This is the 28th season of the League and my second Annual Report as Hon General Secretary.

I would firstly like to extend the League’s sincere thanks to our sponsors:

• Chris Plaister of Plaister Auto Services, who are the main sponsors of the League.
• Chris Perry and Dave Kilmurray of Corsham Print who again sponsored the Senior KO Cup.
• Paul and Denise Sebastianelli of Fountain Trophies, who continued their long-standing sponsorship of the Junior KO Cup.
• Ken Clarke of Westernsport Trophies who has again donated the individual trophy for the Referees Appreciation Award.

This years Referees Appreciation Award goes to Tony McGinn, a Level 5, Senior County Referee from Swindon.  Several of you will have had Tony officiate one of your games as he has given many years of loyal service to this League and the award is richly deserved.

The Football Association’s restructure of non-League football is ongoing and, over the past season, we’ve attended meetings with the Football Association and other Step 7 Leagues at Bristol and Taunton.  Various items are under discussion and we will report these to you once there are some definite proposals.  One item that has been resolved is promotion to the Step 5/6 Leagues - this has reverted to being limited to Clubs finishing first or second in our Premier Division.  By achieving Runners-Up position, Bradford Town have achieved promotion to the Western League.  It is hoped that the system will soon work both ways and that the Step 5/6 Leagues will relegate Clubs once they’ve got their constitutions up to the required numbers.

As I mentioned in last year’s report, the League had to produce a 3-year Development Plan for submission to the Football Association, as the general administration grant was to be discontinued.  With assistance from the League Officers and Management Committee, the Plan was completed and duly submitted.  We then had to go down to Soho Square to present the Plan to the Football Association.  The Plan was approved and we subsequently received a grant towards the running of the League.  This Development Plan is to be an ongoing exercise and we are already updating it to include for the 2007/08 season.

One item in our Development Plan was the purchase of a kit for our Representative XI with some of the grant money received.  The kit has now been purchased.  Another item in our Development Plan is a systematic repair and upgrading of the League’s perpetual trophies.  Those who attended the KO Cup Final may have noticed that the Senior KO Cup has been re-silvered and looks as good as new.  At the end of next season, a further two trophies will be similarly repaired.

The League has again entered the FA National League System Cup Competition, which is a bi-annual competition.  We’ve been drawn against the Somerset County League in Round 1, which is to be played by the end of September.

Last season I reported that the League had just published our own web site.  This has been further developed during the season and is regularly updated with news, fixtures, results, tables, etc.  Clubs, players and the media regularly visit the web site and, in the ten months since it was published, we have had over 17,000 “hits”.

The web site address is www.wiltshirefootballleague.com.  If your Club has its own web site, please let me know and I’ll include a link to your site.

This season saw a large intake of Junior Clubs to the League.  The majority of whom have settled in well, although a few have found it difficult to adjust to the standards required by a County League, despite the League staging a meeting for all new Club Secretaries at the start of the season, to try and sort out any potential difficulties.  There will be another such meeting prior to the start of next season.

Being part of the National League System, the League is monitored by the Football Association at Soho Square, regarding how efficiently the League is operating.  The efficiency of your Club reflects on how well the League is administered.  I therefore ask that you are fully conversant with League Rules and, if you have a problem, please contact one of the League Officers.

As ever, my thanks go to the dedicated work of the League Officers and Management Committee who administer our League so efficiently.  Particular mention to our Secretary, Jim Thorn who, on top of his secretarial duties, designed and set up the League web site.

May I welcome our first lady to the Management team, Maureen Withers, who is no stranger to the League, having been Club Secretary of Shrewton Utd for a number of years.  Maureen will be taking on the job of Discipline Secretary next season.

I offer my congratulations to the winners of each Division, and also to the Senior and Junior KO Cup winners.  In particular, congratulations go to Castle Combe who, in their first season, won the Wiltshire FA County Junior Cup, Junior Division 2 and reached the Semi Final of the Junior KO Cup.  Congratulations also to Bradford Town on gaining promotion to the Western League.  Many congratulations also to Marlborough Town, who celebrate their centenary this season.  A wonderful achievement and a tribute to the dedicated work of all their Officers, in particular Dennis Cripps, who has served the Club for over 50 years.

