the conference league was the first to promoted under the name and was an entirely amateur competition contested by thirteen teams (many were junior sides belonging to their parent clubs). the league expanded from the eight that had begun the previous season's 1995 academy league - berwick, buxton, devon, linlithgow, mildenhall, and sittingbourne all returned from 1995, and were joined by arena essex, eastbourne, owlerton, peterborough, reading, ryde, and swindon. stoke and cleveland did not return from 1995.