue. 

I mentioned last year that The FA had made the use of “sin bins” mandatory for all Leagues from Step 5 down.  Apart from a few teething problems, this went quite smoothly and, although I’ve yet to see any Wiltshire FA statistics, I’m quite sure that the number of fines for dissent has reduced.

Last season was our third season of using the Whole Game System (WGS) for player registrations and transfers.  Last season, the requirement for a player’s e-mail address and a photograph was added, which helped reduce the incidents of alleged ineligible players.  Use of The FA Full-Time web site for fixtures, Match Officials’ appointments, results, tables, etc continued last season.  Clubs can use Full-Time for player statistics, match reports, etc.  We’re currently looking to get all the League Forms uploaded so that, Clubs can submit Result Sheets and Referee Reports on-line.  This should enable Clubs to do away with paper forms altogether except for Team Sheets.

Mark Smedley has continued to develop the www.wiltshireseniorleague.co.uk web site and results, tables, etc have been added to the History Section, which is now extremely comprehensive.  if you have any information, photographs, old programmes, etc I know that Mark would be keen to see them.  Marks match reports are well received and his number of tweets on Twitter and Facebook followers continues to increase.

You will see from the Election of Officers sheet, that we have a couple of vacancies on our Management Committee.  We will accept nominations at the Annual General Meeting but, if such a post is of interest to you or you have any queries as to what it would entail, please do not hesitate to contact me.  During the season, Kevin Cook of Wroughton FC and Phil Avenell of Calne Town FC U.18’s volunteered to become Club Representatives for the Premier and U.18’s Floodlight Divisions respectively.  I thank them for their time in attending Management Committee meetings so far and hope they will continue next season.  Ideally, I’d like to see a Club Representative for the Veterans’ Division attending our meetings too.  If you’re interested, please contact me.

During the close season we again had to update our League Development Plan for submission to The FA and a further updated Plan and Report will need to be submitted again this year.  Last season’s Plan was completed, presented to The FA and duly approved.  This season’s initiative requested a grant for substitutes’ bibs for every team.  These have been received and will be distributed to Clubs prior to the season commencing as it will be mandatory for substitutes to wear them.  We also received a grant for additional water bottles, which are for the Veterans teams and for new Clubs.

You will see that very few Rule Revisions are proposed.  The main one being to make it mandatory for substitutes to wear bibs provided by the League.  Another Rule Revision is to do make it mandatory for Team Managers / Assistant Team Managers to have DBS checks and FA Safeguarding qualifications.  The final Rule change is to bring us in line with the County FA Senior Cup whereby, if a Cup tie is postponed twice by the home Club, it reverts to the ground of the Club drawn away.  This will hopefully prevent Cup ties dragging on for several weeks

Finally, I thank our Chairman, John Gingell and my fellow League Officers and Management Committee for all their help and assistance over the past season. 

Best wishes to all Clubs for a good summer break and a successful season in 2020 – 2021, whenever that may be!

Jim Thorn

Hon General Secretary

As one might expect at the time of writing the Accounts are yet to be audited.  Accounts will be audited as soon as circumstances allow.

This is my eighth Annual Report.

For 2019/20 the League made a loss of just under £2,500 as opposed to a loss last year of just under £500.  It is disappointing that this is the case, however this is mainly due to the cost of supplies; bibs and water bottles that have been paid in the financial year.

The account balances remain strong and I am aware that many leagues similar to ours do not carry such healthy balances.

As usual, the majority of the League’s income is mainly due to FA Grants (£5,150).  However subscriptions, registrations and transfers accounted for an additional £4,015.

Fines accounted for £2,391 this year. This is an increase of £1,200 on the previous year as, with the assistance of the Wiltshire FA’s Debt Recovery System, the League recouped over £700 in fines from a defaulting club and the registered players thereof.  Whilst the Management Committee would prefer not to use such systems it is evidence that the Management Committee will do all it can to protect your interests and pursue those who owe the League money.  On a personal level I would like to see fines reduced.  I believe that clubs could assist themselves greatly by simply consulting the handbook!   

Expenditure increased by approximately £3,000, due, as mentioned to the purchase of club supplies.  We also have the added expenditure of pitch hire in respect of the Veterans Division.  Otherwise costs have generally increased as one would expect.  However, the Management Committee have endeavoured to reduce costs where possible.    

The League is in an extremely healthy position with total assets of £37,368.

With the best endeavours of trying to avoid the “C” word I expect 2020/21 to be a difficult year for the League’s finances not least because of the initiatives the Management Committee are exploring to assist clubs.  It is also not yet known how the League might be affected by the financial support it receives ie: FA Grants etc.  It would not surprise me to see a loss for 2020/21 in excess of £5,000 depending upon what income can be generated.

