Football Alliance

The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.

Football Alliance
Founded1889
Folded1892
CountryEngland
Number of teams12

History

It was formed by 12 clubs as an alternative to the Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 season, also with 12 member clubs. The Alliance covered a similar area to the League, stretching from the English Midlands to the North West, but also further east in Sheffield, Grimsby and Sunderland. Some of the clubs which founded the Alliance had played in The Combination the year before, but that league collapsed as a result of the disarray and lack of organisation. The president of the Football Alliance was John Holmes, also the president of The Wednesday who were the first champions winning fifteen games out of twenty-two.

At the end of the Alliance's first season, when Stoke dropped out of the Football League to be replaced by Sunderland, the Alliance accepted them as a new member. The following year, Stoke and Darwen, another Alliance club, were accepted into the Football League, taking its membership to 14 clubs.

In 1892 it was decided to merge the two leagues, and so the Football League Second Division was formed, consisting mostly of Football Alliance clubs. The existing League clubs, plus three of the strongest Alliance clubs, comprised the Football League First Division.

Member clubs
ClubAdmittedResigned
Ardwick189118922
Birmingham St George's18891892
Bootle188918922
Burton Swifts189118922
Crewe Alexandra188918922
Darwen188918911
Grimsby Town188918922
Lincoln City189118922
Long Eaton Rangers18891890
Newton Heath188918921
Nottingham Forest188918921
Small Heath188918922
Stoke189018911
Sunderland Albion18891891
The Wednesday188918921
Walsall Town Swifts188918922
Notes

1 Elected to Football League First Division
2 Elected to Football League Second Division

Football Alliance champions
Season Winners
1889–90The Wednesday
1890–91Stoke
1891–92Nottingham Forest
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References
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