The 2022–23 Western Football League season (known as the 2022–23 Toolstation Western Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 121st in the history of the

Western Football League The Western Football League is a football league in South West England, covering Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, western Dorset, parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The league's current main sponsor is Toolstation, so it is also known as ...

, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition in England. Teams were divided into two divisions; the Premier and the First. The constitution was announced on 12 May 2022. With a view to a merger between the Western League and the

South West Peninsula League The South West Peninsula League (SWPL) is a football competition in England, which was formed in 2007 from the merger of the Devon County League and the South Western League. The league is restricted to clubs based in Cornwall, Devon and West ...

in 2023–24, four clubs were to be automatically promoted from Division One to Step 5, depending on ground grading. The fifth-placed club may also have been promoted, on a PPG (points per game) basis. However, the FA scrapped the merger in February 2023 after a breakdown in negotiations, and promotion was reverted to two clubs, one via a play-off.

Premier Division

The Premier Division was increased to 20 clubs from 19 after Exmouth Town and

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

were promoted to the Southern League South Division, and

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...

were relegated to the

Premier Division East.

Brislington Brislington is an area in the south east of the city of Bristol, England. It is on the edge of Bristol and from Bath. Brislington Brook runs through the area in the woodlands of Nightingale Valley and St Anne's Wood. Brislington formerly hou ...

requested demotion to Division One, which the league accepted. Five new clubs joined the division. *Promoted from Division One: ** Sherborne Town ** Welton Rovers *Promoted from the

Premier Division East: ** Torpoint Athletic *Promoted from the

Premier Division West: **

Falmouth Town Falmouth Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Falmouth, Cornwall, United Kingdom. They are currently members of the and play at Bickland Park. The club were the first Cornish team to reach the first round proper of the F ...

*Relegated from the Southern League Division One South: ** Barnstaple Town

League table

Inter-step play-off

First Division

The First Division was increased from 21 clubs to 22 after Sherborne Town and Welton Rovers were promoted to the Premier Division, and Devizes Town were relegated. Four new clubs joined: *

, voluntarily demoted from the Premier Division * Hallen, relegated from the Hellenic Football League Premier Division * Nailsea & Tickenham, promoted from the

Somerset County League The Somerset County League is a football competition based in England. The Premier Division sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. It is a feeder to the Western League Division One and has promoted a club in seven of the ...

Shirehampton Shirehampton is a district of Bristol in England, near Avonmouth, at the northwestern edge of the city. It originated as a separate village, retains a High Street with a parish church and shops, and is still thought of as a village by many of it ...

, promoted from the

Gloucestershire County Football League The Gloucestershire County Football League is a football league in England, founded in 1968. The league is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA. It sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System and is a feeder to Divisio ...

*Lebeq United changed their name to FC Bristol. *Brislington are ineligible for promotion after taking voluntary demotion from the Premier Division last season.

League table

Promotion playoffs

References

League tables

External links

Western League Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Western Football League 2022-23

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...