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NORTHERN COUNTIES (EAST) LEAGUE

Established in 1982, the Northern Counties (East) League took the best part of 10 years to settle into its present shape.  It was in an attempt to rationalise non-league soccer below the Northern Premier League to the east of the Pennines that talks were held between the Midland League, the Northern League and the Yorkshire League around 1980 about some kind of merger.  After the Northern League decided to continue as a separate entity, the other two competitions agreed to join together.  The original name agreed on was ‘The Northern Combination’, but with a league of that name already in existence, the present title was chosen.

It was accepted that the Midland League was the stronger competition, so 15 of the clubs forming the 20-strong Premier Division came from there, with two pairs of 14-strong regional sections (North and South) below this.  The opening three seasons saw a variety of changes, with various clubs pulling out for one reason or another, but the reorganisation which went with this led to a dramatic upheaval after the 1986-1987 season had finished.  Rarely have politics played such an important role in the history of a football competition.  The Miners’ Strike of the mid-1980s led to a split in the Miners’ Union and created bad feeling between those communities with teams in the northern part of the NCEL and those with teams in the southern area.   In 1987 there was a ‘mass withdrawal’, by which many ‘southern area’ clubs left, man joining the Central Midlands League.  Further departures, to the same competition or to the newly-formed Northern Premier League, over the next few years made it necessary for readjustment within the NCEL, with the two-division system finally being moved to for the 1991-1992 season.

Final tables for the first season were as follows:

Northern Counties (East) League Premier Division Final Table 1982-1983

 

1	Shepshed Charterhouse	38	24	8	6	109	34	56
2	Eastwood Town	38	21	11	6	71	41	53
3	Belper Town	38	21	10	7	75	32	52
4	Spalding United	38	19	14	5	69	44	52
5	Guiseley	38	21	9	8	72	35	51
6	Winterton Rangers	38	20	9	9	55	32	49
7	Thackley	38	18	11	9	62	42	47
8	Arnold	38	17	12	9	77	56	46
9	Heanor Town	38	17	12	9	50	43	46
10	Emley	38	14	11	13	74	58	39
11	Appleby Frodingham	38	15	9	14	59	61	39
12	Guisborough Town	38	16	6	16	59	59	38
13	Alfreton Town	38	16	3	19	47	55	35
14	Sutton Town	38	12	10	16	59	64	34
15	Ilkeston Town	38	10	11	17	50	73	31
16	Boston Town	38	10	11	17	53	91	31
17	Bridlington Trinity	38	10	3	25	39	89	23
18	Skegness Town	38	5	8	25	46	82	18
19	Bentley Victoria Welfare	38	6	2	30	44	107	14
20	Mexborough Town	38	2	2	34	32	104	6
		760	294	172	294	1202	1202	760

Northern Counties (East) League Division 1 North Final Table 1982-1983

 

1	Scarborough Reserves	26	17	6	3	53	20	40
2	North Ferriby United	26	14	10	2	48	24	38
3	Farsley Celtic	26	13	8	5	53	30	34
4	Harrogate Town	26	12	10	4	42	23	34
5	Garforth Town	26	13	6	7	38	30	32
6	Ossett Town	26	13	5	8	43	30	31
7	Ossett Albion	26	8	10	8	41	38	26
8	Liversedge	26	8	9	9	35	35	25
9	Bradley Rangers	26	8	7	11	41	51	23
10	Leeds Ashley Road	26	7	6	13	30	44	20
11	Hatfield Main	26	6	5	15	31	50	17
12	Bridlington Town	26	3	10	13	28	49	16
13	York Railway Institute	26	4	6	16	39	64	14
14	Hall Road Rangers	26	4	6	16	22	56	14
		364	130	104	130	544	544	364

Northern Counties (East) League Division 1 South Final Table 1982-1983

 

1	Lincoln United	26	16	7	3	55	25	39
2	Staveley	26	16	4	6	50	30	36
3	Sheffield	26	12	8	6	48	34	32
4	Frecheville Community Association	26	12	7	7	35	28	31
5	Denaby United	26	11	8	7	54	41	30
6	Maltby Main	26	10	9	7	50	43	29
7	Parkgate	26	9	6	11	37	37	24
8	Arnold Kingswell	26	8	8	10	43	46	24
9	Dronfield United	26	10	3	13	32	37	23
10	Hallam	26	9	5	12	31	44	23
11	Harworth Colliery Institute	26	5	12	9	34	35	22
12	Long Eaton United	26	8	6	12	33	40	22
13	Brigg Town	26	4	7	15	26	59	15
14	Kimberley Town	26	3	8	15	29	58	14
		364	133	98	133	557	557	364

Northern Counties (East) League Division 2 North Final Table 1982-1983

 

1	Rowntree Mackintosh	26	18	6	2	73	29	42
2	Pontefract Collieries	26	18	4	4	63	29	40
3	Tadcaster Albion	26	15	5	6	48	34	35
4	Yorkshire Amateur	26	9	9	8	48	38	27
5	Pilkington Recreation	26	10	7	9	44	44	27
6	Grimethorpe Miners Welfare	26	8	10	8	36	32	26
7	Collingham & Linton	26	10	6	10	40	43	26
8	Phoenix Park (Bradford)	26	11	3	12	43	44	25
9	Fryston Colliery Welfare	26	9	5	12	45	47	23
10	Thorne Colliery	26	9	5	12	37	57	23
11	Brook Sports	26	8	6	12	32	47	22
12	Selby Town	26	8	5	13	38	46	21
13	Pickering Town	26	7	6	13	26	40	20
14	Harrogate Railway	26	2	3	21	19	62	7
		364	142	80	142	592	592	364

Northern Counties (East) League Division 2 South Final Table 1982-1983

 

1	Woolley Miners Welfare	26	19	4	3	61	13	42
2	Borrowash Victoria	26	16	8	2	57	20	40
3	Worsbrough Bridge Athletic	26	15	3	8	47	40	33
4	Oakham United	26	14	4	8	51	44	32
5	Stocksbridge Works	26	12	6	8	41	26	30
6	Graham Street Prims	26	12	5	9	49	33	29
7	Kiveton Park	26	11	6	9	52	40	28
8	Long Eaton Grange	26	9	6	11	40	45	24
9	Blidworth Welfare	26	10	3	13	40	46	23
10	Rolls Royce Hucknall	26	7	9	10	45	59	23
11	Creswell Colliery	26	8	3	15	37	60	19
12	Retford Rail	26	6	4	16	29	57	16
13	Wombwell Sports Association	26	3	8	15	18	44	14
14	Sutton Trinity	26	3	5	18	19	59	11
		364	145	74	145	586	586	364