The South East Counties Womens Football League (SECWFL) confirmed the new constitutions for the 2024/25 season at their AGM on Monday 8th July, which was held online. There are nine West Kent clubs competing this season with 12 teams across a new look structure.
The SECWFL had already proposed a restructure to their league ahead of the meeting but it was a surprise to see four divisions implemented at the bottom level rather than the one development league which was put out there for clubs to consider.
The new SECWFL will now be structured as follows: Premier Division; Division One East, and West; and Division Two East, Mid East, West and Mid West. (Ed. No cowgirl jokes please!)
League make huge step to drop goal difference
The SECWFL have taken a huge step to implement a rule change which now allows them to remove goal difference from the mathematical equations of calculating the league rankings. It is an admiral decision to take and this will no doubt help clubs who, for whatever reason, may find themselves on the end of a double-digit score line during the competition.
The SECWFL management committee commented on the rule change, saying: “For competitions below the National League Structure and it’s feeder leagues, it has long been considered that using goal difference as a determinative criteria may in some cases be undesirable.
“For example, there may be circumstances in which teams participating in a particular competition routinely do not have the opportunity to play matches due to opposition teams being unable to fulfil the fixture, and whilst the result may be awarded to the team not in default, it is not currently possible under the FA’s Standard Code of Rules to award goals.”
Team rankings within the SECWFL competition will now be decided by points with three points to be awarded for a win and one point for a drawn match. The team with the highest number of points in their respective divisions at the end of the season shall be adjudged the winners.
In the event of two or more teams being equal on points at the end of the season, rankings
shall be determined by the following criteria, in the order of priority in which they appear:
- the team that has won the most matches during the season;
- the team which has the better playing record against the other team in their head to head matches;
- a one-off fixture or play-off games as determined by the League management committee.
So what does this mean for West Kent clubs?
Last year’s runners up Tunbridge Wells Foresters will be joined once again by Sevenoaks Town and they will be joined by newly promoted Kings Hill and Tonbridge Angels. They will play 18 league games over the course of the year.
In Division One West, Aylesford 2nd, and Tunbridge Wells Foresters 2nd will do battle with just seven other teams as they try to make their way up the league structure. The choice by SECWFL to subscribe to a nine team league, means both clubs will only play 16 league games during the season.
A familiar look to Division 2 West as Ide Hill and Sevenoaks Town Development go again, this time hoping to take the top spot in the division. They face their old foes from 2023/24 in Foots Cray Lionesses, Junior Reds, Old Pepys, and Orpington.
The newly created Division 2 Mid-West will see West Kent represented by four teams at this level with Borough Green, Larkfield, New Ash Green, and newly created Tunbridge Wells Foresters 3rd.
With just eight teams per division at this level, we expect them to play 21 matches during the year with coin toss for the additional home and away fixtures.
Congratulations to Tunbridge Wells Foresters on having their third team accepted to the league and to Kings Hill and Tonbridge Angels on their promotions. Good luck to all teams competing in all divisions. We can’t wait for the season to start and we’ll be keeping a close eye on proceedings.
The new constitutions for 2024/25 are as follows:
Premier Division
- Cray Wanderers
- Kings Hill
- London Road
- Maidstone United
- Margate
- Parkwood Rangers
- Sevenoaks Town
- Sittingbourne
- Tonbridge Angels
- Tunbridge Wells Foresters
- Aylesford 2nd
- Bromleians
- Castle Colts
- Danson Sports
- Glebe
- Gravesham
- Long Lane
- Petts Wood
- Tunbridge Wells Foresters 2nd
- Cray Wanderers Reserves
- Crayford Arrows
- Foots Cray Lionesses
- Ide Hill
- Junior Reds
- Old Pepys
- Orpington
- Sevenoaks Town Development
Division 2 Mid-West
- Anchorians
- Borough Green
- Guru Nanak
- Hollands & Blair Reserves
- Larkfield
- New Ash Green
- Staplehurst Monarchs
- Tunbridge Wells Foresters 3rd