Looking forward, the League has now made a loss several years in a row and it may be necessary to investigate ways of reversing this trend for the financial year commencing 2021/22.   

On a final point, can I please encourage clubs to approach the League if they are experiencing financial difficulty?  No one wishes to see a club “fold” due to financial issues, but the first the League normally hears about it is as after the event!  It is your League and your money and there may be things he League can do to assist clubs through difficult times. 

I would like to thank the Management Committee for their assistance especially the Registration Secretary and Disciplinary Secretary who assist on the financial side of things and the sponsors for their continued financial support.

Robert Cook

Hon Treasurer

I would like to start with passing on my condolences to the families that have lost family members or friends to this virus. Ours thoughts are with you.

Well, we are not going to forget this season in a hurry.  At the time of writing this we are all still waiting to hear when we can come out of isolation and start enjoying the game again.

This season has again seen improvements with the WGS for registrations.  The transfer system is still not where it needs to be, but it was a lot better this season.  This season I have only been receiving registrations through the WGS with photo ID and e-mail addresses, which has been highly successful.  

In the case of the U.18’s the Club Secretary or Team Manager must check proof of date of birth (driving license, birth certificate or passport), then check the box that ID has been seen before submitting it to me.  Photo ID will also apply to the Under 18’s Floodlight Division too.

This season we started the Veterans Division, which had quite a few problems at the beginning of the season; mainly due to clubs not submitting the match paperwork but this has improved during the season.

We will be continuing the system of sending statements out at the end of September, December, and March for Registration and Transfer fees.

Although registrations and transfers finished a couple of weeks early, a total of 1,333 players were registered last season: 845 in the Premier Division (down 133), 297 in the U.18’s Division (up by 137) and 191 in the Veterans’ Division.  A total of 39 transfers were approved.

I would like to thank the Club Secretaries and Team Managers for their help and support this season.  Most teams now submit the Result Sheets and Referee Reports via email as a scanned attachment or enter the information into Full-Time themselves.  Next season we hope to have all match paperwork done through Full-Time, which should make things a lot easier for clubs and of course myself.

I would normally now say the season has ended its time to relax and recharge the batteries ready for the start of next season, but this season I have had far too much time relaxing and just want football to start up again.

Brian Busson

Hon Registration Secretary

It is unfortunate that this season has had to end in such difficult circumstances.  The weather had been good to us most of the season, but we also had a challenging period of wet weather in the New Year, which saw a number of games cancelled over a period of several weeks.  Running three Divisions is challenging, with the evening games which include both the Veterans and U.18 Floodlight Divisions.  Match Officials are hard to find sometimes, but overall, most games had the required amount of Officials.  Saturdays are difficult to cover with Officials at times because of various other cup competitions being played.  Unfortunately, the leagues higher up the pyramid take Officials from me, leaving me short on numbers.  I think, compared to other leagues, we do well with Officials covering games.  Hopefully, the Officials who have applied for promotion from Level 5 to Level 4 will receive good news from the FA in their quest to officiate at a higher level.  We wish them well.  Not forgetting the other promotion candidates who have applied for promotion, who also serve on this league. 

Although we all now have an extended break from football, I wish all of you a happy summer and please keep safe during this difficult time and I look forward to the 20/21 Football season.  

Adie Cripps

Hon Referees’ Appointments Secretary

The number of cases dealt with by the Discipline Sub-Committee reduced again last season, though mainly due to the early end.  The increased use of technology, eg: texting of scores, e-mailing of Result Sheets and Registration Forms, being able to make on-line payments, etc has hopefully reduced the workload for Club Secretaries.  We’re currently working with The FA so as Clubs can complete Result Sheets and Referee Reports within Full-Time and hope this will be up and running when the season starts.  This will mean that the only paperwork will be Team Sheets.

The most common offence involves Clubs who fail to notify the League (Fixtures Secretary and Referees’ Appointments Secretary) that a game is postponed.  We’re sure you phone / text your players if a game is off, so please avoid fines by making those two extra calls to the League.  If we get sufficient notice, Phil Cook may be able to rearrange a game for your opponents or Adie Cripps may be able to send the Match Official(s) to a fixture that is short.  Some Clubs also fail to notify Match Officials about postponements, which resulted in them turning up, us having to chase you for payment, then you having to pay them again when the match is rearranged.  When you tell your players and the opposition that a game is off, please remember the third team and save your hard earned money.

