Football Combination

The Football Combination (commonly referred to as the Pontin's Holidays Combination for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Avon Insurance Combination) is a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England and Wales. Clubs from the Midlands and the North play in the Central League.

It is not to be confused with The Combination, a league for teams from North West England which existed at the turn of the 20th century.

The Combination was founded in 1915 as the London Combination, originally as a regional league for London clubs after first-class competition had been suspended due to World War I. After hostilities ended, the Combination became a competition for reserve sides only, becoming the Football Combination soon after the end of World War II, as teams from outside London started to join.

The Combination originally contained all the reserve teams of League clubs within the region, but in 1999 the FA Premier Reserve League was founded. The reserve teams of the FA Premier League clubs and some First Division clubs joined that competition, reducing the size of the Combination (however, in 2006, Premier League clubs voted that only the 20 top-tier teams would be able to play in this league, which meant several well-established reserve sides moving to the Combination). Today several reserve sides from Football Conference clubs also play in the Combination.

Participating teams

The Combination is split into three parallel divisions, the East, Central, and Wales & West Divisions. The participating teams for 2007-08 are:

East Division

Central Division

Wales & West Division

External links

Pontin's Holidays Combination fixtures on the Football League website

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