Southern Amateur Football League
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The Southern Amateur League (SAL) is an association football league affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance (AFA). It is based in and around Greater London and was formed in 1907. The league admits only fully amateur clubs which are a mixture of 'old boys' associations from schools and colleges, business house sports clubs as well as private clubs. For the 2006-2007 season the league will consist of 33 clubs and a total of 215 teams.
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[edit] Club set-up, sportsmanship and hospitality
As in many other AFA affiliated leagues, it is common for clubs to run multiple teams with the minimum in the SAL being four while the biggest clubs run up to 10 teams. The idea with this is that players of all abilities can play against teams from other clubs of a similar standard. The best players will be picked for the "1st XI" (the first team), the best of the remainder going into the 2nd XI and so on down the club. One of the main trademarks of the league is that it expects players to socialise with their opposition and match officials after games. One league rule insists that the home team provide a hot meal for their opponents. The levels of foul play and gamesmanship more and more often witnessed at higher levels of the game are still relatively low and team captains are known to substitute players who abuse opponents or referees.
[edit] League set-up
The league is divided into four sections: Senior (1st XIs only), Intermediate (2nd XIs only), Junior (3rd XIs) only and Minor (4th XIs and lower). In the Senior, Intermediate and Junior sections there are three divisions (Divisions 1, 2 and 3) each containing 11 teams. The Minor section has a London-wide Division 1 fed by Divisions 2 North and South. At present the league goes down to Division 5 North and Division 7 South although the number of divisions in each region can change with the number of teams and their location. No promotion takes place between the sections but the general rule of promotion and relegation between divisions is 2-up, 2-down with only the champions in Minor Division 2 North/South being promoted. No division is allowed to contain more than 2 teams from the same club.
Southern Amateur League set-up for 2006-2007
| Divisions | Senior Section | Intermediate | Junior Section | Minor Section | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division 1 | Division 1 | Division 1 | Division 1 | ||
| Division 2 | Division 2 | Division 2 | Div 2 North | Div 2 South | |
| Division 3 | Division 3 | Division 3 | Div 3 North | Div 3 South | |
| Div 4 North | Div 4 South | ||||
| Div 5 North | Div 5 South | ||||
| Div 6 South | |||||
| Div 7 South |
[edit] League Cups
As well as league competitions the SAL runs five cup competitions. These are: the Junior Cup (3rd XIs only), Minor Cup (4th XIs only), Senior Novets Cup (5th XIs only), Intermediate Novets Cup (6th XIs only) and Junior Novets Cup (7th XIs and lower). These were inaugurated for the 1995-1996 season and were named after their corresponding AFA Cup competitions. There are no Cups for the 1st and 2nd XIs in the league as these teams are offered an extra 'county divisional' cup by the AFA (either the Middlesex/Essex Cup or the Surrey/Kent Cup, depending on location). Because of this it is thought that interest in an extra competition would not be high enough to justify its introduction at 1st or 2nd XI level.
[edit] SAL clubs in other competitions
Teams in the Southern Amateur League also compete in non-SAL run competitions starting with the cup competitions run by the Amateur Football Alliance. The AFA Senior Cup - which has been running since 1907 - is the AFA's flagship competition and the premier prize on offer for all AFA affiliated clubs. The Southern Amateur League has a good record in the competition having won most of the editions during the competition's history. The Senior Cup is for 1st XIs only and SAL 2nd teams enter the AFA Intermediate Cup where is it occasionally possible to play against the 1st XIs of smaller clubs from other leagues. As mentioned in the paragraph above, 1st and 2nd XIs can also enter the AFA Middlesex/Essex Cup or the AFA Surrey/Kent Cup at their respective levels (Senior or Intermediate). Below this the competitions run by the AFA correspond to the SAL Challenge Cups and are open to the same teams.
