2025 / 2026 Season Update and Format

15th August 2025 - The league structure has been confirmed and a request to the website supplier has been made to create the appropriate leagues.

WEST WALES YOUTH AFL 2025-26 – LEAGUE FORMAT

We have 26 teams entered.
Teams will be split into 3 groups – 9, 9 and 8. The groups will be named Nedd, Tawe and Cothi. Using 1, 2 & 3 or A, B & C could lead to some thinking there’s a hierarchy to the groups when there isn’t.
If we did 2 groups, there would be 13 teams in each group – too many teams to complete the season if playing twice given that we would still need play-offs. In 2023/24 the league had 13 teams and a lot of teams failed to complete their fixtures due to the impact of the weather; we didn’t have play-offs. We also need to remember the impact of exams and so don’t want to be playing deep into May.
The format we propose ensures that all teams no matter of their placing have a chance of winning a competition right to the end of the season.

We have 10 Swansea teams, 8 West Glamorgan teams and 8 Carmarthenshire teams as based on the respective junior leagues. These include 2 teams from Mumbles, 2 from Ynystawe, 2 from CKSV and 2 from Pontarddulais.
The groups will be randomly drawn but to ensure a fair mix of teams and give teams a balance of opposition:
• 3 or 4 Swansea teams will be in each group, 2 or 3 Carmarthenshire teams in each group and 2 or 3 West Glamorgan teams in each group.
• The clubs with 2 teams will be drawn so that their teams don’t play each other at the group stage.
Teams will play each other in the same group twice – home and away.
A group’s table will be decided on the following basis:
• Points, then
• Goal difference, then
• Goals for, then
• Most wins, then
• Fair play points, then
• Toss of a coin.

To decide the League Winners, the top teams will enter the Championship play-off. The winners of the Championship play-off will be declared the League Winners for 2025-26. The remaining teams will enter either the Plate or Vase competition.
To decide who enters the Championship Play-Off, the Plate Competition and the Vase Competition all teams will be ranked in a table on the same basis as above (but based on averages due to a lower number of teams in Tawe) relative to the finishing places of teams from all groups giving a ranking from 1 to 26.
This means:
Rank 1 to 3 are for 1st placed teams
Rank 4 to 6 are for 2nd placed teams
Rank 7 to 9 are for 3rd placed teams
Rank 10 to 12 are for 4th placed teams
Rank 13 to 15 are for 5th placed teams
Rank 16 to 18 are for 6th placed teams
Rank 19 to 21 are for 7th placed teams
Rank 22 to 26 are for 8th and 9th placed teams
NOTE: A second placed team from a group cannot be placed any higher than 4th even if they may have more points than the 3rd best first placed team, for example. The same provision applies to all placings and rankings save for those ranked 22 to 26 which shall all be ranked collectively.

Championship Play-Off
The teams ranked 1 to 8 shall enter the Championship Play-Off.
In the quarter final, the draw will be 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5. Thereafter the semi-final will be the highest ranked team v the lowest ranked team from the eight and the 2nd highest ranked team v the 3rd highest ranked team from the eight that won their quarter final matches. In all cases the highest ranked team shall have home advantage. The final shall be played on a neutral venue.

Plate Competition
The teams ranked 9 to 16 shall enter the Plate Competition.
In the quarter final, the draw will be 9 v 16, 10 v 15, 11 v 14 and 12 v 13. Thereafter the semi-final will be the highest ranked team v the lowest ranked team from the eight and the 2nd highest ranked team v the 3rd highest ranked team from the eight that won their quarter final matches. In all cases the highest ranked team shall have home advantage. The final shall be played on a neutral venue.

Vase Competition
The teams ranked 17 to 26 shall enter the Vase Competition.
In the first round, the draw will be 23 v 26 and 24 v 25. In the quarter final, the draw will be 17 v (the lowest of 24, 25 or 26), 18 v (the highest of 23, 24 or 25), 19 v 22 and 20 v 21. Thereafter the semi-final will be the highest ranked team v the lowest ranked team from the eight and the 2nd highest ranked team v the 3rd highest ranked team from the eight that won their quarter final matches. In all cases the highest ranked team shall have home advantage. The final shall be played on a neutral venue.

If at any stage during the season, teams drop out, then the number of teams competing in the Vase Competition and the format of the Vase Competition will be adjusted accordingly.
Teams from the same club or from the same group will not be kept apart during the knock out stages, positions and opposition will purely be based on ranking.
Teams are reminded of the 4-match eligibility rule for play-off Semi Finals and Finals.

In the knock-out stages up to and including the final, if a match is a draw at full time then it will go straight to penalties. There will be no extra time played.
We propose to have a finals day when the Championship, Plate and Vase finals matches all take place one after the other.
 
WEST WALES YOUTH AFL 2025-26 – CUP & PLATE FORMAT

The Cup and Plate will be straight knock out competitions with the teams drawn at random.

Cup
With 26 teams, there will be 10 first round matches. 6 teams will have byes to the second round.

Plate
The teams that lose in the 1st and 2nd round of the Cup shall enter the Plate competition (18 teams). There will be two first round matches. 14 teams will have byes to the second round.

The clubs with 2 teams will not be kept apart in the Cup or Plate. They may be drawn against each other at any stage.
Teams are reminded of the 4-match eligibility rule for Cup & Plate Semi Finals and Finals.
In all rounds up to and including the semi-final, if a match is a draw at full time then it will go straight to penalties. There will be no extra time played.
We propose to have a finals day when the Cup and Plate finals both take place one after the other, with extra time (and penalties) played if needed.