1897–98 Western Football League

Western Football League
Season	1897–98
Champions	Bristol City (Professional Section) Bedminster (Amateur Division One) Hanham (Amateur Division Two)
← 1896–97 1898–99 →

The 1897–98 season was the sixth in the history of the Western Football League.

For this season the league was restructured, with a new Professional Section being formed, taking five clubs from Division One and three new clubs joining. Division One and Division Two remained as the Amateur Section, with four clubs being promoted from Division Two to Division One, and several new clubs joining both divisions.

Bristol City were the champions of the new Professional Section, and also competed in the Southern League during this season, along with Swindon Town, Reading and Warmley. Division One of the Amateur Section was won by Bedminster, and the Division Two champions were newcomers Hanham. A large number of clubs left the Amateur Section at the end of the season, necessitating a merger of the two amateur divisions for the following season.^[1]

Final tables

Professional Section

The three new clubs admitted to the league to play in this eight-club section were:

Eastleigh
Reading
Swindon Town
Bristol South End changed their name to Bristol City
St George changed their name to Bristol St George

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Bristol City	14	11	1	2	51	16	3.19	23	Left to concentrate on the Southern League
2	Swindon Town	14	9	1	4	32	15	2.13	19
3	Reading	14	7	2	5	29	25	1.16	16	Left to concentrate on the Southern League
4	Bristol St George	14	6	3	5	25	27	0.93	15
5	Eastville Rovers	14	6	2	6	38	25	1.52	14
6	Warmley	14	5	3	6	36	27	1.33	13
7	Eastleigh	14	3	2	9	22	55	0.4	8	Joined Southern League at the end of the season
8	Trowbridge Town	14	2	0	12	15	58	0.26	4

Amateur Division One

This ten-club division was a continuation of the old Division One, with six new clubs:

Barton Hill, promoted from the old Division Two
Eastville Wanderers, promoted from the old Division Two
Fishponds, promoted from the old Division Two
Mangotsfield, promoted from the old Division Two
Midsomer Norton, also playing in the Somerset Senior League
Radstock, also playing in the Somerset Senior League

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Bedminster (P)	16	15	0	1	65	11	5.91	30	Promoted to Professional Section
2	Staple Hill	16	11	1	4	38	15	2.53	23
3	Fishponds	16	8	2	6	26	30	0.87	18
4	Midsomer Norton	16	7	2	7	23	33	0.7	16
5	Barton Hill	16	6	2	8	25	25	1	14
6	Radstock	16	5	4	7	17	28	0.61	14	Left to concentrate on the Somerset Senior League
7	St Paul's	16	4	3	9	15	28	0.54	11	Left the league at the end of the season
8	Eastville Wanderers	16	4	1	11	15	16	0.94	9	Left the league at the end of the season
9	Mangotsfield	16	1	7	8	5	29	0.17	9	Left the league at the end of the season
10	Clifton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Resigned, record expunged †

† Clifton resigned early in the season, and their record was expunged.

Amateur Division Two

This eight-club division was a continuation of the old Division Two, with seven new clubs:

Barton Hill Reserves
Cotham
Eastville Wanderers Reserves
Fishponds Reserves
Hanham
Royal Artillery (Horfield) (not to be confused with Royal Artillery Portsmouth F.C.)
St Paul's Reserves

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Hanham	10	9	1	0	32	8	4	19
2	Cotham	10	8	0	2	32	16	2	16
3	Barton Hill Reserves	10	4	2	4	20	14	1.43	10	Left the league at the end of the season
4	St Paul's Reserves	10	2	2	6	19	26	0.73	6	Left the league at the end of the season
5	Fishponds Reserves	10	1	1	8	10	25	0.4	3	Left the league at the end of the season
6	Bedminster Reserves	10	1	0	9	10	34	0.29	2	Left the league at the end of the season
7	Eastville Wanderers Reserves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Resigned, record expunged †
8	Royal Artillery (Horfield)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Resigned, record expunged †

† Eastville Wanderers Reserves and Royal Artillery (Horfield) resigned early in the season, and their records were expunged.

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up to and including the 1976–77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 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 2 Robinson, Michael (ed.), Non-League Football Tables 1889–2006, Soccer Books, 2006

Western League

Premier Division	Bitton Bradford Town Bridport Brislington Bristol Manor Farm Buckland Athletic Cadbury Heath Chipping Sodbury Town Clevedon Town Cribbs Gillingham Town Hallen Longwell Green Sports Melksham Town Odd Down Shepton Mallet Sherborne Town Street Wells City Willand Rovers

Division One	Almondsbury UWE Ashton & Backwell United Bishops Lydeard Bishop Sutton Calne Town Chard Town Cheddar Chippenham Park Corsham Town Devizes Town Hengrove Athletic Keynsham Town Malmesbury Victoria Oldland Abbotonians Portishead Town Radstock Town Roman Glass St George Warminster Town Wellington Welton Rovers Westbury United Wincanton Town

Seasons	1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

1897–98 in English football

« 1896–97

1898–99 »

FA competitions

FA Cup (Qualifying rounds
Final)

Football and Southern Leagues

Lower leagues

Related to national team

Home Championship

Club seasons

First Division	Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Bury Derby County Everton Liverpool Nottingham Forest Notts County Preston North End Sheffield United Stoke Sunderland The Wednesday West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Blackpool Burnley Burton Swifts Darwen Gainsborough Trinity Grimsby Town Leicester Fosse Lincoln City Loughborough Luton Town Manchester City Newcastle United Newton Heath Small Heath Walsall Woolwich Arsenal

Southern League	Bristol City Chatham Town Gravesend United Millwall Athletic New Brompton Northfleet Reading Sheppey United Southampton Swindon Town Tottenham Hotspur Wolverton L & NWR

Others	Thames Ironworks

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