Presteigne St Andrews FC’s chairman Alan Randell has confirmed the format for the forthcoming Spar Mid Wales League, second division season.
Alan told the committee meeting that – as things stand – there will, indeed, be only 10 teams in the second division next season, so that would have left us with only 18 league matches.
There will, of course, be the usual Welsh Cup and Welsh Trophy ties, as well as an assortment of Central Wales Cup, League Cup and Otway Cup games.
But, in order to make up the number of Spar games, the decision has reportedly been taken to extend the ER Jenkins Cup – the League Cup for second division clubs.
Apparently the 10 clubs will be divided into two groups of five who will play each other at home and away.
The top two teams in each group will then go into the semi-finals which will be played on neutral grounds, with the final following on from that.
It is to be hoped these groups are to be regionalised as clearly there would be more interest in an additional game against, say, Knighton Town, than Machynlleth.
It certainly isn’t a perfect scenario and it’s to be hoped those running the Spar League are able to attract more clubs to the second division for the 2014-15 season – they will surely need to if the league is to maintain its credibility.