1981–82 Alliance Premier League

The Alliance Premier League season of 1981–82 was the third season of the Alliance Premier League.

Alliance Premier League

Season	1981–82[1]
Champions	Runcorn (1st Alliance Premier League title)
Promoted to the Football League	None
Runners-up	Enfield
Relegated to Level 6	Dartford, Gravesend & Northfleet, AP Leamington
Promoted for the next season	Bangor City, Nuneaton, Wealdstone
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,269 (2.75 per match)
Biggest home win	Bath City – AP Leamington 7–0
Biggest away win	AP Leamington – Stafford Rangers 1–5; AP Leamington – Dagenham 0–4; Scarborough – Northwich Victoria 0–4
Highest scoring	Barrow – Kettering Town 7–2; Enfield – Barrow 7–2; Altrincham – Worcester City 6–3; Kettering Town – Altrincham 5–4; Runcorn – Altrincham 5–4
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	?
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	?
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

New teams in the league this season

• Dagenham (promoted 1980–81)
• Dartford (promoted 1980–81)
• Enfield (promoted 1980–81)
• Runcorn (promoted 1980–81)
• Trowbridge Town (promoted 1980–81)

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Runcorn (C)	42	28	9	5	75	37	+38	93
2	Enfield	42	26	8	8	90	46	+44	86
3	Telford United	42	23	8	11	70	51	+19	77
4	Worcester City	42	21	8	13	70	60	+10	71
5	Dagenham	42	19	12	11	69	51	+18	69
6	Northwich Victoria	42	20	9	13	56	46	+10	69
7	Scarborough	42	19	11	12	65	52	+13	68
8	Barrow	42	18	11	13	59	50	+9	65
9	Weymouth	42	18	9	15	56	47	+9	63
10	Boston United	42	17	11	14	61	57	+4	62
11	Altrincham	42	14	13	15	66	56	+10	55
12	Bath City	42	15	10	17	50	57	−7	55
13	Yeovil Town	42	14	11	17	56	68	−12	53
14	Stafford Rangers	42	12	16	14	48	47	+1	52
15	Frickley Athletic	42	14	10	18	47	60	−13	52
16	Maidstone United	42	11	15	16	55	59	−4	48
17	Trowbridge Town	42	12	11	19	38	54	−16	47
18	Barnet	42	9	14	19	36	52	−16	41
19	Kettering Town	42	9	13	20	64	76	−12	40
20	Gravesend & Northfleet (R)	42	10	10	22	51	69	−18	40	Relegation to the Southern League Premier Division
21	Dartford (R)	42	10	9	23	47	69	−22	39
22	AP Leamington (R)	42	4	10	28	40	105	−65	22

