AFA Record - March 2003

The report below was originally published in the March 2003 issue of the AFA Record.

At time of writing the London Legal League season is all but over. All league titles, promotions and relegation issues have been decided, with just the two cup finals to be played. Slaughter & May are due to meet Grays Inn in the Challenge Cup Final, whilst CMS Cameron McKenna face Simmons & Simmons in the Weavers Cup.

The division one title was taken by Slaughter & May, hotly pursued by KPMG Ice throughout. Perhaps their biggest concern throughout the final stretch were Linklaters. Rock bottom at Christmas with five points from ten games, Linklaters finished with twenty from their final eight. Too much of a handicap to threaten to take the league title, but their two wins over Slaughters’ caused anxious moments. With Linklaters surge up the table, newly promoted CMS Cameron McKenna found themselves returning whence they came, relegated along with Lovells.

In Division Two Baker & McKenzie and Simmons & Simmons proved themselves the class of the division, and duly found themselves occupying the promotion spaces. The lower half of the division proved to be a season long dogfight to avoid relegation, with Allen & Overy looking favourites for much of the season. Yet a late season spurt from them saw Richards Butler slide into the bottom two and return to Division Three along with Herbert Smith.

Division Three saw a tale of four sides, and the Financial Service Authority and Denton Wilde Sapte B will still be wondering how they failed to get promoted. Newcomers Ashursts and champions MacFarlanes filled the spots and will play in Division Two next season.

The Representative season was truncated, with games against the Arthurian League and London University postponed. Only two games were played – with a 2-1 victory in November against the Amateur Football Combination and a 4-0 defeat in February away to Cambridge University. The latter saw Cambridge gain revenge for defeats in the past two seasons, and clearly a stronger university side was fielded with this in mind.