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Football Combination League



withdeanwombat

withdeanwombat

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2005
8,696
Somersetshire
Many a long year ago proper reserve teams played proper reserve team football in the Combination league. It wasn't a development squad, or an under 23 squad, but a reserve team in which those not in the first team or those coming back from injury played against the reserves of other teams. It was a proper league, with league tables and everything, and meant that the clubs players got a weekly game.

That meant that when cup games came along there was little need for teams to play 11 different players- in fact I think the cup rules forbade that- because all players were getting regular games.

Whatever happened to this rather sensible system?
 




B

BensGrandad

New member
Jul 13, 2003
72,015
Haywards Heath
IIRC they played the reverse of the 1st team fixture ie Southampton v Brighton at The Dell and at the same time Brighton Res v Southampton Res at The Goldstone.
 










AZ Gull

AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,695
Chandler, AZ
withdeanwombat said:
Many a long year ago proper reserve teams played proper reserve team football in the Combination league. It wasn't a development squad, or an under 23 squad, but a reserve team in which those not in the first team or those coming back from injury played against the reserves of other teams. It was a proper league, with league tables and everything, and meant that the clubs players got a weekly game.

That meant that when cup games came along there was little need for teams to play 11 different players- in fact I think the cup rules forbade that- because all players were getting regular games.

Whatever happened to this rather sensible system?
Click to expand...

I've posted about this on here before, but essentially there has been a gradual morphing from what you describe, to the "development squad" system that all top teams now subscribe to. To be fair, the reserves of old always had their fair share of youngsters attempting to make the breakthrough, and the current U-23 system is "a proper league, with league tables and everything", with a limited number of overage players allowed, so the major difference is really the mix between older pros and youngsters.

Things started to change when the Premier League introduced their own reserve league and teams pulled out of the Football Combination. In our last season in the Combination, in 2011-12, we had a whopping TEN fixtures (one of which was never played), which was a complete waste of time for everyone involved and showed it was no longer fit for purpose.
 












Boys 9d

Boys 9d

Well-known member
Jan 3, 2012
1,793
Lancing
The Football Combination was for Football League reserve teams in the south of England. The northern equivalent was the Central League. I can remember watch Albion's third team designated "A" who played in the Metropolitan League against such teams as West Ham "A" and Southwick first team.
 






T

timbha

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
9,883
Sussex
Boys 9d said:
The Football Combination was for Football League reserve teams in the south of England. The northern equivalent was the Central League. I can remember watch Albion's third team designated "A" who played in the Metropolitan League against such teams as West Ham "A" and Southwick first team.
Click to expand...

Southwick? or do you mean played against them in the Sussex Senior Cup. Southwick would have been in the Sussex County League
 


Javeaseagull

Javeaseagull

Well-known member
Feb 22, 2014
2,489
Those were days of no substitutes. These days the first team has 18 named and a couple kicking around in the stand in case of warm up injuries!
 




GT49er

GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,700
Gloucester
timbha said:
Southwick? or do you mean played against them in the Sussex Senior Cup. Southwick would have been in the Sussex County League
Click to expand...
Going back (50s and 60s) clubs often had more than two teams - first XI, reserves, the 'A' team and the 'B' team, etc. I remember Bournemouth having a couple of teams (they named them Boscombe A and Boscombe B) in divisions 1 and 2 of the Hampshire (county) league, so it's quite possible that The Albion may well have had an 'A' team (ie one level down from the reserves) playing in the Sussex County League.
 


withdeanwombat

withdeanwombat

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2005
8,696
Somersetshire
GT49er said:
Going back (50s and 60s) clubs often had more than two teams - first XI, reserves, the 'A' team and the 'B' team, etc. I remember Bournemouth having a couple of teams (they named them Boscombe A and Boscombe B) in divisions 1 and 2 of the Hampshire (county) league, so it's quite possible that The Albion may well have had an 'A' team (ie one level down from the reserves) playing in the Sussex County League.
Click to expand...

Think the A team played in the Metropolitan League. I have some old programmes v Tonbridge, Dartford and the like. This was the youth team
 


GT49er

GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,700
Gloucester
withdeanwombat said:
Think the A team played in the Metropolitan League. I have some old programmes v Tonbridge, Dartford and the like. This was the youth team
Click to expand...

Yes, quite possible. I don't think there was a laid-down structure back then - some clubs will have run teams in their local county league, or in other leagues, such as the Metropolitan League you quote. I suspect too that things changed over the years - divisions 3(S) and 3(N) may have plodded on for nearly forty years unchanged, but the infrastructure below that level was more of the nature of shifting sands, I think.
 






withdeanwombat

withdeanwombat

Well-known member
Feb 17, 2005
8,696
Somersetshire
How odd is that. Start a thread about the Combination League, and the League Cup gives us Bournemouth Reserves v Brighton Reserves!
 


Guinness Boy

Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
34,075
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
This was discussed the last time I was on the Albion Roar. I remember fondly going to Wednesday night games at the Goldstone after working at the Co-op at the dogs stadium, sitting up in the West Stand seats (I think it cost a pound) and talking to the same old faces during the game before a swift half in the Hove Park on the way home. Unfortunately, I also remember the terrible quality Goldstone pitch getting even more muddy / uneven as a fairly poor quality and agricultural game unfolded. I always thought you were more likely to get injured in these games than recover from one.

Does anyone remember Mike Gatting playing in a game like this once? Might not have been a reserve game but was certainly a mid-week game at the Goldstone with only the West Stand seats open.
 


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