1891–92 Football League

The 1891–92 Football League was the fourth season of English league football, and the last season of the football league running in a single division. Sunderland were the winners of the league which was their first league success. At the beginning of the season Stoke had left the Football Alliance and rejoined the Football League. Darwen also joined from the Alliance but they conceded 112 goals and finished bottom.[2]

The Football League
Season1891–92
ChampionsSunderland
(1st English title)
RelegatedNone
New Club in LeagueDarwen,
Stoke
FA Cup winnersWest Bromwich Albion
(2nd FA Cup title)
Matches played182
Goals scored777 (4.27 per match)
Top goalscorerJohn Campbell (Sunderland), 32 [1]
Biggest home winWest Bromwich Albion – Darwen 12–0 (4 April 1892)
Biggest away winDarwen – Sunderland 1–7 (23 April 1892)
Highest scoringAston Villa – Accrington 12–2 (12 March 1892)
Average attendance6,193

Final league table

The table below is reproduced here in the exact form that it can be found at the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website[3] and in Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79,[4] with home and away statistics separated.

Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded). In case one or more teams had the same goal difference, this system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. The goal average system was eventually scrapped beginning with the 1976–77 season.

During the first five seasons of the league, that is until the season 1893–94 re-election process concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league.[4]

Pos Team Pld HW HD HL HGF HGA AW AD AL AGF AGA GAv Pts Qualification
1 Sunderland 26 13 0 0 55 11 8 0 5 38 25 2.583 42 League Champions
2 Preston North End 26 12 0 1 42 8 6 1 6 19 23 1.968 37
3 Bolton Wanderers 26 9 2 2 29 14 8 0 5 22 23 1.378 36
4 Aston Villa 26 10 0 3 63 23 5 0 8 26 33 1.589 30
5 Everton 26 8 2 3 32 22 4 2 7 17 27 1.000 28
6 Wolverhampton Wanderers 26 8 2 3 34 15 3 2 8 25 31 1.283 26
7 Burnley 26 9 1 3 34 14 2 3 8 15 31 1.089 26
8 Notts County 26 9 3 1 41 12 2 1 10 14 39 1.078 26
9 Blackburn Rovers 26 8 3 2 39 26 2 3 8 19 39 0.892 26
10 Derby County 26 6 3 4 28 18 4 1 8 18 34 0.885 24
11 Accrington 26 7 3 3 24 20 1 1 11 16 58 0.513 20 Re-elected
12 West Bromwich Albion 26 6 3 4 37 24 0 3 10 14 34 0.879 18 FA Cup Winners[lower-alpha 1]
13 Stoke[lower-alpha 2] 26 5 0 8 19 19 0 4 9 19 42 0.623 14 Re-elected
14 Darwen[lower-alpha 2] 26 4 1 8 31 43 0 2 11 7 69 0.339 11 Failed re-election[lower-alpha 3]
Source:
Notes:
  1. FA Cup winners — no re-election required
  2. New club in the league
  3. Not re-elected, invited to join Second Division.

Results
Home \ Away ACC AST BLB BOL BUR DRW DER EVE NTC PNE STK SUN WBA WOL
Accrington 3–2 1–0 0–3 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–3 3–0 3–5 4–2 3–2
Aston Villa 12–2 5–1 1–2 6–1 7–0 6–0 3–4 5–1 3–1 2–1 5–3 5–1 3–6
Blackburn Rovers 2–2 4–3 4–0 3–3 4–0 0–2 2–2 5–4 2–4 5–3 3–1 3–2 2–0
Bolton Wanderers 3–4 1–2 4–2 2–0 1–0 3–1 1–0 2–0 3–0 1–1 4–3 1–1 3–0
Burnley 2–1 4–1 3–0 1–2 9–0 2–4 1–0 1–0 2–0 4–1 1–2 3–2 1–1
Darwen 5–2 1–5 3–5 1–2 2–6 2–0 3–1 2–3 0–4 9–3 1–7 1–1 1–4
Derby County 3–1 4–2 1–1 3–2 0–1 7–0 0–3 3–0 1–2 3–3 0–1 1–1 2–1
Everton 3–0 5–1 3–1 2–5 1–1 5–3 1–2 4–0 1–1 1–0 0–4 4–3 2–1
Notts County 9–0 5–2 2–2 2–0 5–1 5–0 2–1 1–3 2–0 1–1 1–0 4–0 2–2
Preston North End 4–1 0–1 3–2 4–0 5–1 4–0 3–0 4–0 6–0 3–2 3–1 1–0 2–0
Stoke 3–1 2–3 0–1 0–1 3–0 5–1 2–1 0–1 1–3 0–1 1–3 1–0 1–3
Sunderland 4–1 2–1 6–1 4–1 2–1 7–0 7–1 2–1 4–0 4–1 4–1 4–0 5–2
West Bromwich Albion 3–1 0–3 2–2 0–2 1–0 12–0 4–2 4–0 2–2 1–2 2–2 2–5 4–3
Wolverhampton Wanderers 5–0 2–0 6–1 1–2 0–0 2–2 1–3 5–1 2–1 3–0 4–1 1–3 2–1
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website[3] and from Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79.[4]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Maps
Locations of the Football League teams

Re-election process

Two clubs were re-elected to the League in the re-election process. West Bromwich Albion, although finishing in the bottom four teams, were not required to seek re-election as they were the FA Cup holders. Two of the other three teams were duly re-elected. As a result, three new teams were elected to the League. The voting went as follows:[5]

Team Votes Result
The Wednesday10Elected to the League
Nottingham Forest9Elected to the League
Accrington7Re-elected to the League
Stoke6Re-elected to the League
Newton Heath6Elected to the League
Sheffield United5Not elected to the League
Darwen4Not re-elected to the League
Burton Swifts1Not elected to the League
Newcastle East End1Not elected to the League
Middlesbrough / Middlesbrough Ironopolis (combined)1Not elected to the League
Liverpool Caledonian0Not elected to the League
Key
Re-elected to the League
Elected to the League
Not (re-)elected to the League; later invited to participate in the Second Division
Not elected to the League

When the Second Division was added to the league the following year, Darwen were elected to participate, effectively becoming the first club to be relegated from the First Division to the Second Division. The other teams to participate in the Second Division were drawn from the Football Alliance except for Birmingham St. George's, who left and was replaced with Sheffield United of the Northern League.

References
  1. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
  2. "Football League 1891-92". FCHD-info. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  3. "England 1891–92". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  4. Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
  5. footballsite.co.uk Archived 2013-09-28 at the Wayback Machine

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1891–92 Football League kits.
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