Wearside League

The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 of the National League System (levels 11 to 13 of the Football pyramid) 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 joined it; Wearside League teams won the FA Vase 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 and County Durham, the league has contained teams from Tyneside as well, with some geographical overlap with the Northern Football Alliance at the leagues' borders. Teams from Northern Cumbria and North Yorkshire 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. 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 as they could not afford an association football ball. 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. After the Great War, the league was dominated for many years by colliery 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 North Eastern League 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 became the first Wearside League club to reach the final of the FA Vase, 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 repeated the feat and also soon moved up to higher leagues. More recently, clubs such as Darlington Railway Athletic, North Shields, Newton Aycliffe, Ryhope Colliery Welfare and Willington have successfully moved up to the Northern League.

Member clubs for 2024–25 season

Premier Division
* Annfield Plain
* 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
*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 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 Youth
*Durham Corinthians Development
*Easington Lane Reserves
*Ferryhill Town Youth
*Hetton Juniors
*Hilda Park
*Jarrow 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.

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