In September 2018 an announcement was made that the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League would only be operating two divisions at Step 6 of the National League Football Pyramid as part of a national re-structure by The FA.

In addition to this it was decided that in Cornwall and Devon there would be 3 divisions operating at Step 7, 1 in Cornwall and 2 in Devon. These would be run by newly created leagues and committees with the support of the respective County FA’s.

Initially teams were asked to submit expressions of interest by the 31^st December 2018 if they wished to participate in these leagues. The initial response was positive with over 28 submissions to play in the Cornwall League.

These teams were then asked to confirm their intentions to participate in the league by submitting a formal application and a deposit of £100 by the 31^st March 2019. Again the response was positive with 20 clubs submitting an application.

Unfortunately over the last few weeks several teams have made the decision to withdraw from the league, the reason that has been cited by every club for their withdrawal has been concerns over travelling due to teams in the league being drawn from all over the County, as far West as Mousehole and as far East as Saltash.

Having listened to these concerns Cornwall FA held a meeting with the St Piran League, East Cornwall Premier League and Cornwall Combination League to look at a way forward.

It is extremely important to note that the County is mandated by the FA to operate a Step 7 league. There must be an opportunity for clubs to progress into and through the National League System and play at the highest standard possible, along with the funding opportunities that this provides.

Additionally it would be highly unfair for any league at Step 7 to be heavily populated by teams from one area of the County, thus creating barriers in place for ambitious teams based in different areas.

New Proposals

Taking into consideration all of the above points The St Piran League will now operate with two divisions, with the intention being that each division will be comprised of no more than 16 teams There will be an East Cornwall Division and a West Cornwall Division.

Priority for entry will be given to those teams that participated at Step 7 during the 2018/19 season and to those teams who submitted a formal application along with deposit and who have not, at any time during the process submitted a notification of withdrawal.

Therefore the current membership of The St Piran League is as follows:

We have space in the league for a further 12 teams based in East Cornwall and 6 teams based in West Cornwall, entry criteria are listed below in order of precedence:

East Division

a.         Those ECPL Premier Division clubs who have paid a deposit and subsequently withdrawn their      application but now wish to reconsider.

b.         Those ECPL Premier Division clubs who may now wish to apply to join the League

c.         Those ECPL Division One clubs who may now wish to apply.

d.         Those Duchy League Premier Division clubs who may now wish to apply.

West Division

a.         Those Combination League clubs who have withdrawn their application but now wish to reconsider.

b.         Those Combination League clubs who may now wish to apply to join the League.

c.         Those Trelawny League Premier Division clubs who may now wish to apply.

It should be noted that Step 7 Leagues are County based, applications from Devon based clubs competing in the ECPL or Duchy League will not be accepted

Additional

The ECPL and Cornwall Combination Leagues will continue to act as feeder leagues for the St Piran League and will be formed from teams who do not apply to The St Piran League and teams who make applications to join from The Duchy League and Trelawny League.

Once we know the teams for The St Piran League we will work closely with The ECPL, Cornwall Combination League, Duchy League and Trelawny League to establish their constitutions for the 2019/20 season.

Should anyone have any questions please contact Richard Pallot of Cornwall FA on 01208 262983 or email richard.pallot@cornwallfa.com