West of England Premier League

The West of England Premier League (WEPL) is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the West of England and is a designated ECB Premier League.[1]

Since its inception in 1999, the most successful club has been Bath, having won the Premier One title on eleven occasions. The only other clubs to have won the title on more than one occasion are Frocester (2007, 2014 and 2015) and Taunton St Andrews (2001 and 2009).

The Premier Division One clubs for 2019 are: Bath, Bedminster, Bridgwater, Bristol, Cheltenham, Clevedon, Downend, Lansdown, Potterne, and Taunton St Andrews.

Structure

The WEPL covers the counties of Bristol, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, and is the top tier of the pyramid structure of leagues in the area. The league has seven divisions, with the top league, Premier One covering the entire region, and the remainder covering more localised areas. The seven divisions each have ten teams, and are split into three distinct 'tiers':

Premier One
Premier 2 Bristol & SomersetPremier 2 Gloucestershire & Wiltshire
Bristol & N.SomersetSomersetGloucestershireWiltshire


The structure changed after the 2015 season by eliminating Premier Division Two, so that the winners of the Bristol and Somerset Division and the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Division are now promoted directly into Premier Division One.

There are four feeder leagues serving the WEPL, each having a direct link with one of the lower divisions as follows:

Winners

1999–2006

2007–2015

In 2007 Gloucestershire/Wiltshire Two was replaced by separate divisions for Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

  • Year First tier Second tier Third tier Fourth tier
    Premier One Premier Two Bristol & Somerset Glos & Wilts Bristol & N. Som Somerset Gloucestershire Wiltshire
    2007FrocesterDownendLansdownWarminsterWinterbourneWinscombeRockhamptonWootton Bassett
    2008Bath (6)BristolTauntonChippenhamBedminsterAshcott and ShapwickStroudLechlade
    2009Taunton St Andrews (2)TauntonAshcott and ShapwickWestbury and DistrictOld Bristolians WestburyChardHatherley and ReddingsPotterne
    2010Bath (7)DownendBristol West IndiansGloucester City WingetBishopstonUphill CastleDumbletonGoatacre
    2011Bath (8)Gloucester City WingetChardGoatacreChipping SodburyMidsomer NortonPainswickWinsley
    2012BridgwaterAshcott and ShapwickMineheadCheltenhamFrenchayStreetDumbletonLechlade
    2013Bath (9)Taunton DeaneClevedonPotterneChew MagnaWembdonTewkesburySwindon
    2014Frocester (2)IlminsterTauntonLechladeLansdownFromeApperleyBurbage and Easton Royal
    2015Frocester (3)PotterneBedminsterRockhamptonClaverham (Yatton)North PerrottDumbletonTrowbridge

2016 to date

In 2016 Premier Two was eliminated, and there were now two divisions in the second tier and four divisions in the third tier.

  • Year First tier Second tier Third tier
    Premier One Bristol & Somerset Glos & Wilts Bristol & N. Som Somerset Gloucestershire Wiltshire
    2016Bath (10)BedminsterLechladeClaverham (Yatton)GlastonburyHatherley and ReddingsWestbury and District
    2017Bath (11)Taunton St AndrewsGoatacreMidsomer NortonWeston super MareDumbletonTrowbridge
    2018ClevedonLansdownCheltenhamWinterbourneNorth PerrottFrocester IIChippenham
    2019Potterne

Performance by season from 1999
Key
Gold Champions
Red Relegated
Blue Left League
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Ashcott and Shapwick 7 10
Bath 1 1 3 3 1 2 1 1 4 1 4 1 1 2 1 2 3 1 1 2 2 - 3
Bedminster 7 7 3 - 5
Bridgwater 8 8 6 2 3 1 5 5 7 5 8 6 5 - 6
Bristol 1 2 6 3 8 9 8 8 7 6 3 7 8 6 4 5 10
Bristol West Indians 6 8 9 8 10
Cheltenham 2 4 5 2 1 7 6 7 10 4 - 9
Chippenham  ? 3 9 - 8
Clevedon 2 5 2 1 6 - 1
Clifton Flax Bourton 1  ? 7
Corsham 2 5 6 6 5 6 4 5 5 8 4 8 6 4 3 10
Downend  ? 6 10 9 7 10 5 3 6 4 6 8 5 3 8 - 10
Frenchay 3 10
Frocester 4 1 3 3 4 2 8 2 1 1 2 3 9
Glastonbury 2 3 5 2 7 10
Gloucester City Winget 10
Goatacre 10
Ilminster 9 7 10 10
Keynsham  ? 8 7 1 6 4 3 8 9 9
Knowle 8 9 9
Lansdown  ? 10 7 - 4
Lechlade 9
Optimists 1  ? 10
Potterne 4 6 4 1 - 2
Stroud  ? 11
Taunton 7 5 5 9 9 10
Taunton Deane 6 4 9 3 9 - 7
Taunton St Andrews 5 1 7 4 7 4 2 2 6 1 3 6 5 4 8 5 9 8 9
Thornbury  ? 4 5 4 8 10 7 10 10
Trowbridge  ?
Weston super Mare 9 10 3 5 2 7 9 9
[2] [3] [4][5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23][lower-alpha 1] [24]
  1. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic an ad-hoc interim league was set up during the late summer of 2020.
^1 Clifton Flax Bourton went out of existence after the 2001 season; many of their players then joined Optimists (originally an offshoot of Clifton) who adopted the name Optimists and Clifton, and changed their name to Bristol in 2005.

References
  1. List of ECB Premier Leagues
  2. "West of England Premier League 2000". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  3. "West of England Premier League 2001". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  4. "Premier One - 2002".
  5. "Nine days to settle result of final game". Gazette and Herald. 12 September 2002. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  6. "Premier One - 2003".
  7. "Premier One - 2004".
  8. "Premier One - 2005".
  9. "Premier One - 2006".
  10. "Premier One - 2007".
  11. "Premier One - 2008".
  12. "Premier One - 2009".
  13. "Premier One - 2010".
  14. "Premier One - 2011".
  15. "Premier One - 2012".
  16. "Premier One - 2013".
  17. "Premier One - 2014".
  18. "Premier One - 2015".
  19. "Premier One - 2016".
  20. "Premier One - 2017".
  21. "Premier One - 2018".
  22. "Premier One - 2019".
  23. "Premier One - 2020".
  24. "Premier One - 2021".
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