1977–78 Western Football League

Western Football League
Season	1977–78
Champions	Falmouth Town (Premier Division) Keynsham Town (Division One)
← 1976–77 1978–79 →

The 1977–78 season was the 76th in the history of the Western Football League.

The league champions for the fourth time in their history, and the fourth season in succession, were Falmouth Town. They became the first club to win the Western League four times in a row. The champions of Division One were Keynsham Town.^[1]

This season was the first in which goal difference decided places for teams which were level on points.^[1]

Final tables

Premier Division

The Premier Division remained at eighteen clubs after Taunton Town left to join the Southern League, and Westland-Yeovil were relegated to the First Division. Two clubs joined:

Saltash United, champions of the First Division.
Shepton Mallet Town, runners-up in the First Division.
Clevedon changed their name to Clevedon Town.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDiff¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Falmouth Town	34	26	5	3	98	30	+68	83
2	Bideford	34	25	8	1	86	25	+61	83
3	Barnstaple Town	34	18	10	6	75	37	+38	64
4	Saltash United	34	17	7	10	66	53	+13	58
5	Bridport	34	14	13	7	44	21	+23	55
6	Clevedon Town	34	16	9	9	62	41	+21	55*
7	Frome Town	34	14	8	12	43	39	+4	50
8	Paulton Rovers	34	15	5	14	55	52	+3	50
9	Weston-super-Mare	34	14	8	12	44	48	–4	50
10	Exeter City Reserves	34	11	13	10	48	41	+7	46
11	Bridgwater Town	34	12	9	13	52	56	–4	45
12	Tiverton Town	34	8	10	16	47	61	–14	34
13	Shepton Mallet Town	34	9	6	19	52	93	–41	33
14	Glastonbury	34	9	5	20	46	77	–31	32
15	Mangotsfield United	34	7	10	17	50	75	–25	31
16	Welton Rovers	34	8	6	20	34	68	–34	30
17	Dawlish	34	6	10	18	39	67	–28	28
18	St Luke's College	34	1	10	23	20	78	–58	13	Disbanded at the end of the season

* Clevedon Town had two points deducted for fielding an ineligible player.

First Division

The First Division was increased from eighteen to nineteen clubs, after Saltash United and Shepton Mallet Town were promoted to the Premier Division. Three clubs joined:

Bristol Manor Farm, from the Somerset Senior League.
Odd Down
Westland-Yeovil, relegated from the Premier Division.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GDiff¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Keynsham Town (P)	36	23	10	3	77	22	+55	79	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Clandown (P)	36	22	4	10	77	36	+41	70
3	Ilminster Town (P)	36	21	6	9	69	47	+22	69
4	Bristol Manor Farm	36	20	5	11	67	38	+29	65
5	Devizes Town	36	20	5	11	73	52	+21	65
6	Torquay United Reserves	36	18	5	13	69	53	+16	59
7	Portway Bristol	36	17	8	11	57	42	+15	59
8	Melksham Town	36	17	7	12	76	60	+16	58
9	Ottery St Mary	36	16	7	13	55	55	0	55
10	Larkhall Athletic	36	15	8	13	58	66	–8	53
11	Exmouth Town	36	13	7	16	41	55	–14	46
12	Brixham United	36	11	9	16	61	79	–18	41*
13	Chard Town	36	12	5	19	56	81	–25	41
14	Westland-Yeovil	36	8	12	16	40	52	–12	36
15	Odd Down	36	9	9	18	52	75	–23	36
16	Yeovil Town Reserves	36	9	8	19	52	65	–13	35
17	Heavitree United	36	9	5	22	32	64	–32	32
18	Swanage Town & Herston	36	6	11	19	48	85	–37	29
19	Chippenham Town	36	8	4	24	40	74	–34	28

* Brixham United had one point deducted for fielding an ineligible player.

^{1 The system of using goal difference to separate two teams tied on points was used for the first time this season.}

^{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 2 3 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

1977–78 in English football

« 1976–77

1978–79 »

FA competitions

Football League

Lower leagues

European competitions

Related to national team

Club seasons

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

Second Division	Blackburn Rovers Blackpool Bolton Wanderers Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol Rovers Burnley Cardiff City Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace Fulham Hull City Leyton Orient Luton Town Mansfield Town Millwall Notts County Oldham Athletic Sheffield United Southampton Stoke City Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur

Third Division	Bradford City Bury Cambridge United Carlisle United Chester Chesterfield Colchester United Exeter City Gillingham Hereford United Lincoln City Oxford United Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Port Vale Portsmouth Preston North End Rotherham United Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Town Swindon Town Tranmere Rovers Walsall Wrexham

Fourth Division	Aldershot Barnsley Bournemouth Brentford Crewe Alexandra Darlington Doncaster Rovers Grimsby Town Halifax Town Hartlepool United Huddersfield Town Newport County Northampton Town Reading Rochdale Scunthorpe United Southend United Southport Stockport County Swansea City Torquay United Watford Wimbledon York City

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