Sport Football Country England | Founded 1907 | |
No. of teams c.200 (19 divisions)
(3 senior divisions) Most recent
champion(s) Polytechnic (Division 1)
NUFC Oilers (2014/15 Division 2)
HSBC (Division 3) | ||
The Southern Amateur League (SAL) is an association football league affiliated to the Amateur Football Alliance (AFA). It is based in and around Greater London and caters for 11–a–side men's adult teams. Its member clubs include former pupils' associations, banks and business houses as well as private clubs. For season 2015-16 the league has 36 member clubs running around 200 teams in 19 divisions. All clubs are strictly amateur.
Contents
Club set-up, sportsmanship and hospitality
As in other AFA leagues it is common for clubs to run several teams with some SAL clubs running up to 9 teams. This allows players of all abilities to play against teams from other clubs of a similar standard. The best players will be picked for the 1st team, the best of the remainder going into the 2nd team and so on down the club.
The SAL places emphasis on sportsmanship and hospitality, with all players expected to socialise with their opponents and the match officials after the game. Disciplinary problems and cases of violent conduct are generally perceived to be experienced less in SAL football – and AFA football in general – than in other types of football.
Sponsorship (14Fourteen)
For the 2014-15 season the League announced that sportswear manufacturer 14Fourteen would become the League's principle sponsor while its cup competitions would be sponsored by the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health (ISEH). 14Fourteen were already involved with SAL club Alexandra Park due to 14Fourteen Chief Executive Phillippe Wick having played for the club in the 1980s.
League set-up and Challenge Cups
The league is divided into four sections: Senior (1st teams only), Intermediate, Junior and Minor. The Senior and Intermediate divisions have three divisions each (1, 2 and 3) while the Junior Section has four. The Minor Section is divided into North (4 divisions) and South (5 divisions). Promotion and relegation takes place within each section and also between the Junior and Minor Sections. In the Minor Section 2 teams per club may play in the same division but only 1 is allowed in all other sections..
As well as league competitions the SAL runs five cup competitions. These are:
The Junior Cup and below were inaugurated for the 1995–96. The Senior and Intermediate Cups were introduced for season 2015-16. They were not previously considered necessary as 1st and 2nd teams were offered an extra 'county divisional' cup by the AFA (either the Middlesex/Essex Cup or the Surrey/Kent Cup, depending on location).
Current member clubs
Three of the current members (Alleyn Old Boys, Civil Service and Crouch End Vampires) are founder members of the League while 19 have been in membership since before World War II.
The current member clubs are:
Representative team
The League representative team has played a programme of friendly fixtures since the 1920s against other AFA affiliated leagues and universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Two matches are played each season in memory of past servants to the League. The Champion Club plays against a Rest of the League XI at the beginning of each season for the Stuart Hyde Trophy, named for the former SAL and Southgate Olympic team manager. Later in the Autumn the League face the Amateur Football Combination for the Steve Langley Cup in honour of the former SAL, AFA and Crouch End Vampires captain.
Beginning in 2007 the team was entered the FA Inter-League Cup (formerly the FA National League System Cup) which it won at the first attempt in 2008. This earned the team the chance to represent England at the 2008 UEFA Regions Cup. In a preliminary round hosted in Italy the team was unbeaten and did not concede a goal but missed out on qualifying on goal-difference. It played teams from Italy, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland (whence came the group winners). The team subsequently lost to eventual winners Guernsey in the 2009-10 competition and reached the semi-final, bowing out to the Isle of Man, in 2011-12 edition.
League champions, Senior Section
(†) indicates team also won SAL Senior Cup
(a) indicates team also won AFA Senior Cup
(e) indicates team also won AFA Essex Senior Cup
(m) indicates team also won AFA Middlesex Senior Cup
(s) indicates team also won AFA Surrey Senior Cup
(me) indicates team also won AFA Middlesex/Essex Senior Cup
(sk) indicates team also won AFA Surrey/Kent Senior Cup
(o) indicates team also won Old Boys Senior Cup