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The Manchester Football League
Origins
The Manchester League was set up in 1893 as a single division for clubs ‘in the Manchester area’, which is now defined as a circle centred in the city with a radius of approximately 20 miles. The first champions were Stretford. Bridgewater Office Supplies are the current sponsors of the Manchester League, the Premier Division of which is at Step 7 of the Non-League Football Pyramid and is a ‘feeder’ league for the North West Counties League.
Coverage
It has proved an interesting challenge to discover final league tables for the Manchester League for before 2004. Some, however, have been found and these can be accessed using the buttons above. There are problems with many of the tables that have been traced – columns which should balance don’t always do so, information is missing and some are ‘end of season’ guesses or suppositions.
Some seasons have not been traced at all and there seems every chance that a number of these never will come to light, not even appearing in the League’s official history, according to Mike P., whose Hyde United were 5 times champions between the 1st and 2nd World Wars. The local newspapers do not seem to have taken much interest.
The record, so far as can be traced, of the first phase of the League, 1893-1912, is in the process of being added to the site. The period 1950-2005 is already covered, though there are faults and gaps, before 1988, which it is still hoped can be sorted or filled – there must be records somewhere!
If YOU can help by filling some of the gaps, do us all a favour. Please contact the site or, if you prefer, someone from the Manchester League.
Membership 1893-1912
Thanks to the excellent ‘Non League Retrospect’ from 3-2 Books, it has been possible to compile a table showing all the clubs which started each season between 1893 and 1911. Some did not complete a season started and many swapped their first team for their reserve team for the 1911-1912 campaign.
Early history
The Manchester League of today began life as the ‘new’ Manchester League. There had been a competition of the same name previously. This seems to have run for only one season, 1890-1891. Only one of the clubs which played in that competition became a member of the league established in 1893, another joined in 1896 and a third became a member many years further on. We don’t know how many clubs started the 1890-91 season – 12 was a common number around the time. Ten sides seem to have finished the campaign, but the table below reflects either the fact that the full programme of matches was not played or that nobody kept (and published) a Final Table. It is quite remarkable therefore that the reason for a two-point deduction for one of the clubs is known – naughty, naughty – fielding an ineligible player. Here is that table, complete with a variety of errors there seems to be little hope of correcting due to a severe lack of reliable sources.
Thanks to President and Fixtures Secretary, Phil Morris, a list of champions of the Manchester League 1893-1894 to 1958-1959 is available and this is given below. The competition did not operate between 1912 and 1920, though the reasons for this are currently unknown. Champions 1893-1894 to 1958-1959
Growth of the Manchester League
In 1959 a second tier was created by the Manchester League, with Dukinfield Town the first winners of this division. A third tier, for reserve sides of clubs in the top two divisions was established in 1971, with further levels added, again for reserve or third teams of Manchester League clubs, in 1980 and 2005. Lists of the champions of the Manchester League’s top two divisions for the period 1959-1960 to 2008-2009 are given below.
Champions 1959-1960 to 2008-2009
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