The number of offences involving ineligible players reduced yet again.  It is very easy for Clubs to check a player’s eligibility.  Access to the County FA web site is available to all Clubs whereat you can see lists of players under suspension.  This also applies when you register a new player.  It isn’t the League’s responsibility to inform Clubs if a player is suspended, so please check the County FA web site at least weekly.

A few Clubs still incur additional charges for late payment of fees / fines.  All fines have been sent out by e-mail, which has reduced League expenditure on postage.  All fees / fines can be paid by Bank Transfer.  Again, some Clubs already use this method and it does save you the cost of postage and the risk of things going astray in the post.

As Media Officer I am responsible for the league’s website and the social media feed.  I would like to start by thanking all the other officers for their support and encouragement over the season, in particular Jim for his wise advice and guidance.

With regard to the website, most of you will be familiar with the weekly roundups on the website but do not forget there is also a lot of other useful content to be found on the website. For example, all of the league rules can be easily accessed from the site, FA Full Time league tables, results and fixtures are pulled into the website, referee contact details are contained under the “League Rules and Advice” tab, as our details of FA ground grading rules etc. The site is mobile friendly so content can be viewed on your phone easily as well as on the laptop.

The most extensive information on the website is in the History Section which I have continued to build up over the season. It now includes final league tables for all seasons, together with results and cup details of both the league cup competitions and the outside cup competitions run by the Wiltshire FA. The History Section continues to be work-in-progress, but I would recommend a nostalgia trip during the lockdown and summer months whilst you are waiting for the new season to start, whenever that may be. If any clubs have historic photos of championship winning sides from the past to include in the website these would be greatly appreciated. Just a reminder that the website can be found at www.wiltshireseniorleague.co.uk

Regarding social media feeds, this season I have been able to Tweet a preview of every single game played in the Premier, U.18’s and Veterans’ Divisions, as well as the weekly fixtures.  The new innovation for this season was to produce a mini programme for The Premier and U18 Divisions that could be downloaded by a link on the Tweet from the website for a period.  I know a couple clubs, Cricklade Town and Radstock Town U.18’s printed these off for some of their games to hand out as  a match day programme.  As the season ended the number of followers of our Twitter feed passed through the 900 mark, up by over 300 for the season helped by the new teams in the U.18’s and Veterans Divisions. Our Facebook Group currently has 216 members, up by 70 from last season, and is also used as a source of disseminating information about updates and new information that appears on the website.

Once again, we are indebted to the fantastic support of a number of regular photographers across the county who have provided pictures in support of the league over the season.  A big thank you to Martin Pearce, Estelle Bowden at Starsphinx Photography, Steve Green, Mike Wray and Corsham Town’s Jacob Price and John Cuthbertson for the use of their photos over this last season.  In addition, Season 2019-20 also saw League President Ken Clarke and Registration Secretary Brian Busson take their cameras to a number of games and send pictures that were included on the website.  All of the photographers provide us with photos free of charge for which we are immensely grateful.

Last season I specifically thanked the various newspapers for their excellent coverage of the league and whose back catalogue of coverage dating back to the late 1970’s contained in the libraries in Swindon and Chippenham provides the source of the content included in our history pages.  It is disappointing to report this time that at the start of the calendar year the local newspapers made a policy decision to only cover football across the county at Step 6 and above.  This followed yet another round of redundancies and cost cutting as the papers struggled with reduced circulation.  My understanding for all the Wiltshire based publications is that there is now just two people covering all sports across the various titles (Swindon Town, local football, local rugby, Swindon speedway, ice-hockey and cricket) compared to a team of 5-6 that they used to have not that long ago.  With all the results now being instantaneously on FA Full-Time, Twitter etc, reports, roundups coming out on the day of games, they are taking the view that their coverage needs to be something different and focusing on manager interviews.  For two people they can only get round a limited number of managers.  Even at Step 5 in the Advertiser, it only seems to be one local football manager each week whose team is featured (either Royal Wootton Bassett Town, Fairford or Shrivenham), the other two clubs then get about a line.  Step 6 sides get virtually no coverage.  It is too early to predict what is going to happen with the football pyramid and the various leagues when the Covid-19 situation allows football to re-commence but it could be that travel distances will be restricted meaning that teams at Step 5 and Step 6 may have to come back within the gambit of county league football.  If that were to happen perhaps, we might see a re-emergence of the excellent coverage that these local newspapers used to provide on our league.