In conclusion, may I wish you all a restful close season and a successful and enjoyable season to come.

D C Kilford

Chairman

This is my 21st Annual Report on the financial situation of the League; this one being for the year ended 31st March 2005.

The amount of excess income is the highest ever recorded, at £6,810, which is nearly £2,000 more than last season, which was also a record at the time.  Much of this can be attributed to the income from fines, which, at £5063, exceeded last year’s record amount, by more than £430.  This has been brought about by the deplorable standards of administration by a few Clubs and is of great concern to the Management Committee.  Income from fines in 2002/03 was only £2,400.

The League received a grant of just over £3,000 from the Football Association, which was a similar amount to last year, but is now based on the League Development Plan.  The Football Association reviews this Development Plan annually and this income cannot be relied upon.

There were no Representative games played in the last financial year, saving approximately £900 but this was offset by the League purchasing a full kit for the Representative XI in the sum of £890.

League administration costs are similar to last year, except that Honoraria and Office Expenses, approved at last year’s AGM, rose by £460.

Over all, expenditure decreased by approximately £1,800.

We are very grateful to our main sponsors, Plaister Auto Services for covering the cost of the League handbooks, in the sum of £1,019.  Thanks are also due to Corsham Print and Fountain Trophies for their continued sponsorship of the KO Cup Competitions and also to Western Sports for their sponsorship of the Referees’ Award.

I am very grateful to all the Clubs who pay their dues or fines promptly, but unfortunately there are a few who have not settled their financial obligations on time and owe considerable sums to the League at the time of writing this report.  This must be remedied and will not be allowed to continue from the date of our Annual General Meeting.

I look forward to full co-operation from everyone next year.

J S Northover

Hon. Treasurer

My 24th season has concluded with my usual astonishment at the minority of (mostly Junior) Clubs who continually attract unnecessary fines, through their poor administration throughout the season. By this, I mean the late submission of Result Sheets, incorrect sheets (FULL names in BLOCK CAPITALS please) and use of unregistered and otherwise ineligible players.

This in turn, is an inconvenience as it delays the League being able to correctly collate Referees’ marks, expenses and Club statistics.  All of which are important to the efficient running of the League.

Also, a surprising number of Registrations Forms have been received at various times, without signatures and also transfers without the fee.  This makes a lot of totally unnecessary work for me in chasing up.  Please check before submitting.

Clubs playing in outside (non-Wiltshire League) competitions should ensure that Result Sheets are sent as indicated, ie: Wiltshire FA Cup Competition results go to the Wiltshire FA.  Please don’t send them to me.

I always try to assist in any way possible and have spent many hours doing so.  Latterly a little positive response has been noticed.  Those Clubs (thankfully, few) can easily help their finances and me by improving their administration.

Regrettably, the League found it necessary to suspend the registrations of certain players for serious registration irregularities and it is to be hoped that these will prove to be isolated incidents.

On a more positive note, the Senior clubs are generally very good in their dealings and submissions and these are very much appreciated.

It was unfortunate that we lost Senior clubs Aldbourne and Chiseldon Castrol during the season but hopefully the Premier Division will be up to full complement next time.

Transfers were 61 and registrations 1880, a slight decrease on last season

In closing, I look forward to a good summer’s break for all of us and to renewing acquaintance with most of you next season.

Rod Wirdnam

Hon. Registration Secretary

The end to another season is upon us.  Like all seasons, it’s always nice to reach this point but by next season I will be looking forward to the start of another season.  

Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to give a very big thank you to all the Referees that officiate on our League for all of their hard work during the season, especially during the period with all the evening games.  I would also like to thank all the Club Secretaries for their assistance during the season.

The League has kept its Supply League Status for next season and again this season, we have had a Referee promoted to Level 3.