The Old Boys Cup is the next most popular competition with SAL clubs but is restricted to 'old boys' clubs (i.e. clubs based on former pupils from one school or another). Of the nineteen teams ubs entering the Old Boys Senior Cup, 13 are from the SAL with the remainder playing in the SAL's main rival league the Amateur Football Combination. The Old Boys Cups are: Senior (1st XIs), Junior (2nd XIs), Minor (3rd XIs), 4th XI Cup, 5th XI Cup, 6th XI Cup (all for those XIs), 7th XI Cup (also for 8th and lower XIs) and Veterans Cup (for players aged 35 or over, played on Sunday mornings). In addition to these two there are one or two SAL teams who enter other competitions. Old Wilsonians enter the London Old Boys Cup (not to be confused with the Old Boys Cup) while certain others such as Carshalton, West Wickham and Merton enter Kent and Surrey FA competitions. Finally, East Barnet Old Grammarians and Old Owens contest the Potters Bar Charity Cup alongside six semi-professional teams. A credit to the strength of SAL and AFA football is the fact that these two - the only amateur teams in the competition - contested the 2006 final.
[edit] Representative Team
The Southern Amateur League fields a representative team chosen from the leagues best players across all clubs. The team plays (on average) half a dozen matches each season against other AFA leagues as well as sides such as Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Each Autumn the League plays against the Amateur Football Combination (AFC) for the "Steve Langley Cup". The Cup is played in memory of a former Representative Team captain from Crouch End Vampires who died of Lung Cancer at the tragically young age of 42. The Cup was first contested in 2003 when it was won by the AFC while the SAL won it in 2004 and 2005.
[edit] History Highlights and the Future
The Southern Amateur League was founded in 1907 and has been affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance ever since. It is proud to retain the membership to this day of three founder members - Alleyn Old Boys, Civil Service and Crouch End Vampires - and has been graced in the past by the likes of Ipswich Town (former Football League champions), Cambridge City (Conference South)and Hastings United (Isthmian League Division One South). After the Great War a Reserve Team Section was added and the league grew steadily after World War II as 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and even - for just 2 years - 9th team sections were added to meet the demand of member clubs. After the 9th team retreated into the 8th team section after the 1993-1994 season the 7th team section was then swallowed in 1996 to form the Minor Teams Section for 7th teams and lower. After the 2002-2003 season the league made the biggest change to its constitution in its 96 years history when it regionalised its lower divisions. The 4th, 5th, 6th and Minor Teams sections were merged into one new Minor section with North and South divisions feeding a London-wide Division 1. The move is intended to make it more practical for players - especially younger players who do not have private transport - to play in the league. The indications so far are that the change has worked as, after 15 years of steady decline, numbers of teams have begun to increase once again.
The season 2005-2006 saw all three divisions of the Senior Section decided in the final game of the season with the First Division title changing hands twice in the last minutes of the season. Winchmore Hill played Old Owens (having already beaten them 1-0 in the AFA Senior Cup Final) twice in the season's final week needing 2 draws to secure the 'double'. Owens came from behind in the first game to win 3-2 leaving the final game as the decider. A win would give either side the title while a draw would hand West Wickham the spoils. Going into injury time Winchmore led 2-1 but Owens equalised - causing great cheers from the West Wickham fans in attendance - before scoring a winner and taking their 2nd SAL title.
[edit] Recent divisional champions, Senior Section
| Season | One | Two | Three |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-99 | Old Actonians Assocation | Old Bromleians | Alleyn Old Boys |
| 1999-00 | Old Actonians Assocation | Alleyn Old Boys | Broomfield |
| 2000-01 | Old Actonians Assocation | Broomfield | Old Lyonians |
| 2001-02 | Old Owens | Old Salesians | Nottsborough |
| 2002-03 | Old Salesians | Winchmore Hill | Bank of England |
| 2003-04 | Old Esthameians | Nottsborough | Kew Association |
| 2004-05 | Broomfield | East Barnet Old Grammarians | Old Wilsonians |
| 2005-06 | Old Owens | Alleyn Old Boys | Merton |
[edit] Cambridge, Hastings and Ipswich in the S.A.L.
| Cambridge Town | Hastings & St. L | Ipswich Town | |
|---|---|---|---|
| joined | 1913 | 1927 | 1907 |
| left | 1935 | 1946 | 1935 |
| titles |
1921 1928 1929 1931 1932 |
1935 1936 1937 1939 |
1922 1930 1933 1934 |
