Saturday 14th May 2016
The provisional Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier Division constitution for the 2016-17 season has been announced following the release of the draft list of clubs expected to be in the Hellenic League by the Football Association.
The Premier Division is set to comprise of 21 clubs, one up from the 2015-16 season in which Royal Wootton Bassett Town finished 15th, with three promoted and two relegated sides joining the Division.
Bassett will re-acquaint themselves with long-time Hellenic League foes Carterton and Cheltenham Saracens, who are set to be promoted as champions and runners-up of Division One West respectively.
Bassett have faced Cheltenham more times than any other side since joining the Hellenic League. In total the teams have squared off against each other 42 times, with Bassett winning twenty, drawing eight and losing fourteen of those clashes.
Meanwhile, the 2016-17 campaign will be the thirteenth season in which they have faced Carterton. Their 24 previous league encounters have yielded eight wins for Bassett, with six draws and ten defeats. They last met in the league during Bassett's 2012-13 Division One West promotion campaign.
Henley Town are set to be the only side promoted from Division One East, where the Oxfordshire outfit finished third last season. There have been eight previous league meetings between Bassett and Henley, with two Bassett victories, two draws and four triumphs for Henley.
Next season will be the first time since 2004-05 that the teams will have been in the same division as one another. Since that year they have met twice in cup competitions, with Bassett recording a 6-0 FA Vase victory in 2008-09 and a 3-2 win in the Challenge Cup in 2014-15.
Barring any changes, Bassett will also face two teams they have never met before. Burnham and North Greenford United have been allocated to the Hellenic League after finishing in relegation positions in Southern League Division One.
Burnham will come down from Division One South and West, where they finished 21st in 2015-16. A former Hellenic League side, they were promoted as Premier Division champions in 1998-99. They then played for fourteen seasons in various Southern League Division One incarnations before gaining promotion to the Southern Premier as the 2012-13 Division One Central champions. They lasted just two years at step three though, before suffering a second successive relegation in the season just finished.
North Greenford, based in the London Borough of Ealing, finished bottom of Division One Central in 2015-16. The Blues were promoted to the Southern League as Combined Counties Premier Division champions in 2009-10. In their six seasons at step four – all played in Division One Central, they never finished higher than 18th. After being reprieved at the end of 2014-15, their luck ran out this year.
Against those sides remaining in the Division from 2015-16, Bassett will be looking to build on the eight wins and four draws they earned in their contests last season. Those results accounted for 28 of the 41 points Paul Braithwaite's team accrued. And to ensure a fifth consecutive season of step five football – and progression up towards the top half of the table – that haul will need to be improved upon.
Champions Kidlington have been promoted to Southern League Division One Central, while Abingdon United, Milton United and Wokingham and Emmbrook are all set to be relegated to Hellenic League Division One West or East.
The full provisional constitution is as follows:
Ardley United
Ascot United
Binfield
Brackley Town Saints
Bracknell Town
Brimscombe and Thrupp
Burnham
Carterton
Cheltenham Saracens
Flackwell Heath
Henley Town
Highmoor Ibis
Highworth Town
Longlevens
Lydney Town
North Greenford United
Oxford City Nomads
Royal Wootton Bassett Town
Thame United
Thatcham Town
Tuffley Rovers
The map below includes details on Bassett's record against each of the teams set to compromise the Hellenic League Premier Division next season:
Last modified on Saturday 14th May 2016 at 14:28.
