I have looked at the regional leagues and thought long and hard about how to get a better and simpler system of promotion and relegation between the Level 7&8 Leagues and the Level 9&10 Leagues.
I understand that the F.A. want to cut the number of regional leagues to 12 with 4 Regional Leagues supplying each of the Level 7&8 Leagues. This is a nice idea but nomatter how hard I try I cannot find an easy way to accomplish this.
I think a better method is to increase the number of regional leagues to 16 and add another Level 7&8 League. The new league at levels 7&8 should be a Midlands Premier League. The Midlands Premier League and Northern Premier League would supply the Conference North while the Southern League and Isthmian League would supply the Conference South. The league transfer process would remain but there would be a definite line drawn on the map between north and south.
We have already seen the Kent League renamed the Southern Counties East League but both new teams that the F.A. tried to force into it won their appeals to my delight. Any new league should be a merger of other leagues and not a simple rename to try and force an issue. The Southern Counties East Premier Division should be a merger of the top teams from the Kent and Sussex Leagues, with the First Division made up from the bottom halves of the Sussex and Kent Leagues. That is a far more reasonable approach.
County names have to be removed from regional leagues so the Essex Senior League will need renaming as it include sides from London and probably Hertfordshire. I have made several attempts to divide England up into equal sized pieces and I applied a certain bias in particular areas as I like the structure of the Hellenic League and the South West Peninsula League. Using them as an example I would like to see the Southern Counties East League having a First Division West (Sussex) and a First Division East (Kent). Time will tell whether others agree with me.
Oddly, when I cut out all of my bias and simply divided the country up I came out with 14 regions. This is, as you know, the number of regional leagues in existence at the moment so it is a perfectly natural carving up of the country of England. Maybe we should simply accept the anomalies that crop up when some leagues get teams promoted and others do not. There will inevitably be differences in quality between different areas of the country.
I may expand on my colouring in of the English landscape but I want to give the whole idea a lot more thought and establish how many clubs there are in the various regions that make up the regional leagues. More to follow at a later date.
I understand that the F.A. want to cut the number of regional leagues to 12 with 4 Regional Leagues supplying each of the Level 7&8 Leagues. This is a nice idea but nomatter how hard I try I cannot find an easy way to accomplish this.
I think a better method is to increase the number of regional leagues to 16 and add another Level 7&8 League. The new league at levels 7&8 should be a Midlands Premier League. The Midlands Premier League and Northern Premier League would supply the Conference North while the Southern League and Isthmian League would supply the Conference South. The league transfer process would remain but there would be a definite line drawn on the map between north and south.
We have already seen the Kent League renamed the Southern Counties East League but both new teams that the F.A. tried to force into it won their appeals to my delight. Any new league should be a merger of other leagues and not a simple rename to try and force an issue. The Southern Counties East Premier Division should be a merger of the top teams from the Kent and Sussex Leagues, with the First Division made up from the bottom halves of the Sussex and Kent Leagues. That is a far more reasonable approach.
County names have to be removed from regional leagues so the Essex Senior League will need renaming as it include sides from London and probably Hertfordshire. I have made several attempts to divide England up into equal sized pieces and I applied a certain bias in particular areas as I like the structure of the Hellenic League and the South West Peninsula League. Using them as an example I would like to see the Southern Counties East League having a First Division West (Sussex) and a First Division East (Kent). Time will tell whether others agree with me.
Oddly, when I cut out all of my bias and simply divided the country up I came out with 14 regions. This is, as you know, the number of regional leagues in existence at the moment so it is a perfectly natural carving up of the country of England. Maybe we should simply accept the anomalies that crop up when some leagues get teams promoted and others do not. There will inevitably be differences in quality between different areas of the country.
I may expand on my colouring in of the English landscape but I want to give the whole idea a lot more thought and establish how many clubs there are in the various regions that make up the regional leagues. More to follow at a later date.
