History of the English football league system

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The National League System consists of a group of semi-professional football leagues in England, below the fully-professional FA Premier League and The Football League. The NLS spans seven levels of the overall English football league system, and consists of around 80 divisions in total.

Although many of the leagues within the National League System have been around for a long time, the System itself is a fairly recent development. It was created by The Football Association in the 1990s to bring together various ad-hoc arrangements from around the country, and to give clubs a clear path of promotion and relegation from the lower levels of the pyramid right through to the professional leagues.

For more information on the current structure of the NLS, see the main article.

Contents

Football League Fourth Division
Northern Premier League Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
  Southern League
First Division North		 Southern League
First Division South		 Isthmian League
First Division
      Isthmian League
Second Division

Before 1979, the only national football league in England and Wales was the professional Football League, often known simply as "the League". Beyond the League was a patchwork of regional semi-professional and amateur leagues, collectively known as "non-League football" (a somewhat misleading title, as it could imply that teams did not play in leagues at all). There was relatively little movement between leagues, although ambitious clubs could apply for membership of a stronger competition, often to replace a club that had folded.

Clubs in the strongest leagues could apply to join the Football League by standing in an annual election. The bottom four teams in the League's lowest division were also obliged to stand in the election, and the existing League members would vote on the four teams from all those applying. Typically, around 10-15 non-League teams applied each year, but most of them gained only a handful of votes, and between 1950 and 1979, only seven non-league clubs won election to the League at the expense of an existing League club. The teams that were successful [1] were:

The Southern League, covering the southern two-thirds of England and Wales, was founded in 1894 and is one of the oldest leagues still in existence. Prior to World War I it was considered to be the strongest competitor to the Football League — Southern League team Tottenham Hotspur won the FA Cup in 1900-01, for example. When the Southern League appeared to be strengthening after the war, the Football League took the step of creating a Third Division consisting of all the Southern League's strongest clubs. From then on, the Southern League's influence was reduced, although it remained the second strongest competition in England. In 1968, the Northern Premier League was formed by the strongest clubs from the north of England, and after 1968, all League applicants came from either the Southern League or the Northern Premier League.

The strongest amateur leagues were the Isthmian League and the Northern League. The Isthmian League (founded 1905) covered the area around London, whilst the Northern League (founded 1889) was concentrated in North East England. Those two leagues dominated the FA Amateur Cup, collecting the trophy 50 times between them from 1894 to 1974. However, as both leagues were strictly amateur, none of their clubs applied directly for League status, although occasionally teams turned professional to seek stronger challenges, such as Wimbledon, who progressed from the Isthmian League to the Football League via the Southern League.

In the mid-1970s the Football Association abolished the distinction between professionals and amateurs. The Isthmian League went on a slow process of professionalization, though even in the early 1980s many of its clubs were still amateur. The Northern League remained staunchly amateur and was eclipsed by the Northern Premier League; it refused to enter the National League System until 1991, by which stage many of its teams had defected to other leagues.

Football League Fourth Division
Alliance Premier League
Northern Premier League Southern League
Midland Division		 Southern League
Southern Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
      Isthmian League
First Division
      Isthmian League
Second Division

In 1979, the Alliance Premier League (now known as the Football Conference) was formed by a group of leading Southern League and Northern Premier League clubs. The Southern and Northern Premier Leagues became "feeder" leagues to the APL, with automatic promotion and relegation between them. The Isthmian League, while it was now becoming recognised as one of the strongest semi-professional leagues, remained outside the fledgling "pyramid". The Southern League also restructured, reducing itself from three divisions to two (running in parallel) to compensate for the loss of many of its Premier Division clubs to the new league.

One of the reasons for the creation of the APL was so that there would be a single club each year that could apply for Football League status, so as not to split the favourable votes between several clubs, as had happened in many previous years. Some years even saw the applicants receive more votes combined than any of the clubs up for re-election. (For example, 1973 [2], 1974 [3], 1975 [4] and 1976[5]). However, the League was still reluctant to increase its turnover of clubs, and none of the early APL champions succeeded in gaining election.

Football League Fourth Division
Alliance Premier League
Northern Premier League Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
  Southern League
Midland Division		 Southern League
Southern Division		 Isthmian League
First Division
      Isthmian League
Second Division

In 1982, the Southern League reinstated its Premier Division, absorbing 13 clubs from various smaller regional leagues. From this season onwards, the exchange of clubs between the regional leagues and the "big three" feeder leagues increased considerably, with around 8 clubs each season being promoted to the Southern, Northern Premier or Isthmian Leagues, and around 5 being relegated (the balance being made up of clubs folding or merging).

Southern League feeders 1982-2003:

The Midland Alliance was formed in 1994 by clubs from the West Midlands (Regional) League and the Midland Combination. The Leicestershire Senior League is currently also a feeder league to the Alliance.

The Wessex League was formed in 1986 by clubs from the Hampshire League and from some neighbouring counties; it superseded the Hampshire League as a direct feeder for the Southern League.

Isthmian League feeders 1982-2003:

The Spartan South Midlands League was formed in 1998 by a merger of the Spartan League and the South Midlands League.

A rationalisation of feeder leagues in the north of England took place in 1982. The Northern League remained untouched, but the Yorkshire League and the Midland League amalgamated to form the Northern Counties (East) League, while to the west of the Pennines, the Cheshire County League and the Lancashire Combination joined forces to become the North West Counties League. Both these leagues became feeders for the Northern Premier League, but without automatic promotion and relegation — clubs still had to apply to join the higher league.

