The Wearside Football League is a

non-league Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition based in

northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 of the

National League System The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Football Association. The National League System has a ...

(levels 11 to 13 of the

Football pyramid Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

) and is a feeder to the Northern League Division Two. Founded in 1892, the Wearside League's level has fluctuated in its history, though it has typically sat below the Northern League. The league's high point was probably during the 1960s and 70s after several teams from the defunct

North Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although ...

joined it; Wearside League teams won the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

in 1978 and 1981. With the restructuring of the National League System in the early 2000s its place at step 7 became fully established, helped by a merger with the Durham Alliance Combination League in 2017. The league has expanded and contracted its number of divisions over the years, and as of 2021-22 consists of three divisions. Although centred on

Wearside Wearside () is a built-up area in County Durham and Tyne and Wear, England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sunderland Built- ...

and County Durham, the league has contained teams from

Tyneside Tyneside is a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne in Northern England. The population of Tyneside as published in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 774,891 ...

as well, with some geographical overlap with the

Northern Football Alliance The Northern Football Alliance is a football league based in the North East, England. It has four divisions headed by the Premier Division, which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club in the Premier Division i ...

at the leagues' borders. Teams from Northern

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

and

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

also compete in the league. The league also operates three cup competitions: the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup and the Shipowners' Charity Cup, both of which have been contested since the 1890s, and the League Challenge Cup, which came into being in the 1930s.

History

The Wearside League came into being in 1892 at the instigation of Charles Kirtley, secretary of

Sunderland Swifts Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. In June 1892, a letter written by Kirtley was published in the ''Sunderland Daily Post'' and ''The Herald'' in which he stated that he had been asked by several club secretaries about the possibility of forming an organisation to play home-and-home matches, so as to find out which was the best amateur team. A similar letter was published in the ''Sunderland Daily Echo''. At a meeting soon afterwards at the Central Coffee Tavern, eleven clubs agreed to form a league, which commenced playing later that year. During the early years of the league most teams were extremely hard-up, and the league's archive records that one early club had no pitch but instead played on the sands by Sunderland Docks, and another had to play with an old

rugby ball A rugby ball is an elongated ellipsoidal ball used in both codes of rugby football. Its measurements and weight are specified by World Rugby and the Rugby League International Federation, the governing bodies for both codes, rugby union and rugby ...

as they could not afford an

association football ball A football or soccer ball is the ball used in the sport of association football. The ball's spherical shape, as well as its size, mass, and material composition, are specified by Law 2 of the Laws of the Game maintained by the International Fo ...

. By the 20th century, however, the league was better off and was even able to organise matches to benefit local charities during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the Great War, the league was dominated for many years by

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extra ...

welfare teams – in the 1930s every league title was won by a pit team and the mining clubs continued to dominate right through to the 1970s, although an increasing number began to experience financial difficulties from the 1950s onwards due to shrinking workforces at the mines. In 1964 the

was disbanded and a number of its former teams joined the Wearside League. Around this time the team of the 24th Signal Regiment spent one season in the league but then had to withdraw as most of their players were posted overseas. In 1978

Blue Star Blue star or bluestar may refer to: * O-type star (a.k.a. blue star), a stellar classification Animals * ''Linckia laevigata'', a sea star from the Indian and West Pacific Oceans * ''Phataria unifascialis'', a sea star from the East Pacific Busi ...

became the first Wearside League club to reach the final of the

, and went on to win the trophy, the start of a run of success which would ultimately see them progress much higher up the non-league ranks. Three years later

Whickham Whickham is a village in Tyne and Wear, North East England, within the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. The village is on high ground overlooking the River Tyne and south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Whickham underwent some expansion ...

repeated the feat and also soon moved up to higher leagues. More recently, clubs such as Darlington Railway Athletic,

North Shields North Shields ( ) is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...

Newton Aycliffe Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. Founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act 1946, New Towns Act of 1946, the town is to the north of Darlington and to the south of Durham, England, Durham. It is the ...

, Ryhope Colliery Welfare and Willington have successfully moved up to the Northern League.

Member clubs for 2024–25 season

Premier Division *

Annfield Plain Annfield Plain is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated on a plateau between the towns of Stanley, to the north-east, and Consett, to the west. According to the 2001 census, Annfield Plain had a population of 3,569. By the tim ...

* Brandon United * Darlington Railway Athletic *Durham Corinthians *Durham United *Easington Lane *Farrington Detached *Gateshead Leam Rangers *Hartlepool Pools Youth * Norton and Stockton Ancients Youth *

Richmond Town Richmond Town, is a neighbourhood in central Bangalore. It is named after Thomas Richmond, a barrister in the British India government. "He was an Anglo-Indian philanthropist and the president of the All India Anglo-Indian Association. A part ...

*Seaton Carew *Shotton Colliery *Silksworth Colliery Welfare *South Moor * West Auckland Reserves *Windscale First Division *Barnard Castle *Belmont United * Chester-le-Street United Reserves *Coxhoe Athletic *Deerness Valley * Durham City *

FC Hartlepool FC Hartlepool is a football club based in Hartlepool, England. They are currently members of the Northern League Division Two and play at Grayfields Enclosure in Hartlepool. History FC Hartlepool were formed in 1993 and were originally known as ...

Reserves * Ferryhill Athletic *Gateshead Leam Rangers Reserves *i2i International Soccer Academy *New Durham *Newton Aycliffe YFC *Richmond Mavericks *Shildon Railway *Washington Athletic * Willington *Wolviston *Wynyard Village Second Division *Consett Blackfyne *Coundon Cons *

Crook Town Crook Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Crook, County Durham, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield. The club won the FA Amateur Cup five times. History Crook Town Football ...

Youth *Durham Corinthians Development *Easington Lane Reserves *Ferryhill Town Youth *Hetton Juniors *Hilda Park *

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. Historically in County Durham, it is on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. The 2011 census area classed Hebburn and the Boldons as ...

Reserves *Middlestone Moor * Sunderland RCA Reserves *Washington Reserves *West End Reserves *Wolviston Reserves

Past champions

This is a list of champions since

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

External links

Official League site
{{Football in England table cells 1892 establishments in England Football leagues in England Sports leagues established in 1892 Football in County Durham Football in Tyne and Wear