1889–90 Football Alliance

Football Alliance
Season 1889–90
Champions The Wednesday
Dropped out Long Eaton Rangers
Matches played 131
Goals scored 652 (4.98 per match)
Top goalscorer ?
Biggest home win ?
Biggest away win ?
Highest scoring ?
Longest winning run ?
Longest unbeaten run ?
Longest losing run ?
Highest attendance ?
Lowest attendance ?
Average attendance ?
Newton Heath (Manchester)
The Wednesday (Sheffield)
Locations of the Football Alliance 1889–90 teams

The 1889–1890 Football Alliance was the first season of the Football Alliance, an association football league which was set up in England as a rival to The Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 season. Like the Football League, the Alliance started with 12 member clubs and covered a similar area to the League, stretching from the Midlands to the North West, but also further east in Sheffield, Grimsby and Sunderland. However, the Alliance was seen as inferior to the Football League.[1]

Two points were awarded for a win and one point for a draw, each team played every other team once at home and once away from home. The Wednesday were the first champions; after hitting an eight match winning run which started in November, they found themselves at the top of the league by the end of December, and remained there for the rest of the season. Long Eaton Rangers finished last out of the 12 clubs and dropped out to join the Midland Football League.[1]

Contents

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L F A GD Pts
1 The Wednesday 22 15 2 5 70 39 + 31 32
2 Bootle 22 13 2 7 66 39 + 27 28
3 Sunderland Albion 21 12 2 7 64 39 + 25 28[2]
4 Grimsby Town 22 12 2 8 58 47 + 11 26
5 Crewe Alexandra 22 11 2 9 68 59 + 9 24
6 Darwen 22 10 2 10 70 75 – 5 22
7 Birmingham St George's 21 9 3 9 62 49 + 13 21[2]
8 Newton Heath 22 9 2 11 40 44 – 4 20
9 Walsall Town Swifts 22 8 3 11 44 59 – 15 19
10 Small Heath 22 6 5 11 44 67 – 23 17
11 Nottingham Forest 22 6 5 11 31 62 – 31 17
12 Long Eaton Rangers[3] 22 4 2 16 35 73 – 38 10

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points[1]

Key
Football Alliance Champions
Dropped out

Results

The results shown here are those of only Newton Heath,[4] Nottingham Forest,[5] Small Heath,[6] The Wednesday,[7] and a few of Darwen.[8] These results have been checked against the table, and no discrepancies were found. More results might be added as they emerge.

Home \ Away1 BSG BOO CRE DRW GRI LER NWH NOT SMH SUA WAL WED
Birmingham St George's 7–3 5–1 1–3 4–1 0–2
Bootle 5–1 4–1 2–0 6–0 4–1
Crewe Alexandra 2–2 1–1 6–2 2–0
Darwen 4–1 9–0 4–2 0–2 6–3 4–3
Grimsby Town 7–0 4–0 4–0 0–4
Long Eaton Rangers 0–3 5–3 0–2 2–0
Newton Heath 2–1 3–0 1–2 2–1 0–1 3–0 0–1 9–1 4–1 2–1 1–2
Nottingham Forest 2–2 2–2 2–5 3–1 1–2 1–1 1–3 0–0 3–1 3–0 1–3
Small Heath 3–2 2–2 0–2 6–2 3–1 3–1 1–1 12–0 1–3 0–2 2–2
Sunderland Albion 2–0 4–0 6–1 2–3
Walsall Town Swifts 4–0 1–3 1–1 2–2
The Wednesday 0–5 2–1 6–4 4–1 4–3 9–1 3–1 3–1 9–1 4–1 4–0

Source: see references
1The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

The Football League Election Process

At the Football League election meeting no vote was taken, but it was agreed that Burnley and Notts County were re-elected and that Sunderland was elected in place of Stoke, who played in the Football Alliance the following season but returned to the Football League after a year’s absence.

The applications of Football Alliance sides Bootle, Darwen, Grimsby Town, Newton Heath and Sunderland Albion were rejected.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c The Owl Football Historian
  2. ^ a b Sunderland Albion's point total includes two points awarded after Birmingham St George's
    refused to fulfil a fixture against them which had been ordered to be replayed by the management
    committee.
  3. ^ Dropped out of the Football Alliance to join the Midland League.
  4. ^ footballsite.co.uk
  5. ^ footballsite.co.uk
  6. ^ footballsite.co.uk
  7. ^ http://www.btinternet.com/~a.drake/owls/early/1889.htm
  8. ^ http://www.darwenfc.com/dcalvy/index.htm
  9. ^ footballsite.co.uk
1889–90 · 1890–91 · 1891–92
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FA competitions
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Accrington · Aston Villa · Blackburn Rovers · Bolton Wanderers · Burnley · Derby County · Everton · Notts County · Preston North End · Stoke · West Bromwich Albion · Wolverhampton Wanderers
Football Alliance
Birmingham St George's · Bootle · Crewe Alexandra · Darwen · Grimsby Town · Long Eaton Rangers · Newton Heath LYR · Nottingham Forest · Small Heath · Sunderland Albion · Walsall Town Swifts · The Wednesday