2020–21 Wessex Football League Explained

Competition:Wessex Football League
Season:2020–21
Prevseason:2019–20
Nextseason:2021–22

The 2020–21 Wessex Football League season (known as the Sydenhams Football League (Wessex) for sponsorship reasons) was the 35th in the history of the Wessex Football League since its establishment in 1986. The league consisted of two divisions: the Premier Division and Division One.

The constitution was announced on 21 July 2020.[1]

After the abandonment of the previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[2] the league's constitution largely remained unchanged, with the planned structural changes being put back to this season.

This season, the Premier Division champions were to be promoted to Step 4. The runners-up in this division and ten other Step 5 divisions in other leagues were to be ranked according to PPG (points per game), and the top four in that ranking would have also been promoted. The remaining seven runners-up would compete in "winner takes all" play-offs with seven clubs finishing bottom in Step 4 leagues, the winners being placed at Step 4 and the losers at Step 5 for 2021–22.[3]

The bottom clubs in all 14 Step 5 divisions were to be ranked according to PPG, with the 12 lowest-ranked clubs relegated to Step 6.

In Division One, the top four clubs were to be promoted to Step 5, and the bottom two were liable to relegation to Step 7.

Curtailment

On 24 February 2021, after fixtures had been suspended in December 2020, the FA curtailed the season for all leagues at Steps 3–6, again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

Premier Division

The Premier Division remained at 20 clubs, with the same constitution as the previous season except for the absence of Solent University, who resigned from the league in June 2020.[5]

One new team joined the division:

League table at time of curtailment

Division One

Division One was reduced from 20 clubs to 19 after Pewsey Vale resigned during the previous season.

League table at time of curtailment

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: National League System club allocations – Steps 5–6, Season 2020–21 . 21 July 2020 . Non League Paper.
  2. News: Coronavirus: All football below National League to end . BBC Sport . 21 July 2020.
  3. Web site: EXCLUSIVE: FA outline second phase of Non-League restructuring. 17 April 2019 . 21 July 2020 . The Non-League Paper.
  4. Web site: League Curtailed for Season . 5 March 2021 . 14 March 2021 . Wessex League .
  5. Web site: Solent University Resign . 10 June 2020 . 21 July 2020 . Wessex League .