Non-League football matters to ...

PEACE OF MIND – Financial Solutions

Independent Mortgage Brokers and Ancillary Products

Private Health Care Specialists

01723 364 446

Office based and also home visits by qualified advisers

NORTHERN LEAGUE

Founded in 1889 for a number of the premier clubs in the North-East, the Northern League was for many years a ‘small’ competition, which developed into one of the leading amateur leagues in the country and provided many of the sides successful in the F.A. Amateur Cup. 

One of the more interesting things about the competition in its early period concerns a couple of its members – Middlesbrough Ironopolis and Sunderland Albion.  The ‘Nops’ were Teesside’s top club and provided the area with its first Football League club in 1893, by which time the team was, sadly, past its best.  Like their Wearside neighbours, Sunderland Albion, folded within a few years, never to resurface.  For Albion, this was perhaps even worse as the club never got its chance in the Football League and had to watch its chief rivals Sunderland AFC, with whom Albion were on a par, take all the glory.

For the first Northern League campaign there were 10 clubs involved – a number above which the league did not have in its opening 8 seasons.

Northern League Final Table 1889-1890

 

1	Darlington St. Augustine’s	18	12	2	4	39	17	26
2	Newcastle West End	18	12	2	4	44	24	26
3	Stockton	18	10	4	4	41	18	24
4	Newcastle East End	18	9	3	6	32	28	21
5	Darlington	18	7	6	5	46	20	20
6	Middlesbrough	18	8	3	7	42	37	19
7	South Bank	18	6	2	10	33	60	14
8	Auckland Town	18	4	4	10	41	49	12
9	Birtley	18	3	3	12	28	48	9
10	Elswick Rangers	18	2	5	11	21	66	9
		180	73	34	73	367	367	180

Northern League Final Table 1890-1891

 

1	Middlesbrough Ironopolis	14	9	2	3	37	24	20
2	Middlesbrough	14	8	3	3	33	17	19
3	Sunderland Albion	14	7	3	4	33	16	17
4	Stockton	14	8	1	5	38	19	17
5	Darlington	14	7	0	7	25	29	14
6	Newcastle East End	14	5	2	7	25	39	12
7	Newcastle West End	14	3	4	7	21	38	10
8	Darlington St. Augustine’s	14	0	3	11	14	44	3
		112	47	18	47	226	226	112

Northern League Final Table 1891-1892

 

1	Middlesbrough Ironopolis	16	14	1	1	49	13	29
2	Middlesbrough	16	13	0	3	33	13	26
3	Sheffield United	16	10	2	4	49	21	22
4	Newcastle East End	16	9	2	5	37	20	20
5	Stockton	16	6	2	8	31	34	14
6	Sunderland Albion	16	5	0	11	36	38	10
7	South Bank	16	3	2	11	21	50	8
8	Newcastle West End	16	4	0	12	21	56	8
9	Darlington	16	2	3	11	17	49	7
		144	66	12	66	294	294	144

Northern League Final Table 1892-1893

 

1	Middlesbrough Ironopolis	10	9	1	0	22	6	19
2	Newcastle United*	10	5	1	4	30	19	11
3	Sheffield United	10	4	2	4	18	16	10
4	Middlesbrough	10	4	0	6	17	17	8
5	Stockton	10	3	1	6	24	27	7
6	Darlington	10	2	1	7	11	37	5
		60	27	6	27	122	122	60

*Newcastle East End became Newcastle United on December 9^th, 1892

Middlesbrough Ironopolis and Newcastle United joined the Football League Division 2 at the end of the season.  Sheffield United were already in the League, had won promotion to Division 1 through the Test Match system and also left the competition.  The Northern League survived, however, becoming a purely amateur  league.

Northern League Final Table 1893-1894

 

1	Middlesbrough	14	11	1	2	51	16	23
2	Stockton	14	10	1	3	41	23	21
3	South Bank	14	8	0	6	36	34	16
4	Darlington	14	7	1	6	30	25	15
5	Bishop Auckland	14	6	0	8	41	39	12
6	Whitby	14	5	2	7	45	43	12
7	North Skelton Rovers	14	3	1	10	25	52	7
8	Darlington St. Augustine’s	14	3	0	11	25	62	6
		112	53	6	53	294	294	112

Northern League Final Table 1894-1895

 

1	Middlesbrough	18	12	5	1	58	17	29
2	South Bank	18	11	4	3	64	23	26
3	Tow Law	18	10	3	5	59	30	23
4	Darlington	18	11	0	7	56	30	22
5	Whitby	18	8	2	8	43	45	18
6	Stockton	18	8	1	9	44	37	17
7	Bishop Auckland	18	7	2	9	42	39	16
8	Howden Rangers	18	6	1	11	40	56	13
9	Darlington St. Augustine’s	18	5	3	10	38	66	13
10	North Skelton Rovers	18	1	1	16	16	117	3
		180	79	22	79	460	460	180

Northern League Final Table 1895-1896

 

1	Darlington	16	10	4	2	53	24	24
2	South Bank	16	9	2	5	44	20	20
3	Middlesbrough	16	8	4	4	28	22	20
4	Bishop Auckland	16	7	3	6	42	32	17
5	Tow Law	16	5	5	6	23	28	15
6	Whitby	16	6	3	7	23	38	15
7	Stockton	16	5	3	8	26	30	13
8	Howden-le-Wear	16	4	3	9	19	36	11
9	Saltburn Swifts	16	4	1	11	12	40	9
		144	58	28	58	270	270	144

Northern League Final Table 1896-1897

 

1	Middlesbrough	16	11	4	1	36	15	26
2	Darlington	16	10	2	4	54	35	22
3	South Bank	16	10	1	5	32	25	21
4	Stockton	16	7	3	6	37	24	17
5	Tow Law	16	7	1	8	29	25	15
6	Bishop Auckland	16	6	3	7	23	34	15
7	Crook Town	16	4	2	10	35	42	10
8	Leadgate Park	16	4	1	11	27	25	9
9	Darlington St. Augustine’s*	16	2	5	9	26	54	7
		144	61	22	61	299	279	142

*2 points deducted for breach of League rules

Saltburn Swifts resigned from the competition, after playing 13 games, on April 3^rd, 1897.  Their record at the time was 13-3-4-6-21-33-10 and the reasons for the withdrawal are unknown.  This departure may be part of the explanation as to why the goals for and goals against columns do not balance.