Level 8 Southern League

 Let me start with the Southern League Division One Central. Harlow Town resigned from the league during the season leaving only 19 teams to play out the full fixture list. Where there is a league that is short of teams it has been common practice to reprieve the team in the last relegation place but not this time. Highworth Town and Barton Rovers were both required to play Inter-League Playoff matches and the lower of the two teams, Barton Rovers, survived the playoff while Highworth Town lost. No doubt there is a rule somewhere and the F.A. love rules that do not make any sense.

Now for the Southern League Division One South. All 20 teams completed the season so that should have meant that Bristol Manor Farm and Bideford would be involved in the Inter-League Playoffs. I could not understand why Bideford had not been given a fixture and it took me all the way to Twitter before I could find a reason for the decision. Here it is straight from the Bideford Twitter feed:

We’re delighted to announce that we will remain in the Southern League next season as we are one of three teams with the highest PPG across Step 4. Therefore we will not face a relegation playoff game.

So with those two contrasting situations I can now publish the Southern League Level 8 Divisions:

So there you have it. Two playoff games in a league with 19 teams and one playoff game in a league with 20 teams. How I love the thinking of the Football Association.