I was updating all my league tables and found another missing club. There are many reasons why teams have to abandon their leagues and I will investigate the ones that have left by the end of October.
The Premier and Football Leagues are usually safe from resignations because of the level of money coming in. They can always sack backroom staff before they have to fold.
The National League appears to be stronger season on season and they are all still in the competition.
Step 3, Level 7 also still has a full complement, as does Step 4, Level 8. 20 teams in each division.
Step 5, Level 9 sees the first loss from any league:
Blyth AFC resigned from the Northern League Division One in August 2018. From wikipedia I have discovered that ......
Blyth Town was established in 1995 as a junior club, initially having three boys teams. They gradually expanded to more age groups, and added both men's and women's adult teams in 2002, with the men's team entering Division Two of the Northern Alliance. The club won Division Two at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division One. In 2004–05 they finished as Division One runners-up and were promoted to the Premier Division. The club were Premier Division champions in 2013–14, and the following season saw them win the treble of the Premier Division, Challenge Cup and George Dobbins League Cup.
In 2015 the first team broke away from the main club to become a separate organisation. After winning the Premier Division and Challenge Cup again in 2015–16, they were promoted to Division Two of the Northern League.
In 2017 the club was renamed Blyth AFC. The 2017–18 season saw them win the Division Two title, earning promotion to Division One. Despite winning their first four league games of the 2018–19 season, the club resigned from the league and folded on 28 August 2018 due to a lack of support and permanent home ground.
So there you have it. Maybe the speed of promotions was too great for the club. It is better to build slowly unless you have the money like Salford City.
I now look at Step 6, Level 10.
The Hellenic League have seen two clubs disappear from their leagues ...
Bicester Town resigned from Division One East when they lost their ground.
Carterton resigned from Division One West. They mention an EGM to vote in the new club structure so my guess is that the old guard pulled out leaving the club leaderless.
The only other loss at this level seems to be Gravesham Borough from the Southern Counties East League. The information on wikipedia is as follows:
The club was established in 1927. The club was originally known as Bowater Thames and joined the Kent County League in 1971. In 1973 they changed their name to Bowaters in 1973 and three years later again to Bowater Sports. The 1985–86 campaign saw the club finish as winners of the Senior Division of the western section of the Kent County League. The following season saw the club play under a different name, this time Bowater Scott Sports & Social. 1987 saw the club again change its name to Scott Sports and Social.
In 1992 the Kent County League was restructured so that the top teams in the east and west sections would now play each other in the newly formed Premier Division and the club was placed in this new division. The club stayed in the Premier Division until the end of the 1994–95 campaign when they finished bottom of the league and were relegated to Division One West. The club in 1996 again changed its name, this time to Beauwater. They achieved promotion back to the Premier Division when they finished as runners-up in Division One West at the end of the 1999–2000 campaign.
In 2005 the club changed their name to Fleet Leisure, when the sports and social club the team is based at was taken over by Fleet Leisure Ltd. At the end of the 2012–13 campaign after finishing fourth in the Premier Division the club gained promotion to the Kent Invicta Football League. For the 2014-15 season the club changed its name from Fleet Leisure to Gravesham Borough. The 2016–17 season saw the club enter the FA Cup for the first time in their history when they entered the competition in the preliminary qualification round. They folded prior to the 2018–19 season after being unable to raise the funding required to continue playing.
Money, Money, Money. Without it football clubs die.
Continuing to look at the leagues with their top division in the top ten, some of them have divisions that extend to Level 11 and 12.
Hellenic League Division Two West have lost two teams.
Carterton Development you can understand as the first team have gone, although in some cases where the problem is players leaving sometimes the second team steps up.
The other missing team is Letcombe. Again I went to wikipedia to find that:
The club were Division One East runners-up in 2003–04, but were unable to take promotion due to a lack of floodlights at their ground. Three seasons later they were moved back into the West division, where the club remained until being moved back into the East division in 2011. In 2012 they were moved back to Division One West. At the end of the 2017–18 season the club were demoted to Division Two West due to the ground not meeting the requirements for their level. However, the club withdrew from the league shortly before the start of the 2018–19 season, with the first team taking over from the reserves in Division Three of the North Berks League.
We should see a meteoric rise over the next few seasons.
The most recent loss is Tring Corinthians who resigned from the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two in October 2018. The reason may appear in time but all of the google references lead to out of date websites.