Source: ^[1]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	ALT	APL	BAR	BRW	BAT	BOS	DAG	DAR	ENF	FRK	GRN	KET	MDS	NOR	RUN	SCA	STA	TEL	TRO	WEY	WRC	YEO
Altrincham		2–3	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	2–1	1–2	0–2	2–2	2–0	0–1	3–0	1–2	0–0	6–3	7–1
AP Leamington	0–1		0–2	1–1	0–1	2–2	0–4	0–2	2–3	1–0	3–3	3–3	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	1–5	0–2	0–1	2–2	0–1	2–5
Barnet	0–0	0–0		1–2	0–1	0–0	1–2	2–0	4–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–3	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–0	0–3	1–2	0–0
Barrow	1–0	4–2	2–1		0–1	1–0	2–2	2–0	0–2	2–0	3–1	7–2	2–0	6–1	1–1	3–2	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	3–1
Bath City	1–1	7–0	2–1	0–0		1–2	0–3	1–1	0–1	1–3	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	2–3	2–0
Boston United	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	4–0		3–4	3–2	1–0	3–1	2–2	4–2	6–0	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	4–2	1–0	0–2	3–2	0–0
Dagenham	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0		2–1	2–4	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–2	2–2	3–2	1–2	2–1	1–2	3–0
Dartford	0–1	2–2	2–1	0–2	1–1	2–1	0–3		0–2	1–0	0–1	2–2	2–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	5–0
Enfield	1–1	6–1	0–0	7–2	5–1	4–0	3–2	1–1		3–0	4–0	1–1	3–2	1–0	2–0	1–4	2–0	3–4	2–1	3–0	1–2	2–0
Frickley Athletic	1–1	4–1	0–1	2–1	1–3	4–1	3–1	3–0	1–1		1–1	3–2	0–3	1–0	2–0	2–3	2–0	0–0	2–0	0–1	1–2	2–1
Gravesend & Northfleet	1–1	4–1	2–3	3–1	0–2	3–1	1–2	1–0	1–2	4–1		1–3	2–2	0–1	2–4	3–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1
Kettering Town	5–4	1–2	5–2	0–2	1–3	1–1	3–1	4–4	0–1	0–0	2–1		2–2	0–0	0–0	1–2	3–0	1–3	4–0	1–2	0–1	1–1
Maidstone United	0–0	4–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	2–2	5–1	1–4	0–0	0–1	2–0		6–1	1–2	0–2	3–1	2–2	3–0	0–1	2–2	0–1
Northwich Victoria	2–0	3–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	3–4	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	3–1		1–1	2–1	1–2	2–2	0–0	0–2	3–0	1–1
Runcorn	5–4	3–0	1–0	0–0	5–1	4–0	1–0	4–2	2–0	1–0	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–1		2–0	1–0	2–3	2–0	3–1	5–2	2–1
Scarborough	1–3	6–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–4	0–1	5–0	1–0	0–0	0–4	3–0		1–0	0–0	3–1	2–1	1–0	2–2
Stafford Rangers	2–0	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–0	0–3	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–1		1–2	0–2	3–0	0–2	3–1
Telford United	4–3	2–0	3–0	0–0	0–2	4–1	0–2	2–0	0–0	7–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–3		2–0	2–0	3–2	2–1
Trowbridge Town	0–2	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	0–1	3–0	1–0	0–0	1–3	1–1	1–2		1–1	1–1	2–4
Weymouth	1–0	1–2	0–2	3–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	5–0	1–2	2–3	1–0	1–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	0–1	1–0		3–2	1–1
Worcester City	4–3	2–1	3–1	4–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–2	3–2	2–1	1–1	4–1	0–1	0–1	2–4	1–1	2–1	3–1	0–0		0–1
Yeovil Town	2–1	3–2	4–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	1–4	1–1	1–2	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	4–1	1–3	0–0	2–1	1–2	2–0	1–4	3–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1982–83. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1982.^[1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Altrincham

Barnet

Barrow

Bath City

Boston United

Dagenham

Dartford

Gravesend & N

Enfield

Frickley

Kettering Town

Leamington

Maidstone

Northwich Victoria

Runcorn

Scarborough

Stafford

Telford United

Trowbridge

Weymouth

Worcester City

Yeovil Town

Locations of the Alliance Premier League teams 1981–1982

Barnet

Dagenham

Dartford

Gravesend & Northfleet

Enfield

Locations of the Alliance Premier League 1981–1982 London teams

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total[1]
1	Williams	Scarborough	27
2	David Mather	Telford United	24
3	Aniello Iannone	Weymouth	23
4	Nicky Ironton	Enfield	20
=	Noel Ashford	Enfield	19
=	Atkins	Barnet	19
=	Burton	Dagenham	19
=	Reid	Northwich Victoria	19

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Bangor City (from the Northern Premier League)
• Nuneaton (from the Southern Premier League)
• Wealdstone (from the Southern Premier League)

All of these teams had been relegated from the Alliance Premier League after the 1981–82 season.

Relegated

• Dartford (to the Southern Premier League)
• Gravesend & Northfleet (to the Southern Premier League)
• AP Leamington (to the Southern Premier League)

Election to the Football League

This year Runcorn, the winners of the Alliance Premier League, could not apply for election because they did not meet Football League requirements. 2nd placed Enfield could not apply either for the same reasons, so 3rd placed Telford United won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1981–82 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Northampton Town	22nd (Fourth Division)	53
Crewe Alexandra	24th (Fourth Division)	50
Rochdale	21st (Fourth Division)	48
Scunthorpe United	23rd (Fourth Division)	48
Telford United	3rd (Alliance Premier League)	13

As a result of this, Telford United did not gain membership of the Football League.