Football Alliance - Definition and Overview

The Football Alliance was an association football league in England from 1889 to 1892.

It was formed by 12 clubs as a rival 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 Midlands to the North West, but also further east in Sheffield, Grimsby and Sunderland.

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

In 1892 it was decided to formally 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

• Ardwick (1891-1892²)
• Birmingham St George's (1889-1892)
• Bootle (1889-1892²)
• Burton Swifts (1891-1892²)
• Crewe Alexandra (1889-1892²)
• Darwen (1889-1891¹)
• Grimsby Town (1889-1892²)
• Lincoln City (1891-1892²)
• Long Eaton Rangers (1889-1890)
• Newton Heath (1889-1892¹)
• Nottingham Forest (1889-1892¹)
• The Wednesday (1889-1892¹)
• Small Heath (1889-1892²)
• Stoke (1890-1891¹)
• Sunderland Albion (1889-1891)
• Walsall Town Swifts (1889-1892²)

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