The Welsh Football League Division One, known as the MacWhirter Welsh League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is a football league in Wales. It forms the top division of the Welsh Football League and the second level of the Welsh football league system in south Wales.
If the team which finishes top of the Division has good enough ground facilities, it is promoted to the Welsh Premier League and is replaced by one of the two teams finishing bottom of the Premiership. If the Division champions' ground doesn't meet Premiership standards, then the team which finished second may be promoted. The team finishing in bottom position is relegated to the Welsh Football League Division Two.
Since its inception in 1904 it has always been the top flight of the Welsh League, or the Rhymney Valley League and Glamorgan League as it was known until 1912.
This division has changed its title on numerous occasions, which includes Premier Division and National Division.
In 1992 it became level two of the Welsh Football Pyramid following the creation of the Welsh Premier League.
Read more about Welsh Football League Division One: Teams For 2012-13, Champions (as Top Division of The Welsh League)
Famous quotes containing the words welsh, football, league and/or division:
“Thy tongue
Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penned,
Sung by a fair queen in a summer’s bower,
With ravishing division, to her lute.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“In football they measure forty-yard sprints. Nobody runs forty yards in basketball. Maybe you run the ninety-four feet of the court; then you stop, not on a dime, but on Miss Liberty’s torch. In football you run over somebody’s face.”
—Donald Hall (b. 1928)
“Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“Don’t order any black things. Rejoice in his memory; and be radiant: leave grief to the children. Wear violet and purple.... Be patient with the poor people who will snivel: they don’t know; and they think they will live for ever, which makes death a division instead of a bond.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)