Football League

Nowadays there are more than 210 football leagues over the world but the English Football League is the original as it gave way to the organization and introduction of several leagues. The English football league was introduced as a way to promote the fast growing football activity in England. It was formed in 1888 and it became the model for several upcoming leaves. Its first season was played in the same year which included twelve clubs. The first Radio live commentary broadcast from League games occurred in 1927. The league games were first telecasted on television in 1960 four years after the BBC production Match of the day was introduced publicly.

History of the Football League

As you know, the English football league is the original of the football leagues. It came into existence in 1888 in England. The fixtures of the games in the 1980s were complicated and conflicting, hence a central organization was needed to control it. So, William McGregor took the initiative to create a new system and proposed the League format. He was a Birmingham based industrialist and the club director of Aston Villa.

The idea he proposed was to gather the best teams from the country in a league format that included away and home fixtures in the Season. As a result of this idea’s success, original football clubs came together to form the League. There were a total of twelve founding clubs including Everton, Preston North end, Bolton, Accrington, Blackburn Rovers, Aston, Wanderers, Burnley, Aston Villa, Derby Country, Notts County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The limitation of this new formation was the criteria of team selection. The teams were selected in a way that lacked equality in geographical representations. The League Only represented clubs from the Northwest England and the midlands. The teams from Southern and other parts of the country felt left out and this feeling resulted in the introduction of a new League, the southern League in 1894. It turned out as a competitor of the Football League that included Only dominating clubs in the country. 

But the Southern League also could not fulfill the aspirations of all left out teams. Even after the introduction of this many teams were still left out, which resulted in the formation of an alternative League with 20 member teams called The Combination. The football leagues would soon be expanded, taking the number of teams to 28. The third division took place in 1920 with most of the clubs of the Southern League joining the original Football League. 

The first season of The original football league was played by 12 teams and Preston emerged the undefeated winner. Liverpool is popular to make the record by scoring the most points in a Season with two points for a win.  It can be evaluated as 68 points in a season with 30 wins and 8 draws. 

League Titles

Football is the most popular game which is incomplete without titles regardless of the game format. Just like the world cup the clubs have won league titles. Some of the countries were so keen to get these titles that they made it to top on this list.

Football League timeline

• 1888: The original of the football leagues, English football league was established in England. It was the first League in the world with a motive of developing fast growing football activity in England.
• 1892: The League was expanded due to its second division which was established in the same year.
• 1905: The number of teams in the first division of the football league was increased to 20.
• 1915: The season 1915-1916 was canceled due to World War I and did not take place till 1919.
• 1919: After the World War ended in 1919, it was restored.
• 1919: The number of teams in the first division expanded from 20 to 22.
• 1920: Third division was established and the League was expanded again.
• 1939: The Ongoing season had to be canceled due to the beginning of the second world war.
• 1946: The league was restored again after World War II ended.
• 1958: The division four was established to expand the League again.
• 1981: From this season, a change was brought to the scoring. Three points were given for a win instead of two.
• 1986: The first division of the league was reduced from 22 to 20.
• 1991: The number of teams in the first division was expanded again from 20 to 22.
• 1992: The first division was renamed as the premier League which is the most popular league in present. It defeated the football league and replaced it as the top favorite and popular League.