There will be more as time goes on but for now that is it.
The Premier and Football Leagues are usually safe from resignations because of the level of money coming in. They can always sack backroom staff before they have to fold.
The National League appears to be stronger season on season and they are all still in the competition.
Step 3, Level 7 also still has a full complement, as does Step 4, Level 8. 20 teams in each division.
Step 5, Level 9 sees the first loss from any league:
Blyth AFC resigned from the Northern League Division One in August 2018. From wikipedia I have discovered that ......
Blyth Town was established in 1995 as a junior club, initially having three boys teams. They gradually expanded to more age groups, and added both men's and women's adult teams in 2002, with the men's team entering Division Two of the Northern Alliance. The club won Division Two at the first attempt, earning promotion to Division One. In 2004–05 they finished as Division One runners-up and were promoted to the Premier Division. The club were Premier Division champions in 2013–14, and the following season saw them win the treble of the Premier Division, Challenge Cup and George Dobbins League Cup.
In 2015 the first team broke away from the main club to become a separate organisation. After winning the Premier Division and Challenge Cup again in 2015–16, they were promoted to Division Two of the Northern League.
In 2017 the club was renamed Blyth AFC. The 2017–18 season saw them win the Division Two title, earning promotion to Division One. Despite winning their first four league games of the 2018–19 season, the club resigned from the league and folded on 28 August 2018 due to a lack of support and permanent home ground.
So there you have it. Maybe the speed of promotions was too great for the club. It is better to build slowly unless you have the money like Salford City.
I now look at Step 6, Level 10.
The Hellenic League have seen two clubs disappear from their leagues ...
Bicester Town resigned from Division One East when they lost their ground.
Carterton resigned from Division One West. They mention an EGM to vote in the new club structure so my guess is that the old guard pulled out leaving the club leaderless.
The only other loss at this level seems to be Gravesham Borough from the Southern Counties East League. The information on wikipedia is as follows:
The club was established in 1927. The club was originally known as Bowater Thames and joined the Kent County League in 1971. In 1973 they changed their name to Bowaters in 1973 and three years later again to Bowater Sports. The 1985–86 campaign saw the club finish as winners of the Senior Division of the western section of the Kent County League. The following season saw the club play under a different name, this time Bowater Scott Sports & Social. 1987 saw the club again change its name to Scott Sports and Social.
In 1992 the Kent County League was restructured so that the top teams in the east and west sections would now play each other in the newly formed Premier Division and the club was placed in this new division. The club stayed in the Premier Division until the end of the 1994–95 campaign when they finished bottom of the league and were relegated to Division One West. The club in 1996 again changed its name, this time to Beauwater. They achieved promotion back to the Premier Division when they finished as runners-up in Division One West at the end of the 1999–2000 campaign.
In 2005 the club changed their name to Fleet Leisure, when the sports and social club the team is based at was taken over by Fleet Leisure Ltd. At the end of the 2012–13 campaign after finishing fourth in the Premier Division the club gained promotion to the Kent Invicta Football League. For the 2014-15 season the club changed its name from Fleet Leisure to Gravesham Borough. The 2016–17 season saw the club enter the FA Cup for the first time in their history when they entered the competition in the preliminary qualification round. They folded prior to the 2018–19 season after being unable to raise the funding required to continue playing.
Money, Money, Money. Without it football clubs die.
Continuing to look at the leagues with their top division in the top ten, some of them have divisions that extend to Level 11 and 12.
Hellenic League Division Two West have lost two teams.
Carterton Development you can understand as the first team have gone, although in some cases where the problem is players leaving sometimes the second team steps up.
The other missing team is Letcombe. Again I went to wikipedia to find that:
The club were Division One East runners-up in 2003–04, but were unable to take promotion due to a lack of floodlights at their ground. Three seasons later they were moved back into the West division, where the club remained until being moved back into the East division in 2011. In 2012 they were moved back to Division One West. At the end of the 2017–18 season the club were demoted to Division Two West due to the ground not meeting the requirements for their level. However, the club withdrew from the league shortly before the start of the 2018–19 season, with the first team taking over from the reserves in Division Three of the North Berks League.
We should see a meteoric rise over the next few seasons.
The most recent loss is Tring Corinthians who resigned from the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two in October 2018. The reason may appear in time but all of the google references lead to out of date websites.
There will be more as time goes on but for now that is it.
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