1981–82 Western Football League

Western Football League
Season	1981–82
Champions	Bideford (Premier Division) Shepton Mallet Town (Division One)
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

The 1981–82 season was the 80th in the history of the Western Football League.

The league champions for the fourth time in their history were Bideford. The champions of Division One were Shepton Mallet Town.^[1]

Final tables

Premier Division

The Premier Division remained at twenty clubs after Paulton Rovers and Tiverton Town were relegated to the First Division, and two clubs joined:

Chippenham Town, champions of the First Division.
Wellington, runners-up in the First Division.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDiff¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Bideford (C)	38	26	10	2	88	20	+68	62
2	Barnstaple Town	38	26	8	4	78	31	+47	59*
3	Bridgwater Town	38	16	16	6	70	46	+24	48	Joined the Southern League
4	Clandown	38	17	12	9	49	37	+12	46
5	Melksham Town	38	17	11	10	58	50	+8	45
6	Frome Town	38	16	9	13	67	58	+9	41
7	Weston-super-Mare	38	15	11	12	47	42	+5	41
8	Saltash United	38	15	7	16	47	53	–6	37
9	Devizes Town	38	14	7	17	53	60	–7	35
10	Dawlish Town	38	11	13	14	45	53	–8	35
11	Liskeard Athletic	38	11	12	15	39	48	–9	34
12	Bridport	38	12	10	16	43	54	–11	34
13	Clevedon Town	38	11	12	15	58	60	–2	33*
14	Chippenham Town	38	12	9	17	33	39	–6	33
15	Falmouth Town	38	12	9	17	46	55	–9	33
16	Portway Bristol	38	9	13	16	40	47	–7	31
17	Wellington	38	10	11	17	50	62	–12	31
18	Keynsham Town	38	9	13	16	39	55	–16	31
19	Mangotsfield United (R)	38	11	6	21	30	59	–29	28	Relegated to Division One
20	Welton Rovers (R)	38	7	7	24	37	88	–51	21	Relegated to Division One

* Barnstaple Town and Clevedon Town each had one point deducted for fielding ineligible players.

First Division

The First Division remained at nineteen clubs after Brixham United left the league, and Chippenham Town and Wellington were promoted to the Premier Division. Three new clubs joined:

Paulton Rovers, relegated from the Premier Division.
Tiverton Town, relegated from the Premier Division.
Wimborne Town, from the Dorset County League.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDiff¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Shepton Mallet Town (C) (P)	36	25	8	3	88	30	+58	58	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Exmouth Town (P)	36	24	8	4	74	31	+43	56	Promoted to the Premier Division
3	Swanage Town & Herston	36	21	5	10	90	47	+43	47
4	Wimborne Town	36	19	9	8	67	35	+32	47
5	Bath City Reserves	36	19	6	11	72	46	+26	44
6	Elmore	36	19	6	11	58	45	+13	44
7	Paulton Rovers	36	17	6	13	54	48	+6	40
8	Bristol Manor Farm	36	15	9	12	58	50	+8	39
9	Torquay United Reserves	36	15	9	12	50	44	+6	39	Left at the end of the season
10	Tiverton Town	36	13	8	15	62	63	–1	34
11	Chard Town	36	12	10	14	43	55	–12	34
12	Odd Down	36	14	5	17	51	57	–6	33
13	Radstock Town	36	10	11	15	44	67	–23	31
14	Glastonbury	36	12	6	18	63	69	–6	30
15	Heavitree United	36	11	7	18	39	69	–30	29
16	Yeovil Town Reserves	36	10	8	18	40	53	–13	28
17	Larkhall Athletic	36	10	5	21	42	85	–43	25
18	Ottery St Mary	36	6	3	27	28	79	–51	15
19	Ilminster Town	36	3	5	28	20	70	–50	11	Left at the end of the season

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

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

References

↑ Robinson, Michael (ed.), Non-League Football Tables 1889–2006, Soccer Books, 2006

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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1981–82 in English football

« 1980–81

1982–83 »

FA competitions

Football League

Football League (First Division
Second Division
Third Division
Fourth Division)
League Cup (Final)

Lower leagues

European competitions

Related to national team

Club seasons

First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham City Brighton & Hove Albion Coventry City Everton Ipswich Town Leeds United Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Nottingham Forest Notts County Southampton Stoke City Sunderland Swansea City Tottenham Hotspur West Bromwich Albion West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Barnsley Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Cambridge United Cardiff City Charlton Athletic Chelsea Crystal Palace Derby County Grimsby Town Leicester City Leyton Orient Luton Town Newcastle United Norwich City Oldham Athletic Queens Park Rangers Rotherham United Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Town Watford Wrexham

Third Division	Brentford Bristol City Bristol Rovers Burnley Carlisle United Chester Chesterfield Doncaster Rovers Exeter City Fulham Gillingham Huddersfield Town Lincoln City Millwall Newport County Oxford United Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Preston North End Reading Southend United Swindon Town Walsall Wimbledon

Fourth Division	Aldershot Blackpool Bournemouth Bradford City Bury Colchester United Crewe Alexandra Darlington Halifax Town Hartlepool United Hereford United Hull City Mansfield Town Northampton Town Peterborough United Port Vale Rochdale Scunthorpe United Sheffield United Southport Stockport County Torquay United Tranmere Rovers York City