On a more positive note Your Sport Swindon extended their already superb coverage of our games last season, partly as a result of Shrivenham joining our U18 Division.  Mike Wray from Shrivenham videos their U.18 games for Your Sport Swindon and he also covered some of our Premier League games, with matches at Purton quite often being featured.  I have now added a separate page on the website that contains links to all the games that they have covered for the league.  A big thank you to Steve Butt and his Your Sport Swindon team for this continued brilliant coverage.

I would also like to personally thank all the clubs for their twitter feeds this season which provide invaluable information to allow the roundups to be completed.  With football being an emotional game, it can sometimes lead to a few post-match tweets that we have to ask to be taken down, which pleasingly all clubs do straight away, avoiding further issues.  With many on the committee being former players and managers we understand that emotions can be running high after a game and our policy is to asks inappropriate tweets to be taken down rather than raising charges against clubs straight away.  Clubs are warned that there are some referee support groups out there who pick up, what can seem to you to be a mild comment about a referee and make it into a major issue.  My advice is that all clubs should limit any views and comments about referees to their referee report and avoid saying anything about referees on Twitter.

A big thank you also to all the managers and club Twitter feed owners for dealing with all the messages from me where I am chasing any missing information on a Saturday evening or late night for midweek games.  I know some league’s make it a rule that clubs have to provide goalscoring information within a set time to their leagues, but I much prefer to keep it informal as it is currently is without clubs having to worry about another rule and most weeks I have all the scorers in good time.

Finally, whilst the official line is that Season 2019-20 is “null and void”, I will be including the results during the 2019-20 season and the league tables at the time of suspension in all three divisions in the History Section of the website.  This is the first time since 1939 that football season has not completed and is a unique situation.  The games did happen, and I strongly believe a record should be kept of this historic season, albeit one where there were no winners or runners-up, but games were certainly played up to a point in time.  I will also include the team record for Season 2019-20 in the summaries on each team’s directory entry with a note saying the season was not completed but the entry represents the team’s record at the time of the suspension.  Hopefully there will soon be an end in sight to this terrible virus within our midst and we can all get back to the great game that is football in a safe and secure environment.

Mark Smedley

Hon Media Officer

This season saw 136 fixtures postponed for various reasons, an increase of 38 on last season.  This is mainly due to the increase in the number of teams plus the extremely wet start to the year.  The Premier Division runs with a policy of deducting points from Clubs found guilty of postponing games without a satisfactory explanation and this has continued this past season.

Season 2019-20 became the first football season since 1939-40 to be stopped early, not completed and the first incomplete season in the 44-year history of the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League.  Back in 1939 the cause of the cessation had been the beginning of the Second World War.  This time round it was the awful Coronavirus that had spread across the globe having first emerged in China at the start of the calendar year. Initially, the season was suspended whilst the FA considered the options, eventually decreeing that all football at Steps 3 to 7 would be ended with immediate effect and the season deemed to be “null and void”. The league was not involved in the decision making in any way shape of form and, whilst our Feeder Leagues were able to consider other options to decide matters, such as points per game at the time of cessation, no such opportunity was afforded our league.  Whilst the decision to end the season is perfectly understandable, the “null and void” decision left a lot of clubs and leagues disappointed, although in reality there was no solution that would have kept everyone happy.  Given the uniqueness of the situation, rather than deeming the season “null and void” why could the season not just be deemed unfinished, with no honours awarded?  I suspect a lot of leagues will document the season in this way and I am sure historians in say, 30 or 40, years will fully understand.  Players who took part in those games, scored goals or saved penalties, picked up the odd booking or even went in a sin-bin for the first time, will all remember that the games did take place.

At the time of cessation, the Premier Division was led by Corsham Town Res who, like four other sides had played 22 of their scheduled 28 league fixtures.  Corsham were two points ahead of Shrewton United but Shrewton had two games in hand.  Kintbury Rangers were one point further behind having also played 20 games.  Defending champions Wroughton were back in fourth place, but had been the league leaders for much of the season and had seven games in hand over Corsham Town Reserves at the point the season was ended.  Their defence of the title had started with a bizarre opening day postponement due to a waterlogged pitch in August, but they had then won their opening 12 league games played to head the table. They also did extremely well in the Wiltshire Senior Cup, wins over Stratton Juniors and Laverstock & Ford seeing them become the first side from the league to reach the semi-finals of this prestigious competition since Season 2003-04.  They eventually went out at the semi-final stage having taken Western League Division One leaders Calne Town to extra-time.  However, the knock-on impact of their cup run, coupled with the awful wet weather that was a key feature of the season, meant they got behind with their league fixtures and slipped out of the top three. It will forever remain an unknown as to whether they would have gone on and joined the exclusive group of six clubs who have previously defended the top division title on at least one occasion in the leagues 44-year history.  On the one hand they had yet to lose a league game at the time of cessation but, on the other hand, had drawn their last three league games and crashed out of the Fountain Trophies Cup.  They had also lost one of their top players to Highworth Town but had also made an astute signing to replace him.  All conjecture now and no-one will ever know how the Premier Division season would have played out.  In the overall scheme of things, in the end, football is secondary to ensuring that all involved in the league as players, managers, coaches, committee members remain safe and can get back involved with the league when it once again becomes possible to play the game that we all love.

