1896–97 Western Football League

Western Football League
Season	1896–97
Champions	Warmley (Division One) Eastville Wanderers (Division Two)
← 1895–96 1897–98 →

The 1896–97 season was the fifth in the history of the Western Football League, which had been known as the Bristol & District league until 1895.

Warmley were the Division One champions for the fourth time in five years, and also began competing in the Southern League during this season. Eastville Wanderers won Division Two in only their second season in the league.^[1]

At the end of this season the league was restructured, with a new Professional Section being formed, taking five clubs from Division One and three new clubs joining. Division One and Division Two remained as the Amateur Section, with four clubs being promoted from Division Two to Division One, and several new clubs joining both divisions.

Final tables

Division One

One new club joined Division One for this season, though the number of clubs was reduced from 12 to nine after Gloucester and Swindon Wanderers left, Cardiff were expelled and Mangotsfield were relegated to Division Two.

Bristol South End

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Warmley	16	13	2	1	42	9	4.67	28	Moved to new Professional Section
2	Bristol South End	16	11	0	5	28	22	1.27	22	Moved to new Professional Section
3	Bedminster	16	8	2	6	32	16	2	18
4	St George	16	8	1	7	27	23	1.17	17	Moved to new Professional Section
5	Eastville Rovers	16	7	2	7	25	23	1.09	14*	Moved to new Professional Section
6	Trowbridge Town	16	5	3	8	21	30	0.7	13	Moved to new Professional Section
7	St Paul's	16	3	5	8	29	31	0.93	11
8	Staple Hill	16	5	0	11	18	39	0.46	10
9	Clifton	16	4	1	11	19	48	0.4	9

* Eastville Rovers had two points deducted for fielding an ineligible player.

Division Two

One new team joined Division Two this season, though the number of clubs was reduced from 11 to seven after Cumberland, Clifton Reserves, St George Reserves and Warmley Reserves left the league and Frenchay resigned.

Mangotsfield, relegated from Division One

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Eastville Wanderers (P)	12	7	4	1	25	9	2.78	18	Promoted to Division One (Amateur)
2	Barton Hill (P)	12	7	3	2	28	7	4	17	Promoted to Division One (Amateur)
3	Mangotsfield (P)	12	6	3	3	23	14	1.44	15	Promoted to Division One (Amateur)
4	Fishponds (P)	12	4	5	3	17	16	1.06	13	Promoted to Division One (Amateur)
5	Bedminster Reserves	12	6	1	5	19	20	0.95	13
6	Eastville Rovers Reserves	12	1	3	8	7	33	0.21	5	Left the league at the end of the season
7	Staple Hill Reserves	12	1	1	10	8	34	0.23	3	Left the league at the end of the season

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up to and including the 1976–77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

^{3 The tables as published at the time contained errors, hence the totals do not balance in some columns.}^[1]

References

1 2 Robinson, Michael (ed.), Non-League Football Tables 1889–2006, Soccer Books, 2006

Western League

Premier Division	Bitton Bradford Town Bridport Brislington Bristol Manor Farm Buckland Athletic Cadbury Heath Chipping Sodbury Town Clevedon Town Cribbs Gillingham Town Hallen Longwell Green Sports Melksham Town Odd Down Shepton Mallet Sherborne Town Street Wells City Willand Rovers

Division One	Almondsbury UWE Ashton & Backwell United Bishops Lydeard Bishop Sutton Calne Town Chard Town Cheddar Chippenham Park Corsham Town Devizes Town Hengrove Athletic Keynsham Town Malmesbury Victoria Oldland Abbotonians Portishead Town Radstock Town Roman Glass St George Warminster Town Wellington Welton Rovers Westbury United Wincanton Town

Seasons	1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

1896–97 in English football

« 1895–96

1897–98 »

FA competitions

FA Cup (Qualifying rounds
Final)

Football and Southern Leagues

Lower leagues

Related to national team

Home Championship

Club seasons

First Division	Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Burnley Bury Derby County Everton Liverpool Nottingham Forest Preston North End Sheffield United Stoke Sunderland The Wednesday West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Blackpool Burton Swifts Burton Wanderers Darwen Gainsborough Trinity Grimsby Town Leicester Fosse Lincoln City Loughborough Manchester City Newcastle United Newton Heath Notts County Small Heath Walsall Woolwich Arsenal

Southern League	Chatham Town Gravesend United Millwall Athletic New Brompton Northfleet Reading Royal Ordnance Sheppey United Southampton St Mary's Swindon Town Tottenham Hotspur Wolverton L & NWR

Others	Thames Ironworks

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