Northern Premier League feeders 1982-2003:

Football League Fourth Division
Alliance Premier League
Northern Premier League Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
  Southern League
Midland Division		 Southern League
Southern Division		 Isthmian League
First Division
      Isthmian League
Second Division North		 Isthmian League
Second Division South

In 1984, the Isthmian League absorbed the Athenian League, forming two parallel Second Divisions, and in 1985, it was accepted as a third feeder to the APL (although two Isthmian clubs, Dagenham and Enfield, had joined the APL in 1981). The Southern League and Isthmian League's footprints overlapped considerably, with both having members throughout the south east of England, but despite occasional transfers between the two leagues, there was no concerted effort to fix their common boundary, and clubs in the South East were more or less free to choose which league to play in. In particular Yeovil Town, who had been a long-standing Southern League member until they became founder members of the APL, played in the Isthmian League from 1985-88, and again from 1995-97, despite being based 100 miles from any of their opponents.

Football League Fourth Division
Football Conference
Northern Premier League
Premier Division		 Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
Northern Premier League
First Division		 Southern League
Midland Division		 Southern League
Southern Division		 Isthmian League
First Division
        Isthmian League
Second Division North		 Isthmian League
Second Division South

From 1987, the Conference champions were finally granted automatic promotion to the Football League. Over the next few years, the clubs relegated from the League were typically able to rebound straight away, with Lincoln City, Darlington and Colchester United all gaining promotion in one or two seasons [1].(although Newport County, relegated in 1988, went bankrupt partway through their first Conference season).

Also in 1987, the Northern Premier League created a new First Division, with its existing clubs forming the Premier Division. Automatic promotion and relegation was then instigated with its feeder leagues.

Football League Third Division
Football Conference
Northern Premier League
Premier Division		 Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
Northern Premier League
First Division		 Southern League
Midland Division		 Southern League
Southern Division		 Isthmian League
First Division
      Isthmian League
Second Division
      Isthmian League
Third Division

Football League Third Division
Football Conference
Northern Premier League
Premier Division		 Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
Northern Premier League
First Division		 Southern League
Division One West		 Southern League
Division One East		 Isthmian League
First Division North		 Isthmian League
First Division South
      Isthmian League
Second Division

Football League Two
Conference National
Conference North Conference South
Northern Premier League
Premier Division		 Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
Northern Premier League
First Division		 Southern League
Division One West		 Southern League
Division One East		 Isthmian League
First Division
Isthmian League Second Division and 14 other feeder leagues

Football League Two
Conference National
Conference North Conference South
Northern Premier League
Premier Division		 Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
Northern Premier League
First Division		 Southern League
Division One Midlands		 Southern League
Division One South & West		 Isthmian League
First Division North		 Isthmian League
First Division South
14 feeder leagues

  • Conference National (Level 5) increased to twenty-four clubs.
  • Levels 6 and 7 remained unchanged.
  • The number of Level 8 divisions increased from four to five.
    • The Isthmian League's existing First Division was split into parallel (north and south) divisions.
    • The Southern League's two Division Ones were split into Midlands and South and West divisions, rather than the previous West and East split.
    • The Northern Premier League continued to have only one First Division, but it is planned to bring it into line and have two parallel First Divisions at some point in the future.
    • Each Level 8 division should have had twenty-two clubs, but for the 2006-07 season the Northern Premier League First Division will run with twenty-four clubs.
  • At Level 9, the number of divisions operating was reduced from fifteen to fourteen, with the Isthmian League Second Division discontinued. It was planned to reduce the number of divisions to twelve but there was no consensus on how this would have been achieved, so 2006-07 ran with fourteen leagues at this level. Each Level 9 division has between eighteen and twenty-two clubs.

It was hoped that the restructuring will improve the lower levels of the system in a number of ways. There will be less travelling for the Level 8 clubs as there will be five divisions, not four. This will be of particular benefit to Midlands-based clubs who will now predominantly compete in the Southern League Division One Midlands, rather than being split between the geographically larger older divisions. There should also be less overlapping at Level 9.

Lower down the pyramid, the Liverpool County Combination merged with the I Zingari League to form the Liverpool County Premier League, while the Somerset County League changed the format of its lower divisions. Instead of a Division Two and a Division Three, a geographical split has been made with a Division Two East and a Division Two West being formed. Also, the East Cornwall Premier League changed its name to the East Cornwall League, divided into two divisions (Premier Division and Division One). In a purely cosmetic change, the Bedford & District League became the Bedfordshire League.

Football League Two
Conference National
Conference North Conference South
Northern Premier League
Premier Division		 Southern League
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
Premier Division
Northern Premier League
First Division East and Yorkshire		 Northern Premier League
First Division West		 Southern League
Division One Midlands		 Southern League
Division One South & West		 Isthmian League
First Division North		 Isthmian League
First Division South
12 feeder leagues

  1. ^ a b Promotion to/Relegation from the Football League by year. Retrieved on November 20, 2006.
  2. ^ footballsite - Division 4 1972/73. Retrieved on November 20, 2006.
  3. ^ footballsite - Division 4 1973/74. Retrieved on November 20, 2006.
  4. ^ footballsite - Division 4 1974/75. Retrieved on November 20, 2006.
  5. ^ footballsite - Division 4 1975/76. Retrieved on November 20, 2006.
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