When it comes to the football pyramid in the women’s game, the first four tiers are organised on a national level, even whilst both tier three and tier four are split into regional sections.
It is level five that sees the matches organised on a regional scale, starting with the Regional Football League Premier Divisions, of which there are eight.
Below them is where you find the Regional Leagues Division 1, with another eight on offer corresponding to the Premier Divisions in terms of their geographical splits.
What makes it slightly more complicated, however, is the fact that the various divisions are split again based on locations.
Regional Leagues Division 1’s Place in the Pyramid
The Regional Leagues Division 1 sits at Level 6 on the English women’s football pyramid, which is one step below the Regional League Premier Divisions and two below the FA Women’s National League Division One groups. It is, therefore, the second tier within each of the eight Regional Leagues themselves.
The expansion of the Regional Leagues to include Division 1 is a relatively recent development, with the London and South East league only adding its Division 1 North and South tiers for the 2020-2021 season, for example. The eight Regional Leagues have not all followed a uniform timetable in creating their Division 1 equivalents.
The expansion to add a second tier within the Regional Leagues has been piecemeal, driven by demand and the growth of the women’s game at grassroots level in more recent years.
The FA’s pyramid regulations formally define a Regional League comprising a Tier 5 Premier Division and two Tier 6 divisions as ‘Regional League Format A’, with a maximum membership of 36 clubs across its three divisions. Promotion from Division 1 feeds upwards into the same league’s Premier Division, keeping the vertical pathway within the same regional structure.
Should a Division 1 champion decline promotion or be unable to satisfy the ground grading criteria put in place for the higher tier of football, the offer passes to the second-placed side, then the third, before any relegation from Tier 5 is simply withheld to prevent the division from shrinking in numbers.
Beneath Level 6, the county leagues follow at Level 7, meaning Division 1 occupies the penultimate rung before club football at this end of the pyramid becomes entirely county-administered and largely disconnected from the national structure. For most clubs at this level, it represents either the ceiling of realistic ambition or the beginning of a very long climb.
In terms of the further split, it works as follows:
North West Women’s Regional Football League
- Division 1 Central
- Division 1 North
- Division 1 South
North East Regional Women’s Football League
- Division 1 North
- Division 1 South
West Midlands Regional Women’s Football League
- Division 1 North
- Division 1 South
East Midlands Regional Women’s Football League
- Division 1 Central
- Division 1 North
- Division 1 South
Southern Region Women’s Football League
- Division 1 North
- Division 1 South
South West Regional Women’s Football League
- Division 1 North
- Division 1 South
Eastern Region Women’s Football League
- Division 1 North
- Division 1 South
London and South East Women’s Regional Football League
- Division 1 North
- Division 1 South
The exact number of clubs playing in each of the various divisions will depend on numerous factors.
There are, for example, ten clubs that play in all three of the North West Women’s Regional Football League Division 1 leagues, but 12 in the North East Division 1 North and 11 in the North East Division 1 South.
There are only six that play in the South West Regional Women’s Football League Division 1 South, but 12 in the North.