British Football League

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The British Football League is a proposed association football league in the United Kingdom that would incorporate clubs from across the Home Nations. Its creation would involve the merger of the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish football league systems into the larger English football league system.

Supporters of the proposal include many club chairmen, the chairman of the SPL between 1998 and 2002,^[1] and some players.^[2]

FIFA President Sepp Blatter.^[3] has also reacted positivley to such an idea but would prefer if it happened alongside a merger of the four British football associations.

It is considered a possibility distinct enough that police in Scotland continuously review their anti-hooliganism framework in preparation for its creation.^[4]

1 Arguments for
2 Arguments against
3 Alternative proposals
4 References

Clubs in the smaller Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish league systems would be more financially successful if exposed to the larger market and audiences.^{[citation needed]}
Some of the largest metropolitan areas in the UK, such as Belfast, are poorly served by local football, due to the division^{[citation needed]}. The largest Welsh conurbations in the Cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport and the area around the town of Wrexham are served by the presence of their teams in the English leagues.
The UK is the only country to have multiple top-tier leagues covering similar-sized areas (within the People's Republic of China, excluded from the mainland football pyramid, lie the Hong Kong and Macau leagues, but they cover rather small areas).
Six Welsh clubs (Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County, Merthyr Tydfil and Colwyn Bay) already play in the English leagues, whilst one England-based team (Berwick Rangers) plays in the Scottish league.
Moving from one Home Nations' league to another is not unprecedented, even recently. Gretna F.C. (which is based just inside Scotland) moved from the English to the Scottish league system in 2003.
Even accepting the special nature of the Home Nations, several foreign countries have a joint league system, (examples: Australia and New Zealand; France and Monaco; Switzerland and Liechtenstein; the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico).
Most Welsh, and Northern Irish internationals play in the English league, and a combined league would allow crowds in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to see their own internationals on a regular basis.^{[citation needed]}

Each Home Nation has its own national side, and so should have its own league system (although prior to the formation of the then League of Wales in 1992, this wasn't the case).
Other countries may use such a merger to justify demands that the Home Nations' national teams merge as well: a move that would be unpopular amongst the majority of football fans.^{[citation needed]}
Altogether, the four separate leagues currently receive eight places (including those in qualifying) in the UEFA Champions League; currently, the maximum number of places for an individual league is four, so a merger would have to reduce the total number of European places.^{[citation needed]}
Determining the places of the teams would be very difficult; either non-English teams would start at the bottom of an enlarged English structure, or there would be a more complicated system.^{[citation needed]}
With the exception of the Scottish Premier League, the quality of league football outside England is relatively low, and few Welsh or Northern Irish league clubs would be capable of playing in the English Football League (even at the lower levels).^{[citation needed]} The Scottish league is also an average league, and the teams (except the SPL) would struggle against the top English sides.^{[citation needed]}
The separate leagues are ingrained in British football tradition and culture.^{[citation needed]}
If successful, some countries may demand to merge their leagues with their neighbours.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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.^[5] Other plans for the respective League Cups involve a merger between the later stages of the competitions,^[6] and an annual play-off between the two winning clubs.^[7] It is unlikely that any Welsh Premier League or Northern Irish side would compete in any of these configurations.^{[citation needed]}

Since the weakness of the smaller non-English clubs and the need to establish the correct level at which each club should begin are cited as disadvantages of a British league, the directors of the larger Scottish clubs have mooted the separation of only their clubs, leaving the rest of the Scottish league system intact. Since the formation of the English Premiership, in 1992, the two Glasgow 'Old Firm' clubs, Celtic and Rangers, have sought, unsuccessfully, to negotiate their own entry into the break-away league. More recently, Hearts have established themselves as Scotland's third club and, under the ownership of the ambitious Vladimir Romanov, have been mooted as another club that may be strong enough to make the leap to the English top flight.^[8]