Western Football League

Founded	1892; 132 years ago (1892)
Country	England
Other club(s) from	Wales
Divisions	Premier Division Division One
Number of teams	40 18 (Premier Division) 22 (Division One)
Level on pyramid	Levels 9–10
Feeder to	Southern League Division One South
Relegation to	Dorset Premier League Gloucestershire County League Somerset County League Wiltshire League South West Peninsula League* *Only relegated from & promoted to Premier Division
Domestic cup(s)	Les Phillips Cup
Current champions	Mousehole (Premier Division) Brislington (Division One) (2022–23)
Website	Official
Current: 2023–24 season

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 the Toolstation League for sponsorship reasons.

Recent restructuring of the English football league system has placed the two divisions, known as the Premier Division and Division One (each a maximum of twenty-two clubs) at the ninth and tenth tiers overall, known as Step 5 and Step 6 of the National League System.

The champion club get promoted to a Step 4 league, which in practice will almost certainly be the Southern League Division One South. Below the Western League are four local leagues covering smaller areas, the Gloucestershire County League, the Somerset County League, the Dorset Premier League and the Wiltshire League.^[1] The South West Peninsula League Premier Divisions East and West are also feeders to the Western League but due to having Step 6 status (the same level as the Western League Division One), they feed directly into the Western League Premier Division.

List of 2023–24 member clubs

Premier Division

Barnstaple Town

Bridgwater United

Brixham

Buckland Athletic

Clevedon Town

Falmouth Town

Helston Athletic

Ilfracombe Town

Millbrook

Nailsea & Tickenham

Oldland Abbotonians

Saltash United

Shepton Mallet

St Blazey

Street

Torpoint Athletic

Wellington

Welton Rovers

Map showing the location of teams in Western Football League, Premier Division in 2023–24

Division One

History

The league was formed in 1892 as the Bristol & District League, and became the Western League in 1895.^[2] Another Bristol & District League was later formed, which remains active at a much lower level than the Western League. In the years before World War II, many teams played in both the Southern and Western Leagues; the Western League was considered as secondary to the Southern League.

On four occasions, member clubs have lifted the FA Vase, Tiverton Town twice, Taunton Town once and most recently Truro City, who beat A.F.C. Totton in 2007^[3] at the first final to be held at the new Wembley Stadium before a competition record crowd of 27,754. Truro City were the only one of the three to win the FA Vase while in Division One, while none are current members of the Western League, as all three have since progressed to the Southern League.

Founder members

• Bedminster (later merged with Bristol South End to form Bristol City)
• Clevedon (later Clevedon Town)
• Clifton Association
• Eastville Rovers (later Bristol Rovers)
• Mangotsfield
• St. George (later merged with Roman Glass F.C. to form Roman Glass St George)
• Trowbridge Town
• Warmley
• Wells

List of champions

Bristol & District League

Western Football League

Teams promoted to Southern League (since 1946)