The Football League North and Football League South divisions of the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 were created for the League to continue while limiting the amount of movement that was required by teams. The Leagues started in 1941; however, the leagues only had one full season, in 1945-46

1945-46 in English football

The 1945–1946 season was the 66th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:1945–1946 was the first football season since the 1939–1940 season was cut short due to World War II. The FA Cup was the main competition to be played this season along with the Football League North and Football...

. Previous seasons were, in a sense, bit-part leagues with clubs only playing teams that were generally local. An example of this is that in the 1942 Football League North Leeds United

Leeds United A.F.C.

Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...

 played Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough F.C.

Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...

, Gateshead

Gateshead F.C.

Gateshead Football Club are a professional Association football club, based in Gateshead, England. They currently play in the Conference National, the fifth level of the English football league system.Ian Bogie is the current manager....

, Newcastle United

Newcastle United F.C.

Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...

, Doncaster Rovers

Doncaster Rovers F.C.

Doncaster Rovers Football Club is an English football club, based at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The team currently competes in the Football League Championship, after being promoted via the League One play-offs in 2008, and have remained there since.The club was founded in...

, Sunderland

Sunderland A.F.C.

Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League...

, Bradford Park Avenue, York City

York City F.C.

York City Football Club is an English football club based in York, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. Founded in 1922, they joined the Football League in 1929, and have spent most of their history in the lower divisions...

, Halifax Town and Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town F.C.

Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...

, which they played Home and Away in succession.

The two Leagues consisted of all the members of The First and Second Divisions of the Football League split on a purely geographical basis. The 1945-46

1945-46 in English football

The 1945–1946 season was the 66th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:1945–1946 was the first football season since the 1939–1940 season was cut short due to World War II. The FA Cup was the main competition to be played this season along with the Football League North and Football...

 full season was instituted as a precursor to the resumption of the previous divisional split in force prior to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. As the war had only just finished travel was sometimes difficult to arrange, many of the players were still away and the teams often included guests.

Sheffield United

Sheffield United F.C.

Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.They were the first sporting team to use the name 'United' and are nicknamed 'The Blades', thanks to Sheffield's worldwide reputation for steel production...

 were the Champions of League North and Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

were the Champions of League South for the only full season in 1945-46.

Results and players' contributions do not tend to be included in official statistics.