- Midland Football League
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There have been at least two different football competitions in England which used the name Midland Football League.
One existed until 1982 before merging with the Yorkshire League to form the Northern Counties (East) League.
Another changed its name from the Staffordshire Senior League in 1989 and lasted until 2005 when it merged with the Staffordshire County League to form the Staffordshire County Senior League.
Contents
Midland League 1889-1960
Founded in 1889, only one year after the Football League, the Midland League was the second league for professional clubs to be formed. Eleven clubs participated in the first season, 1889-90, four of whom (including the first Champions, Lincoln City) would go on to achieve Football League status. The eleven founder members came from no less than six different counties.
In the early days of the Midland League, a number of the Champion clubs were elected to the Football League, and in return, League clubs who failed to be re-elected were often placed in the Midland League. Lincoln City and Doncaster Rovers both had a number of spells in both the Football League and Midland League.
With the larger professional clubs becoming stronger, they looked to place their reserve side in the Midland League, Derby County being the first in 1894-95. Within less than a decade, more than half of the membership of the Midland League was made up of reserve teams.
Along with most other leagues, the Midland League closed down for the duration of World War I. When football resumed in 1919-20, the Midland League began to take on a different look. Three clubs (Chesterfield, Halifax Town and Lincoln City) joined the Football League when that organisation expanded to form a Third Division North, and the reserve sides of Football League clubs gradually left. More Midland League clubs progressed to the Football League, e.g. York City in 1929, and Mansfield Town in 1932.
Again, on the outbreak of World War II, the Midland League closed down, and resumed again in peacetime in 1945. After reaching a constitution of 24 clubs in 1946-47, the league entered a decade of stability. Peterborough United won the title for five consecutive seasons from 1955-56 to 1959-60. With most of the remaining Football League clubs reserve sides leaving in 1958, the league was reduced to a rump of just 9 clubs, but was saved when the North Eastern League, a competition which had also suffered from the withdrawal of reserve sides, decided to disband, and the Midland League accepted into membership a number of north eastern sides, well to the north of its usual catchment area.
However, this lifeline was to prove short lived. A new league, the Northern Counties League, was formed in 1960 and all the former North Eastern League clubs moved to the new competition. Peterborough United were elected to the Football League (the last Midland League club to achieve this feat), and the Midland League closed down through lack of numbers.
Champions
The champion clubs during this era were as follows:[1]
Midland Counties League 1961-1982
After a single year without a Midland League, a re-formed competition entitled the Midland Counties League was formed, although common practice was still to refer to it as the "Midland League" and it is usually treated as a continuation of the former competition in reference sources.[1] A few of the previous member clubs re-joined, with a number of new members, principally from the Central Alliance. With the formation of the Northern Premier League in 1968, the Midland League lost four of its most successful clubs, but by now the competition was a strong league again and more clubs were looking to join than the league had vacancies. To cater for this, the league formed a second division in 1975-76. This division became "Division One" while the previous clubs formed the "Premier Division". Clubs had to achieve a high level of facilities to join the Premier Division, and in the seven seasons in which the two division format was used, no clubs were actually able to move from the lower to the upper tier.[1]
When senior football in the north of England was rationalised in 1982, the Midland League was one of those affected. The league closed down, merging with the Yorkshire League to form the Northern Counties East League as a feeder league to the Northern Premier League.
Champions
The champion clubs during this era were as follows:[1]
Premier Division
- 1962 Matlock Town
- 1963 Loughborough United
- 1964 Grantham Town
- 1965 Lockheed Leamington
- 1966 Worksop Town
- 1967 Gainsborough Trinity
- 1968 Ilkeston Town
- 1969 Matlock Town
- 1970 Alfreton Town
- 1971 Grantham Town
- 1972 Grantham Town
- 1973 Worksop Town
- 1974 Alfreton Town
- 1975 Boston
- 1976 Eastwood Town
- 1977 Alfreton Town
- 1978 Brigg Town
- 1979 Boston
- 1980 Belper Town
- 1981 Boston
- 1982 Shepshed Charterhouse
Division One
- 1976 Brimington
- 1977 Long Eaton Grange
- 1978 Staveley Works
- 1979 Long Eaton Grange
- 1980 Arnold Kingswell
- 1981 Borrowash Victoria
- 1982 Staveley Works
Midland League 1994-2005
The Staffordshire Senior League was formed in 1984 and was a true County league, taking its clubs from Staffordshire and the areas immediately adjacent. When the league wanted to raise its profile, and attract clubs from a wider area, the decision was made to rename the league as the "Midland League" with effect from the 1994-95 season. There is no direct connection to the earlier league of the same name, and the level of football was much lower, with the competition being a feeder to the North West Counties League in the pyramid.
The "new" Midland League consisted of two divisions for the first three seasons, and from 1997 a single grouping. With a merger with the Staffordshire County League in 2005, the new competition became known as the Staffordshire County Senior League, and the Midland League title again fell into disuse.
Champions
The champion clubs during this era were as follows:
Division One
- 1995 Ball Haye Green[2]
- 1996 Leek CSOB[3]
- 1997 Norton United[4]
- 1998 Audley[5]
- 1999 Norton United[4]
- 2000 Stone Dominoes[6]
- 2001 Norton United[4]
- 2002 Eccleshall[7]
- 2003 Eccleshall[7]
- 2004 Abbey Hulton United[8]
- 2005 Hanley Town[9]
Division Two
- 1995 Florence
- 1996 Baddeley Green
- 1997 Foley[10]
References
- ^ a b c d RSSSF
- ^ Ball Haye Green at the Football Club History Database
- ^ Leek CSOB at the Football Club History Database
- ^ a b c Norton United at the Football Club History Database
- ^ Audley at the Football Club History Database
- ^ Stone Dominoes at the Football Club History Database
- ^ a b Eccleshall at the Football Club History Database
- ^ Abbey Hulton United at the Football Club History Database
- ^ Hanley Town at the Football Club History Database
- ^ Staffs County Senior League website
Categories:- Reserve football leagues in England
- Defunct football leagues in England
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