The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is not to be confused with the Combination, a league for teams from North West England which existed at the turn of the 20th century).
History The Combination was inaugurated in 1915 with twelve founder members: Arsenal, Brentford, Chelsea, Clapton Orient, Croydon Common, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, Watford and West Ham United. First team matches were played until 1919, from when Reserve teams took over. Croydon Common and Watford dropped out and were replaced with Charlton Athletic and Southend United.
Up to 1926 it was known as the London Combination, but from the 1926–27 season, ten clubs from outside the London area were admitted and the name became something of a misnomer. The new clubs were: Brighton & Hove Albion, Cardiff City, Coventry City, Leicester City, Luton Town, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Swansea Town and Watford (re-admitted).
From the early 1930s to the outbreak of World War II, 24 clubs were in membership, with Aldershot, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Bristol City, Northampton Town, Norwich City and Swindon Town joining at various times and others resigning. Following the resumption post-war in 1946, the number of clubs was increased to 32, the title changed to Football Combination and it was re-organised into two Sections A and B, with the winners playing-off for the Championship. A Combination Cup was also inaugurated to increase the number of fixtures played.
A number of changes to the constitution took place in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1952–53 promotion and relegation were introduced, as the Combination was split into two Divisions, 1 and 2, with the top eight from Sections A and B of the previous season forming Division 1, and the bottom eight in each forming Division 2. This was short-lived and in 1955–56 a new format of one Division of 32 clubs was introduced, with teams playing 42 matches on a geographical basis. The Combination Cup was discontinued.
Promotion and relegation returned for 1958–59 in two Divisions, based on the level of the first team of each club in the Football League, i.e. the top two Divisions of the Football League played in Division 1 of the Combination, and Division 3 and 4 teams were placed in Division 2. In 1961–62 things changed again and the Combination was re-organised into a Saturday Section and a Midweek Section, with a play-off for the title.
For 1963–64 the Combination reverted to Divisions 1 and 2, with the Saturday Section becoming Division 1 and the Midweek Section becoming Division 2, and promotion/relegation was reintroduced. The decline in numbers led to the reintroduction of the Combination Cup in 1966–67, and by 1968–69 the Combination was down to one Division of 26 teams.Information above comes from Chelsea Handbook 1951-52, and various Tottenham Hotspur programmes and handbooks from the 1950s and 1960s.
For a time in the 1990s and early 2000s the league was sponsored by Avon Insurance, a subsidiary of NFU Mutual.
Demise The Combination originally included reserve teams of top League clubs within the region, but in 1999 the FA Premier Reserve League was founded. The reserve teams of the FA Premier League clubs and some First Division clubs joined that competition, reducing the size of the Combination (however, in 2006, Premier League clubs voted that only the 20 top-tier teams would be able to play in this league, which meant several well-established reserve sides moving to the Combination).
The 2011–12 season was the last in the history of the Combination, with the introduction of the EPPP making the league surplus to requirements.
Champions SeasonRef1915–16Chelsea1916–17West Ham United1917–18Chelsea1918–19Brentford1919–20Tottenham Hotspur1920–21West Ham United1921–22Tottenham Hotspur1922–23Arsenal1923–24West Ham United1924–25West Ham United1925–26Tottenham Hotspur1926–27Arsenal1927–28Arsenal1928–29Arsenal1929–30Arsenal1930–31Arsenal1931–32Brentford1932–33Brentford1933–34Arsenal1934–35Arsenal1935–36Portsmouth1936–37Arsenal1937–38Arsenal1938–39Arsenal1939–46Not held1946–47Arsenal1947–48West Ham United1948–49Chelsea1949–50Charlton Athletic1950–51Arsenal1951–52Reading1952–53Tottenham Hotspur1953–54West Ham United1954–55Chelsea1955–56Tottenham Hotspur1956–57Tottenham Hotspur1957–58Chelsea1958–59Leicester City1959–60Chelsea1960–61Chelsea1961–62Tottenham Hotspur1962–63Arsenal1963–64Tottenham Hotspur1964–65Chelsea1965–66Tottenham Hotspur1966–67Tottenham Hotspur1967–68Tottenham Hotspur1968–69Arsenal1969–70Arsenal1970–71Tottenham Hotspur1971–72Tottenham Hotspur1972–73Ipswich TownThe Football Combination Handbook 1973-74 lists all the winners noted above.1973–74AFC BournemouthTottenham Hotspur Handbooks 1974-75 to 1980-81.1974–75Chelsea1975–76Ipswich Town1976–77Chelsea1977–78West Ham United1978–79Tottenham Hotspur1979–80Tottenham Hotspur1980–81Southampton1981–82Queens Park Rangers1982–83Queens Park Rangers1983–84Arsenal1984–85Chelsea1985–86West Ham United1986–87Tottenham Hotspur1987–88Tottenham Hotspur1988–89Tottenham Hotspur1989–90Arsenal1990–91Chelsea1991–92Southampton1992–93Millwall1993–94Chelsea1994–95Tottenham Hotspurhttp://thechels.info/wiki/Football_Combination. The Chelsea wiki lists all the winners from 1980-1995 and has league tables for all the years Chelsea were involved in.1995–96Queens Park Rangers1996–97Wimbledon1997–98Charlton Athletic1998–99Charlton Athletic1999–2000Millwall2000–01Fulham2001–02Queens Park Rangers2002–03Crystal Palace SeasonCentral & East DivisionWales & West Division2003–04ReadingCardiff City2004–05Luton TownCardiff City
SeasonCentral DivisionEast DivisionWales & West Division2005–06ReadingLuton TownCheltenham Town2006–07Brighton & Hove AlbionIpswich TownCheltenham Town2007–08SouthamptonIpswich TownBristol City2008–09ReadingLuton TownPlymouth Argyle2009–10Brighton & Hove AlbionWatfordExeter City
Other Divisions Various other Divisions were utilised in the 1940s to 1960s to accommodate the number of member clubs. Season Section A Section B 1946–47 Arsenal Portsmouth 1947–48 Arsenal West Ham United 1948–49 Arsenal Chelsea 1949–50 FulhamArsenal Handbook 1950/51 at https://thearsenalcollection.org.uk/?page_id=40594 Charlton Athletic 1950–51 Arsenal Chelsea 1951–52 Reading Tottenham Hotspur
Season Division 2 1952–53 N/A 1953–54 N/A 1954–55 N/A 1955–58 Not held 1958–59 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic 1959–60 Watford 1960–61 Swansea Town 1961–63 Not held 1963–64 Chelsea 1964–65 Southampton 1965–66 Reading 1966–67 Walsall 1967–68 Bristol City Season Saturday Midweek 1961–62 Tottenham Hotspur Leyton Orient 1962–63 Arsenal Chelsea
Combination Cup The Combination also operated a cup competition in various seasons to give the member clubs extra fixtures.
Winners SeasonWinners1946–47Swansea Town1947–48Leicester City1948–49Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic1949–50Swansea Town1950–51Charlton Athletic1951–52Southampton1952–53Arsenal1953–54West Ham United1954–55Southampton1966–67Leicester/Tottenham jointly1967–68Arsenal1968–69Southampton1969–70Arsenal2008–09Crystal Palace, Reading
See also The Central League Premier Reserve League Football League Youth Alliance The Football League
References
External links Official page on the Football Association website Official page on the Football League website