The Conference League Cup (formerly known as the
Setanta Shield for sponsorship reasons, and before that the
Bob Lord Trophy) was 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 ...
competition open to clubs playing in the
Football Conference
The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...
.
History
The competition was formed for the inaugural season of what was then called the Alliance Premier League, in
1979–80 and existed for twenty-two seasons before being axed at the end of the
2000–01 season. It was briefly reformed for the
2004–05 season, in the form of the Conference Challenge Cup, but following a poor response it was again agreed not to renew the competition for the next season.
With the transfer of sponsorship of the Conference to
Blue Square for the start of the
2007–08 season two seasons later, the re-introduction of the competition was announced, scheduled to commence that year. On 23 June 2009 the Conference League Cup's sponsor, Setanta's GB division went into
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...
and ceased broadcasting. The tournament has not been held since 2009.
Format
The competition was a
knockout tournament
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
with pairings drawn at random – like the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...
there is a minimal form of seeding, in that members of the (higher-level)
Conference National
The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...
enter together at a later stage in the tournament, and the draw for each round took place after the completion of the round before.
Winners
Source:
(note: source does not list finals for 1986–87 to 1988–89)
References
External links
Setanta Shield results 2007-08on BBC Sport
Setanta Shield results 2008-09on BBC Sport
{{Football in England
+League Cup
Defunct football cup competitions in England