Page 16 - Longwell Green Sports v Shirehampton 110223

WESTERN LEAGUE RESPONSE TO THE
STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE SOUTH
WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE

The Board of the Western Football League can confirm that talks with
representatives from the South West Peninsula League, concerning the
creation of a new Western Peninsula League, have broken down.

The merger between the two Leagues was always intended to bring
together the best of both Leagues and whilst a huge amount of progress
has been made, talks broke down over the roles and responsibilities that will
sit at the heart of the new Leagues administration. Despite the intervention
of the Football Association, which we welcomed, it has not been possible to
resurrect the merger. We were due to meet with representatives of the
SWPL today (6 February) to agree on the one outstanding issue which is
th
the role of the football secretary. However this was pre-empted by a
statement put out by the SWPL stating that they would no longer be
engaging in any further discussions with the Western League.
The Western League Board strongly believe in devolving roles for fixture
management, player registration and the administration of League business
across a number of individuals, working collectively as a team. In this way,
we have been able to support each other in times of difficulty and enable
succession planning, as volunteers leave their roles. Combining these
critical functions within one role is not what we believe to be good practice.
As a compromise we agreed that the football secretary would handle
registrations and transfers. We further offered that fixture scheduling could
be managed between the football secretary and the fixtures secretary. At
which point the talks broke down.
We recognise that this decision has profound implications for Clubs
currently competing in the Western League Premier Division, specifically in
relation to their costs of travel and for that reason we remain committed to
find a solution across the South West of England. We welcome the
opportunity to discuss how this might best be achieved with the Football
Association, going forward.
We would like to take this opportunity to place on record our sincere thanks
to all those individuals, from both Leagues, who have acted in good faith
and volunteered their time and expertise, having made a genuine
commitment to make this merger happen.