1978–79 Western Football League

Western Football League
Season	1978–79
Champions	Frome Town (Premier Division) A.F.C. Bournemouth Reserves (Division One)
← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 season was the 77th in the history of the Western Football League.

The league champions for the first time in their history were Frome Town. The champions of Division One were newcomers A.F.C. Bournemouth Reserves.^[1]

Final tables

Premier Division

The Premier Division was increased from eighteen clubs to twenty after St Luke's College disbanded, and three clubs joined:

Clandown, runners-up in the First Division.
Ilminster Town, third-placed club in the First Division.
Keynsham Town, champions of the First Division.

Mangotsfield United were officially known as Mangotsfield PF for this season only, for sponsorship reasons.^[2]

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDiff¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Frome Town	38	21	12	5	60	29	+31	75
2	Bideford	38	22	8	8	76	39	+37	74
3	Saltash United	38	19	10	9	65	39	+26	67
4	Barnstaple Town	38	18	10	10	65	35	+30	64
5	Tiverton Town	38	17	9	12	71	60	+11	60
6	Clandown	38	16	11	11	58	49	+9	59
7	Weston-super-Mare	38	14	15	9	65	48	+17	57
8	Falmouth Town	38	15	9	14	51	47	+4	54
9	Paulton Rovers	38	15	9	14	40	48	–8	54
10	Bridport	38	13	13	12	54	50	+4	52
11	Bridgwater Town	38	14	9	15	57	53	+4	51
12	Keynsham Town	38	13	12	13	47	57	–10	51
13	Mangotsfield PF	38	15	2	21	53	64	–11	47
14	Ilminster Town	38	11	12	15	45	55	–10	45
15	Welton Rovers	38	11	8	19	44	59	–15	41
16	Exeter City Reserves	38	12	5	21	48	75	–27	41
17	Clevedon Town	38	11	7	20	50	64	–14	40
18	Dawlish	38	10	10	18	43	61	–18	40
19	Shepton Mallet Town (R)	38	10	10	18	48	74	–26	40	Relegated to Division One
20	Glastonbury (R)	38	8	9	21	42	76	–34	33	Relegated to Division One

First Division

The First Division remained at nineteen clubs after Clandown, Ilminster Town and Keynsham Town were promoted to the Premier Division. Three new clubs joined:

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDiff¹	Pts²	Notes
1	A.F.C. Bournemouth Reserves (P)	36	25	6	5	101	41	+60	81	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Portway Bristol (P)	36	23	5	8	81	43	+38	74	Promoted to the Premier Division
3	Bristol Manor Farm	36	20	5	11	59	47	+12	65
4	Chippenham Town	36	19	7	10	56	43	+13	64
5	Torquay United Reserves	36	20	4	12	82	47	+35	62‡
6	Melksham Town	36	18	4	14	58	57	+1	58
7	Devizes Town	36	16	9	11	71	54	+17	57
8	Wellington	36	18	3	15	48	46	+2	57
9	Chard Town	36	15	6	15	57	58	–1	51
10	Brixham United	36	15	5	16	55	61	–6	50
11	Elmore	36	15	3	18	48	65	–17	48
12	Ottery St Mary	36	13	5	18	51	60	–9	43*
13	Larkhall Athletic	36	12	6	18	52	56	–4	42
14	Westland-Yeovil	36	11	9	16	43	53	–10	42
15	Heavitree United	36	12	5	19	39	61	–22	41
16	Swanage Town & Herston	36	11	6	19	51	60	–9	39
17	Odd Down	36	10	5	21	38	71	–33	35
18	Exmouth Town	36	8	9	19	41	72	–31	33
19	Yeovil Town Reserves	36	5	10	21	30	65	–35	24*

‡ Torquay United Reserves had two points deducted for fielding ineligible players.

* Ottery St Mary and Yeovil Town Reserves each had one point deducted for fielding ineligible players.

^{1 The system of using goal difference to separate two teams tied on points was used.}

^{2 The points system: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

^{3 The tables as published at the time contained errors, hence the totals do not balance in some columns.}^[1]

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 Robinson, Michael (ed.), Non-League Football Tables 1889–2006, Soccer Books, 2006
↑ "Mangotsfield United at FCHD". FCHD. Retrieved 21 November 2012.

Western League

Premier Division	Bishop Sutton Bitton Bradford Town Bridport Brislington Bristol Manor Farm Buckland Athletic Cadbury Heath Gillingham Town Hallen Longwell Green Sports Melksham Town Odd Down Shepton Mallet Sherborne Town Slimbridge Street Willand Rovers Winterbourne United

Division One	Almondsbury UWE Ashton & Backwell United Barnstaple Town Calne Town Chard Town Cheddar Chippenham Park Corsham Town Cribbs Devizes Town Hengrove Athletic Keynsham Town Oldland Abbotonians Portishead Town Radstock Town Roman Glass St George Warminster Town Wellington Wells City Welton Rovers Westbury United Wincanton Town

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1978–79 in English football

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First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham City Bolton Wanderers Bristol City Chelsea Coventry City Derby County Everton Ipswich Town Leeds United Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Norwich City Nottingham Forest Queens Park Rangers Southampton Tottenham Hotspur West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Blackburn Rovers Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol Rovers Burnley Cambridge United Cardiff City Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace Fulham Leicester City Leyton Orient Luton Town Millwall Newcastle United Notts County Oldham Athletic Preston North End Sheffield United Stoke City Sunderland West Ham United Wrexham

Third Division	Blackpool Brentford Bury Carlisle United Chester Chesterfield Colchester United Exeter City Gillingham Hull City Lincoln City Mansfield Town Oxford United Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Rotherham United Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Town Southend United Swansea City Swindon Town Tranmere Rovers Walsall Watford

Fourth Division	Aldershot Barnsley Bournemouth Bradford City Crewe Alexandra Darlington Doncaster Rovers Grimsby Town Halifax Town Hartlepool United Hereford United Huddersfield Town Newport County Northampton Town Port Vale Portsmouth Reading Rochdale Scunthorpe United Stockport County Torquay United Wigan Athletic Wimbledon York City