Northern Football League
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| Country | England |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1889 |
| Divisions | Division One Division Two |
| Number of teams | 44 |
| Level on pyramid | Levels 9 and 10 |
| Feeder to |
Northern Premier League Division One North |
| Domestic cup(s) |
Northern League Challenge Cup Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup J.R. Cleator Cup |
| Current champions |
Shildon (Division One) South Shields (Division Two) (2015–16) |
| Website | Ebac Northern League |
 2016–17
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The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England for semi-professional and amateur teams. Having been founded in 1889, it is the oldest surviving football league in the world after the Football League.
It contains two divisions; Division One and Division Two. Division One sits on the ninth tier of the English football league system, five divisions below the Football League. These leagues cover County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, northern Cumbria and the northern half of North Yorkshire.
One of the top three teams of Division One may be eligible for promotion to Division One North of the Northern Premier League, subject to certain criteria.
The Northern League ran as one of two major amateur competitions (with the Isthmian League) in tandem with the professional Football League, Southern League and, since 1968, the Northern Premier League.
In 1974, amateur status was abandoned by the Football Association and amateur leagues like the Northern had to find a place in the overall structure of non-League football. Unlike its southern equivalent the Isthmian League who became a feeder in 1982, the Northern League rejected repeated invitations to become a feeder league to the Alliance Premier League, later the Conference, when that league was created in 1979.
Ultimately, the Northern League remained out of the football pyramid until 1991, a decision that proved very costly to its status. The league declined throughout the 1980s as its leading clubs defected to other leagues within the football pyramid, such as the Northern Counties East Football League.
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