1996–97 Western Football League

Western Football League seasonFootball league season

Western Football League
Season	1996–97
Champions	Tiverton Town (Premier Division) Melksham Town (Division One)
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

The 1996–97 season was the 95th in the history of the Western Football League.

The league champions for the third time in their history (and the third time in four seasons) were Tiverton Town. The champions of Division One were Melksham Town.

Final tables

Premier Division

The Premier Division remained at 18 clubs after Crediton United and Frome Town were relegated to the First Division. Two clubs joined:

Bridgwater Town, champions of the First Division.
Chard Town, runners-up in the First Division.
Odd Down Athletic F.C. reverted to their former name of Odd Down F.C.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Tiverton Town (C)	34	31	1	2	103	20	+83	94
2	Taunton Town	34	24	6	4	99	28	+71	78
3	Mangotsfield United	34	19	8	7	75	44	+31	65
4	Paulton Rovers	34	17	10	7	86	42	+44	61
5	Chippenham Town	34	12	12	10	58	52	+6	48
6	Brislington	34	12	9	13	53	48	+5	45
7	Calne Town	34	13	6	15	55	52	+3	45
8	Torrington	34	11	11	12	54	54	0	44
9	Bridgwater Town	34	12	8	14	53	55	−2	44
10	Bridport	34	11	10	13	41	50	−9	43
11	Odd Down	34	11	15	8	42	46	−4	39
12	Bideford	34	11	6	17	51	84	−33	39
13	Barnstaple Town	34	10	8	16	54	62	−8	38
14	Bristol Manor Farm	34	9	10	15	40	60	−20	37
15	Backwell United	34	9	9	16	42	55	−13	36
16	Chard Town	34	9	7	18	45	67	−22	34
17	Westbury United	34	8	6	20	40	70	−30	30
18	Elmore	34	4	4	26	30	132	−102	16

Source:
(C) Champions
Notes:

Odd Down had nine points deducted for fielding ineligible players.

First Division

The First Division was increased from 19 clubs to 20, after Bridgwater Town and Chard Town were promoted to the Premier Division. Three clubs joined:

Crediton United, relegated from the Premier Division.
Frome Town, relegated from the Premier Division.
Yeovil Town Reserves, rejoining the league after leaving in 1991.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Melksham Town (C, P)	38	27	8	3	82	20	+62	89	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Keynsham Town (P)	38	27	7	4	77	21	+56	88	Promoted to the Premier Division
3	Exmouth Town	38	23	7	8	77	42	+35	76
4	Clyst Rovers	38	23	6	9	92	48	+44	75
5	Bishop Sutton	38	21	7	10	96	52	+44	70
6	Wellington	38	21	5	12	82	62	+20	68
7	Devizes Town	38	18	11	9	75	39	+36	65
8	Dawlish Town	38	18	9	11	66	36	+30	63
9	Ilfracombe Town	38	15	12	11	62	44	+18	57
10	Welton Rovers	38	15	7	16	68	59	+9	52
11	Minehead	38	16	4	18	61	56	+5	52
12	Frome Town	38	12	11	15	45	60	−15	47
13	Yeovil Town Reserves	38	12	8	18	66	77	−11	44
14	Glastonbury	38	12	7	19	54	72	−18	43
15	Crediton United	38	12	4	22	58	91	−33	40
16	Warminster Town	38	9	8	21	44	75	−31	35
17	Larkhall Athletic	38	7	13	18	51	92	−41	34
18	Heavitree United	38	7	11	20	44	95	−51	32
19	Pewsey Vale	38	5	4	29	26	105	−79	19
20	Amesbury Town	38	1	9	28	27	107	−80	12	Left at the end of the season

Source:
Rules for classification: The system of using goal difference to separate two teams tied on points was used. The points system: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

References

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

Western Football League

2024–25
clubs

Premier Division	A.F.C. St Austell Barnstaple Town Bridgwater United Brislington Brixham Buckland Athletic Clevedon Town Ilfracombe Town Ivybridge Town Nailsea & Tickenham Oldland Abbotonians Paulton Rovers Portishead Town Saltash United Shepton Mallet St Blazey Street Torpoint Athletic Wellington Welton Rovers
Division One	AEK Boco Avonmouth Bitton Bradford Town Bristol Telephones Cadbury Heath Calne Town Cheddar Cribbs Reserves Devizes Town Gillingham Town Hallen Hengrove Athletic Keynsham Town Longwell Green Sports Mendip Broadwalk Odd Down Radstock Town Shirehampton Sturminster Newton United Warminster Town Wells City

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1996–97 in English football

« 1995–96 1997–98 »

National teams

League competitions

Level 1	Premier League
Levels 2–4	Football League (First Division, Second Division, Third Division, play-offs)
Level 5	Football Conference
Levels 6–7	Isthmian League (Premier, One) Northern Premier League (Premier, One) Southern League (Premier, Midland, Southern)
Levels 8–9	Isthmian League (Two, Three) Combined Counties League (level 8 only) Eastern Counties League (Premier, One) Essex Senior League (level 8 only) Hellenic League (Premier, One) Kent League (level 8 only) Midland Alliance (level 8 only) Midland Football Combination (level 9 only) North West Counties League (One, Two) Northern Counties East League (Premier, One) Northern League (One, Two) South Midlands League (Premier, Senior) Spartan League (Premier, One) Sussex County League (One, Two) United Counties League (Premier, One) Wessex League (level 8 only) West Midlands (Regional) League (level 9 only) Western League (Premier, One)

Cup competitions

FA cups	FA Cup (Qualifying rounds, Final) Charity Shield FA Trophy (Final)
Football League cups	League Cup (Final) Football League Trophy (Final)

European competitions

Club seasons
Premier League	Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Chelsea Coventry City Derby County Everton Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Wimbledon
First Division	Barnsley Birmingham City Bolton Wanderers Bradford City Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace Grimsby Town Huddersfield Town Ipswich Town Manchester City Norwich City Oldham Athletic Oxford United Portsmouth Port Vale Queens Park Rangers Reading Sheffield United Southend United Stoke City Swindon Town Tranmere Rovers West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers
Second Division	Blackpool Bournemouth Brentford Bristol City Bristol Rovers Burnley Bury Chesterfield Crewe Alexandra Gillingham Luton Town Millwall Notts County Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Preston North End Rotherham United Shrewsbury Town Stockport County Walsall Watford Wrexham Wycombe Wanderers York City
Third Division	Barnet Brighton & Hove Albion Cambridge United Cardiff City Carlisle United Chester City Colchester United Darlington Doncaster Rovers Exeter City Fulham Hartlepool United Hereford United Hull City Leyton Orient Lincoln City Mansfield Town Northampton Town Rochdale Scarborough Scunthorpe United Swansea City Torquay United Wigan Athletic

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