THE WILTSHIRE Football League are hoping to help amateur football across the local area thrive after agreeing to establish a pyramid of promotion and relegation between their level and the county’s three district leagues.

Discussions have taken place between the Wiltshire League and the Swindon, Trowbridge and Salisbury & District Leagues to set up a pathway of promotion and relegation between their respective levels, and the proposal now only requires approval from the three district competitions at their respective AGMs to be put in place next season.

Under the planned new system, teams finishing in the top three of the top division of each district league will be eligible for promotion to the Wiltshire League – provided their grounds meet the FA’s Step 7 Minimum Ground Grading requirements – whilst the sides in the bottom three of the county league could be relegated.

Wiltshire League general secretary Jim Thorn thinks that the pyramid proposal would increase competitiveness across football in the county but stressed that no district league team would be forced into promotion if they didn’t want it.

“We have to regularly give our development plans to the FA and this is something that has come up a few times,” said Thorn.

“I don’t know if there have been falling outs between the leagues before any of the current staff were involved but we all get on. All of the secretaries have met a number of times and we hope that we’ll be able to put this in place next season.

“We would have as many as three teams going up every season, as long as they’ve got the right facilities – set out by the FA, like separate dressing rooms for referees and a barrier around the pitch.

“If teams don’t want to go up, we won’t force them to, but only teams in the top three of the top divisions can come up. If a new team comes to us, wanting to come into the Wiltshire League, then we’ll say ‘no, you’ve got to go through a district league’, and there’ll be relegation too. It’s not just for the benefit of the Wiltshire League – I think it will benefit teams across the district leagues too.

“I’ve spoken to my colleagues at similar leagues in places like Dorset and Somerset and they’ve had a system like this for a number of years. They say it works very well.”

Currently, the Wiltshire League operates one 15-team senior division, which teams cannot be relegated from, whilst there is no promotion from the Swindon, Trowbridge and Salisbury & District Leagues.