The Fountain Trophies Senior Cup had just about reached the semi-final stage when the season was brought to an abrupt halt.  There was one outstanding quarter final tie to be played between Cricklade Town and Trowbridge Town.  The three sides that had made it through to the semi-final were Corsham Town Res, Melksham Town Res and Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development.  The highlight of the cup competition that did take place was the First Round game at the Red House between Purton and Wroughton which ended 3-3 at the end of extra time and then required a penalty shoot out to settle matters.  In the end the then league leaders Wroughton prevailed but only just, winning the shootout 7-6.  The other leading sides in the division all won through to the last eight.  Melksham Town Res demolished Malmesbury Vics Dev 8-0, Kintbury Rangers were 3-0 home winners over Holt, Shrewton United were 4-2 home winners against Frome Collegians, whilst Corsham Town Res put five past Pewsey Vale without reply.  Royal Wootton Bassett Town Dev were comfortable 5-0 winners over bottom side Ludgershall Sports whilst penalties were needed by Trowbridge Town to see off Stratton Juniors.  Cricklade Town made it through to the last eight without kicking a ball when Marlborough Town were unable to raise a side and their tie was awarded.  The three quarter final ties that were played saw Melksham Town Res inflict the first defeat of the season on Wroughton, the young Melksham side winning 4-2 at the InfiLED Stadium to knock out one last season’s finalists.  Kintbury Rangers, last season’s winners, also crashed out at this stage, losing 4-0 away to Royal Wootton Bassett Town Dev on the 3G pitch at the Gerard Buxton Ground.  The other quarter-final saw two of the sides from the top of the table battle it out with Corsham Town Res making it through to the last four courtesy of a 3-1 win over Shrewton United.  In the end neither of the semi final ties were played which was no doubt a major disappointment for the sides still left in the competition.

The U.18 Division was shaping up to be the most exciting since the competition transitioned to the league from the Wiltshire FA.  In the most competitive season for many a year, five teams remained in contention for honours when the season was brought to an abrupt holt. Last season’s runners-up FC Chippenham, with just one defeat in their opening ten fixtures, were clearly in pole position for the title, but still had three of the other top sides, Royal Wootton Bassett Town, Chippenham Town and Radstock Town to play.  At the time of cessation Shrivenham sat in second place having, along with Melksham Town, played the most games in the division.  Royal Wootton Bassett Town were four points behind in third spot with two games in hand, whilst Chippenham Town were five points further back, but all their remaining nine games were scheduled to be at home.  The other side in the mix Radstock Town were the form team in the division at the point of cessation with five straight wins including inflicting the only defeat of the season on FC Chippenham. Unfortunately, we will never know how it would have finally concluded. With hindsight it is a shame that the division suffered so many postponements due to the wet weather and other reasons, as the season would otherwise have probably been finished by the time the Coronavirus materialised.

A new venture for the 2019-20 Season was the Veterans’ Division, which the league took over running from the Wiltshire FA.  The competition initially stalled with a lack of venues and impetus from sides to register players.  Sides pulling out of the South Division also then led to a decision to combine the two divisions at a time when the North Division had already played a number of games, whilst the South division had yet to see a game played.  Unfortunately, by the time games started to be played the horrendous wet weather kicked in meaning that multiple games were postponed at clubs where the intention had been to use grass pitches.  At the time of cessation there was a big difference in the number of games played by the respective sides with AFC Swindon, for example, having played ten games whilst Royal Wootton Bassett Town Blues had played just three games.  Marlborough Town who had won all seven of their games were looking odds on favourites to win the inaugural title, having also been the champions in the last Wilts FA Flexi-League season.  The Defence Academy Shrivenham were in second spot five points behind Marlborough having played one game more.  With artificial pitches already reserved at the new Wiltshire FA headquarters in Devizes and  New College Swindon for whenever football is finally allowed to restart hopefully the problems that have dogged Season 2019-20 will be avoided when the next Veteran’s Division starts.

No welfare issues in relation to U.18’s have been reported to the League this year and therefore I have nothing to report.  Long may this continue!

Robert Cook

Hon Welfare Officer