History of The English Non-league Football System - Before 1979

Before 1979

In the late Nineteenth Century a number of different football leagues were developed. Of these, only the Football League and the Football Alliance had national and professional pretensions. The Football Alliance was merged into the Football League in 1892, creating a two tier competition. The Northern League (1889) and the Southern League (1894) were the principal regional leagues, with the Southern League the stronger of the two — it provided an FA Cup winner, Tottenham Hotspur in 1901, whilst northern side Bradford Park Avenue joined it in 1907, reflecting its strength. In 1920, the top division of the Southern League was merged into the Football League to form the Third Division; the following season a further division of teams from a series of northern leagues formed the Third Division North, with the existing league renamed the Third Division South accordingly.

From then on, the Southern League's influence was reduced, although it remained the second strongest competition in England. In 1968, the Northern Premier League was formed by the strongest clubs from the north of England, and after 1968, all League applicants came from either the Southern League or the Northern Premier League. The Northern League and the 1905-founded Isthmian League remained the strongest amateur leagues. The Isthmian League covered the area around London, whilst the Northern League was concentrated in North East England. Those two leagues dominated the FA Amateur Cup, collecting the trophy 50 times between them from 1894 to 1974. However, as both leagues were strictly amateur, none of their clubs applied directly for League status, although occasionally teams turned professional to seek stronger challenges, such as Wimbledon, who progressed from the Isthmian League to the Football League via the Southern League. This remaining group of regional amateur and semi-professional leagues formed a patchwork across England and Wales, collectively known as "non-League football". Non-League in this sense referred to outside of the national, professional Football League, rather than without a league. There was relatively little movement between leagues, although ambitious clubs could apply for membership of a stronger competition, often to replace a club that had folded.

Clubs in the strongest leagues could apply to join the Football League by standing in an annual election. The bottom four teams in the League's lowest division were also obliged to stand in the election, and the existing League members would vote on the four teams from all those applying. Typically, around 10–15 non-League teams applied each year, but most of them gained only a handful of votes, and between 1950 and 1979, only seven non-league clubs won election to the League at the expense of an existing League club. The teams that were successful were:

• 1951: Workington (North Eastern League) replaced New Brighton
• 1960: Peterborough United (Midland League) replaced Gateshead
• 1962: Oxford United (as Headington United) (Southern League) elected to fill the vacancy left by Accrington Stanley's resignation
• 1970: Cambridge United (Southern League) replaced Bradford Park Avenue
• 1972: Hereford United (Southern League) replaced Barrow
• 1977: Wimbledon (Southern League) replaced Workington
• 1978: Wigan Athletic (Northern Premier League) replaced Southport

In the mid-1970s the Football Association abolished the distinction between professionals and amateurs. The Isthmian League went on a slow process of professionalization, though even in the early 1980s many of its clubs were still amateur. The Northern League remained staunchly amateur and was eclipsed by the Northern Premier League; it refused to enter the National League System until 1991, by which stage many of its teams had defected to other leagues.