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 ECBPremier League.[1]
Since its inception in 1999, the most successful club has been Bath, having won the Premier One title on thirteen occasions. The only other clubs to have won the title on more than one occasion are Frocester (2007, 2014, and 2015), Clevedon (2018 and 2021), and Taunton St Andrews (2001 and 2009).
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 & Somerset
Premier 2 Gloucestershire & Wiltshire
Bristol & N.Somerset
Somerset
Gloucestershire
Wiltshire
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:
^ abcClifton 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.