Wearside Football League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wearside League | |
|---|---|
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| Country |  England |
| Founded |
1892 |
| Divisions | 1 |
| No. of teams | 17 |
| Feeder to | Northern League Division Two |
| Level(s) on pyramid | Level 11 |
| Website | Link |
The Wearside Football League is a football competition based in England. It consists of a single division which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System and is a feeder to the Northern League. The league has had a second division in the past but currently only operates with one. The Wearside League is fed by the Teesside Football League.
In the 2005-06 season, Whitehaven Amateurs won the league title, although it was second-placed Stokesley SC who moved up to the Northern League. In the 2006-07 season, 18 clubs took part in this league although one dropped out before Christmas.
The league also operates three cup competitions: the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup and the Shipowners' Charity Cup, both of which have been contested since the 1890s, and the League Challenge Cup, which came into being in the 1930s.
Contents |
[edit] Member clubs for 2006-07 season
| Annfield Plain |
| Birtley Town |
| Boldon CA |
| Cleator Moor Celtic |
| Coxhoe Athletic |
| Guisborough Black Swan |
| Hartlepool FC |
| Jarrow |
| New Marske Sports Club |
| Nissan SSC Sunderland (resigned mid-season) |
| South Shields Cleadon |
| South Shields Harton and Westoe CW |
| Sunderland Ryhope CW |
| Teesside Athletic |
| Whitehaven Amateurs |
| Willington |
| Windscale |
| Wolviston |
[edit] History
The Wearside League came into being in 1892 at the instigation of Charles Kirtley, secretary of a club called Sunderland Swifts. In June 1892 a letter written by Kirtley was published in a local newspaper in which he stated
| “ | I have been asked by several club secretaries if an organisation under the above title could not be formed to play home-and-home matches, and see which really was the best amateur team | ” |
At a meeting soon afterwards at the Central Coffee Tavern, eleven clubs agreed to form a league, which commenced playing later that year.
During the early years of the league most teams were extremely hard-up, and the league's archive records that one early club had no pitch but instead played on the sands by Sunderland Docks, and another had to play with an old rugby ball as they could not afford an association football ball. By the 20th century, however, the league was better off and was even able to organise matches to benefit local charities during World War I. After the Great War the league was dominated for many years by colliery welfare teams - in the 1930s every league title was won by a pit team and the mining clubs continued to dominate right through to the 1970s, although an increasing number began to experience financial difficulties from the 1950s onwards due to shrinking workforces at the mines.
In 1964 the North Eastern League was disbanded and a number of its former teams joined the Wearside League. Around this team the team of the 24th Signal Regiment spent one season in the league but then had to withdraw as most of their players were posted overseas. In 1978 Blue Star became the first Wearside League club to reach the final of the FA Vase, and went on to win the trophy, the start of a run of success which would ultimately see them progress much higher up the non-league ranks. Three years later Whickham repeated the feat and also soon moved up to higher leagues. More recently clubs such as Darlington Railway Athletic and North Shields have successfully moved up to the Northern League.
[edit] League champions since World War II
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