British Football League

A British Football League is a proposed association football league in the United Kingdom that would involve the merger of clubs from the present Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish football league systems into the larger English football league system. It is considered a possibility distinct enough that police in Scotland have reviewed their anti-hooliganism framework in preparation for its creation. [cite web |url=http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/justice1/papers-04/j1p04-01.pdf |title=Justice 1 Committee Agenda |accessdate=2007-02-18 |last= |first= |date=7 January 2004 |publisher=Scottish Parliament |format=PDF |pages=p.27 ]

A supporter of the proposal was Roger Mitchell, the chief executive of the Scottish Premier League between 1998 and 2002. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1385062.stm |title=Dons chief backs British Cup |accessdate=2007-02-16 |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=12 June 2001 |publisher=BBC News ] FIFA President Sepp Blatter reacted positively to such an idea, but said he would prefer this to be done in conjunction with the amalgamation of the four British football associations. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/3491692.stm |title=Blatter praises Celtic Park |accessdate=2007-02-16 |date=27 February 2004 |publisher=BBC News ]

Alternative proposals

The formation of a British league is merely a single proposal, and several other suggestions have been made to reduce the divide between club football in the Home Nations.

British Cup

A 'British Cup', that is a domestic cup competition involving teams from all league systems, has been proposed. Originally, the FA Cup included teams from across the United Kingdom, and this continued even after the Scottish Cup was established; Queen's Park of Glasgow reached the FA Cup final in 1884 and 1885. With questions being asked about the future of both the English League Cup and the Scottish League Cup, it has been suggested that they be merged into a single competition. [cite web |url=http://www.squarefootball.net/article/article.asp?aid=2859 |title=League Cup: What’s the future of the competition? |accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Illingworth |first=Colin |date=2 March 2006 |publisher=Square Football ] Other plans for the respective League Cups involve a merger between the later stages of the competitions, [cite web |url=http://www.soccernet.com/england/news/2002/0206/20020206supercup.html |title=English and Scots offered League Cup tonic |accessdate=2007-02-18 |first=Ian |last=Cole |coauthors=Johnson, Dale |date=6 February 2002 |publisher=ESPN Soccernet ] and an annual play-off between the two winning clubs. [cite web |url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport.cfm?id=1380832003 |title=Scottish clubs back plans for British Cup |accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Halliday |first=Stephen |date=17 December 2003 |publisher=The Scotsman ] Cup competitions involving English and Scottish teams has been attempted before, in the form of the Texaco Cup and the Anglo-Scottish Cup, but these were not successful.

Expansion of the English League

Supporters of the Old Firm clubs, Celtic and Rangers, have frequently argued that they should be admitted into the Premier League, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/1435355.stm Celtic set for English future] , BBC Sport, 12 July 2001.] but the Premier League have consistently rejected this proposal. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1707026.stm Premiership rejects Old Firm] , BBC Sport, 13 December 2001.] With a direct path to the Premier League blocked, it was proposed that the Old Firm would join the Football League instead. They would have then attempted to gain promotion to the Premier League in the same way as any other English club, but this proposal was also rejected. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1683190.stm Breakaway league dismissed] , BBC Sport, 29 November 2001.]

At one point Wimbledon F.C. hoped to relocate to Dublin, which would have expanded the Premier League into Ireland. [ [http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1998/02/07/phead.htm Soccer News, January 19, 1998 ] ]

Atlantic League

Due to the possible paths to the English league system being blocked, the Old Firm also considered joining an 'Atlantic League'. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/1468147.stm Atlantic League back on the agenda ] ] This would have incorporated the top teams from Scotland, Portugal, Netherlands and Belgium. The plan was to have this competition work alongside the existing UEFA competitions and their own domestic cup competitions. The idea was never supported by UEFA and enthusiasm seems to have faded for this proposal in recent years. [ [http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/141370/fifa-vp-warns-of-atlantic-league-plans Fifa Vp Warns Of Atlantic League Plans ] ]

All-Ireland League

It is highy likely that in the near future the IFA and the FAI will organise an all-Ireland league, combining the top clubs in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/7137981.stm BBC SPORT | Football | Irish | All-Ireland League plan reported ] ] The FAI Chief Executive John Delaney admitted that the new all-Ireland competition will probably happen, but not until the League of Ireland's existing television deal with Setanta expires in 2012. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/7193678.stm BBC SPORT | Football | Irish | All-Ireland warning from Delaney ] ] The sports management company Platinum One proposed a league involving 12 teams: 8 from Ireland and 4 from Northern Ireland (including Derry City, currently playing in the FAI League of Ireland). [cite web |url=http://www.allirelandpremierleague.com/news.html |title= All Ireland Premier League News |accessdate= 2008-04-07] It is not yet clear whether the league would be made up entirely of existing clubs, or whether a franchise system (such as that used by Rugby Union's Celtic League) will be used, tapping into all the major Irish population centres. However, John Delaney, chief executive of the FAI made it clear that the FAI League of Ireland was moving in the right direction already an that the idea was not valid. In September 2008, Fintan Drury said the idea had been abandoned as the company, Platinum One, and all Irish soccer clubs were assured that this idea was already being implemented in the current structure. This satisfied Fintan, and he withdrew the idea in the middle of the month.

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