History Of England Football

History of England Football

Summary: The oldest (but not wisest) League in the world was founded in , and initially consisted of clubs in the midlands and north of England.

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Article Body: The oldest (but not wisest) League in the world was founded in , and initially consisted of clubs in the midlands and north of England. The FA cup, which initially embraced both Scottish and southern "non - league" clubs, had already been going since . It was not called the English League as initially it hoped it would grow to include Scottish clubs, but these later () formed their own league instead.

A second division was added by absorbing the rival Football Alliance in , and by it had member clubs. Initially the bottom four clubs had to apply for (re) - election, but this was reduced to three (/), then two (/), before reverting to four (two each for the regional Division -s) in /. Between and "test matches" (an early form of play - offs) were used to decide all promotion issues between the two divisions. The league stopped between and for the First World War, but resumed in the latter year with clubs. The league was still largely northern - and midlands - based, so in virtually the entire First Division of the rival southern League was absorbed as the FL-s Third Division. The following year a further batch of clubs from the midlands and north were added to make two regional Division `s, North and South.

Stopping again for the Second World War ( - ), it saw the creation of Division in , expansion by four clubs to in and the start of the League Cup in .