This season has seen the start of a new system of appointing Referees.  This has seen the Wiltshire FA Referees’ Secretary, Ian Whitehouse, allocating Referees to the League.  Referees then reply, accepting the games to him.  With this system, if a game was called off, that Referee can then be given another game.  As a result of this experiment, we have managed to cover 98.25% of all games this season.  This is the highest level of cover we have managed since I became Appointments Secretary.  It has been decided that this system will be continue again next season. 

During the latter part of the season, all Referee changes have been posted on our web site.  So for the latest changes to Referees, you can get them from the web site.   

B L Busson

Hon Referees’ Appointments Secretary

This season saw 187 fixtures postponed for various reasons, a decrease of 60 on last season, which is encouraging.  The decision of the Discipline Sub-Committee last season, to deduct a point from Clubs found guilty of postponing games without a satisfactory explanation appears to have had a positive effect.  Postponements cause a vast amount of additional work for both the Hon Fixture Secretary and for the Hon Referees’ Appointments Secretary.  The Discipline Sub-Committee will review this policy again next season.

There were also 88 cases of Clubs failing to telephone in their results, an increase of 16 on last season, which has prompted the proposed increase in the fine for this offence.  This also causes the Hon Fixture Secretary additional work in having to phone round and chase results as reports have to be submitted to the local press quite promptly.  It also delays both the review of fixtures for the following week and the publication of results and tables on the web site, so we would ask Clubs to try and improve on this next season.

The Premier Division title race was one of the closest for many years.  The title finally went to Corsham Town for the first time since 1998.  Runners-Up position wasn’t decided until the final day of the season with Bradford Town just edging out Cricklade Town on goal difference.  Two promoted Clubs, New College and Calne Town, filled the next two places.

Down Ampney led Junior Division 1 virtually from day one of the season and were the first winners of any silverware.  Swindon Asians, in only their second season in the League, lifted honours again when they won their final fixture to pip AFC Stratton Res for the Runners-Up position on goal difference.  Westside and Wroughton were always in close attendance and filled the next two places.

The Junior Division 2 title race also went down to the final day of the season.  Castle Combe won their final fixture to pip long time leaders, Abbey Rodbourne, by one point.

Both KO Cup Finals saw the holders through to defend their Cups - an unusual occurrence - and both Clubs lost.  AFC Stratton upset the form book and won the Corsham Print Senior KO Cup for the first time, defeating Bradford Town 2-0 in the Final.  County Ground defeated Blunsdon Utd 2-1 to lift the Fountain Trophies Junior KO Cup for the first time.  Both Finals were played at Corsham Town and we thank them for their hospitality and use of their facilities

Special mention must be made of Marlborough Town, who celebrated their centenary this season.  They are only the 18th Club in the county to achieve this, which is due, in no small part, to the hard work of their Club Officers.

Bradford Town have gained promotion to the Western League.  We congratulate them and wish them every success in their new venture.

Congratulations must go to Castle Combe who won the Wiltshire FA County Junior Cup and also took the Junior Division 2 title.  A Semi-Final defeat at Blunsdon Utd in the Fountain Trophies Junior KO Cup denied them what could have been a clean sweep.

Congratulations must also be extended to Aldbourne, who have regained their Senior Status.  They are amalgamating with AFC Stratton and will surely be a force in the Premier Division next season.  Both Down Ampney and Westside are in the process of upgrading their facilities.  Current rules state that they can both play in the Premier Division next season on the proviso that improvements are completed within the season.

On a not so positive note, a common theme amongst all League Officers’ reports is the poor administrative standards, particularly amongst Clubs in the Junior Divisions.  Income from fines in the Premier Division totalled just under £500, whilst Junior Clubs shelled out over £3600.  Premier Division Clubs committed just 37 offences between them, whilst the total for Junior Clubs was almost ten times that.  We had seven Clubs who incurred fines of over £200 ….. one even exceeded £400.  Most of these fines were for simple administrative errors such as not phoning in results, not returning Result Sheets on time, not advising the League of postponements, etc.  Such fines are easily avoidable and I’m sure that the Clubs could find much better use for their hard earned funds.

In closing, I must extend my thanks to the Chairman, fellow League Officers and Management Committee for all their help and assistance.

Jim Thorn

Hon General Secretary