Bristol Downs Football League
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The Bristol Downs League is an English association football league based in the city of Bristol. Its top division is officially at level 21 of the football pyramid, making its fourth division at level 24 the lowest in the whole country from which a team could in theory get promoted all the way to the FA Premier League. The Downs League is unusual in that all matches are played on one site, namely the large open space known as Bristol Downs.
[edit] History
Organised football first began to be played in Bristol in the 1880s and football started on the Downs around the same time, helped by the introduction of a tram route from the city centre to the top of Blackboy Hill. The Downs League was formed in 1905 with 30 founder members, all of them teams who were already playing in the city and on the Downs' many pitches. Two of the founder member clubs, St Andrews FC and Sneyd Park FC, remain in the league to this day, with Sneyd Park having played in the top division of the league in every season since its foundation. Clifton St Vincents FC joined the league in its second season and have also clocked up 100 years of membership.
In the 1920s the league's top side was Union Jack FC, who won the league nine times in ten seasons and even managed to beat the much higher-ranked Cheltenham Town 6-3 away in the FA Cup in 1925. Future Arsenal star Eddie Hapgood turned out for Union Jack before going on to Football League and international stardom.
In the 1930s Dockland Settlement FC won six championships in seven seasons. The years after the Second World War was probably when the league was at its strongest, with many players leaving the league to turn professional.
In the 1950s Clifton St Vincents FC won six league titles, but St Gabriels FC equalled Union Jack's record of seven successive titles between 1969 and 1975. In recent years Clifton St Vincents and Sneyd Park have been the dominant sides in the league.
Today the league boasts over 50 teams in four divisions. There are also two knockout cup competitions - the Norman Hardy Cup (for teams from Divisions One and Two) and the All Saints Cup (for teams from Divisions Three and Four). BBC Bristol maintains a keen interest in the league, with news, features and even video highlights (highly unusual for a league at this level) on their website.
[edit] Member clubs 2006/07 season
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