NORTH WEST COUNTIES LEAGUE

By 1980, the non-league game in England had undergone many changes and there was a need to put things into better order both east and west of the Pennines.  It is not wholly clear when talks began about mergers of the leagues below the Northern Premier League began, but by the start of June 1982 the Cheshire County League and the Lancashire Combination were already a long way down the line to creating a single, 3-section competition to be known as the North West Counties League. 

A points system had been devised according to where clubs finished the 1980-1981 and 1981-1982 seasons in the league tables and a ground grading system (A-G) had also been devised, based on clubs’ facilities.  From this the clubs were allocated a place in Divisions 1, 2 or 3 of the new league.  The 1^st and 2^nd Divisions kicked off the new season with 20 clubs each, there being 18 sides in the 3^rd section.  In Division 3 Newton were included in place of Cheshire club Middlewich Athletic, who opted out of the new arrangements.   It was to be a few seasons before the new competition ‘bedded in’ fully, largely due to the ground gradings issue.  The final tables for the inaugural season were as follows.

North West Counties League Division 1 Final Table 1982-1983

 

1	Burscough	38	26	7	5	93	45	59
2	Rhyl	38	23	11	4	76	30	57
3	Horwich RMI	38	22	10	6	77	35	54
4	Stalybridge Celtic	38	17	15	6	60	32	49
5	Winsford United	38	18	10	10	72	48	46
6	Darwen	38	17	12	9	68	46	46
7	Lancaster City	38	17	11	10	69	54	45
8	Congleton Town	38	13	14	11	52	35	40
9	Penrith	38	17	6	15	68	61	40
10	Accrington Stanley	38	13	12	13	56	55	38
11	Leek Town	38	14	9	15	42	44	37
12	Curzon Ashton	38	14	8	16	46	47	36
13	Ashton United	38	13	10	15	55	69	36
14	Bootle*	38	14	6	18	55	79	32
15	Prescot Cables	38	9	13	16	50	60	31
16	Formby	38	10	8	20	48	68	28
17	Leyland Motors	38	7	10	21	34	74	24
18	Glossop	38	6	11	21	29	67	23
19	St. Helens Town	38	5	10	23	29	80	20
20	Nantwich Town	38	6	5	27	43	93	17
		760	281	198	281	1122	1122	758

*2 points deducted for breach of League rules.

North West Counties League Division 2 Final Table 1982-1983

 

1	Radcliffe Borough	38	33	4	1	110	25	70
2	Caernarfon Town	38	28	7	3	85	27	63
3	Wren Rovers	38	23	7	8	84	38	53
4	Eastwood Hanley	38	23	7	8	81	42	53
5	Kirkby Town	38	22	3	13	80	60	47
6	Irlam Town	38	17	8	13	79	52	42
7	Chadderton	38	18	6	14	55	51	42
8	Rossendale United	38	15	10	13	75	68	40
9	Ford Motors	38	18	4	16	61	59	40
10	Ellesmere Port & Neston	38	17	5	16	56	68	39
11	Skelmersdale United	38	13	11	14	70	63	37
12	Fleetwood Town	38	12	8	18	54	80	32
13	Atherton Laburnum Rovers	38	11	9	18	52	70	31
14	Lytham	38	11	5	22	54	71	27
15	Great Harwood Town	38	8	10	20	54	76	26
16	Salford	38	10	6	22	43	86	26
17	Droylsden*	38	11	5	22	49	71	25
18	Prescot BI	38	10	5	23	46	81	25
19	Padiham	38	8	6	24	41	74	22
20	New Mills	38	7	4	27	39	106	18
		760	315	130	315	1268	1268	758

*2 points deducted for breach of League rules.

North West Counties League Division 3 Final Table 1982-1983

 

1	Colne Dynamoes	34	25	5	4	95	37	55
2	Warrington Town	34	24	6	4	83	33	54
3	Clitheroe	34	22	7	5	87	35	51
4	Prestwich Heys	34	18	11	5	70	37	47
5	Vulcan Newton	34	13	10	11	70	65	36
6	Blackpool Mechanics	34	11	13	10	67	56	35
7	Bacup Borough	34	14	7	13	53	45	35
8	Atherton Collieries	34	12	11	11	55	57	35
9	Whitworth Valley	34	13	9	12	54	65	35
10	Nelson	34	7	16	11	49	56	30
11	Daisy Hill	34	10	10	14	47	58	30
12	Maghull	34	10	9	15	56	61	29
13	Ashton Town	34	12	5	17	53	73	29
14	Newton	34	8	12	14	59	62	28
15	Oldham Dew	34	10	8	16	48	61	28
16	Bolton ST	34	9	6	19	50	84	24
17	Wigan Rovers	34	5	7	22	35	72	17
18	Ashton Athletic	34	3	8	23	18	92	14
		612	226	160	226	1049	1049	612