The Hampshire League was a football league in Hampshire, England. During its heyday its constitution consisted of four divisions with over 60 clubs taking part - this included a vast number of semi-professional teams and Reserve/’A’ sides of the areas professional clubs with many famous players playing in its matches over the years, often in front of large crowds.
The league ran for 108 years, from 1896 until 2004 - after which two competitions have since spawned from it; the Hampshire League 2004 (an unofficial continuation) and the Hampshire Premier Football League. The former dissolved in 2013 and was absorbed by the latter, which now operates with two divisions, with the top flight gaining place on the revised FA Pyramid system.
History
It all goes way back to Victorian times; an era that saw football established as a popular recreational activity with a number of clubs (some of which still exist today) being formed. In these days fixture lists consisted of just cup games and friendlies, with frequent gaps in-between and it was soon becoming obvious that a more organised schedule was required, so in 1896 it was decided to form the Hampshire League. The inaugural campaign saw eight teams taking part with the first ever fixture being played on Saturday 5 September 1896 between Eastleigh Athletic and Freemantle, who won a thrilling match 5-4 with a player called Inglefield scoring the first ever goal! The first-ever league champions were Cowes.
Administered by the Hampshire Football Association (founded in 1887), the fledgling competition quickly took off, remaining with just a single division until 1903 when there were sufficient numbers to expand, but with transport limited it was then split into regional sections with an end of season play off to decide the champions, before a main County Division was introduced. Despite the unwelcome interruptions of two horrendous World Wars (1914–19 and 1939–45) the competition continued to grow and prosper once peace had been restored, adopting the simple and best known three-tier format in 1929 with straight forward promotion/relegation between the divisions. Large three-figure attendances were common place at top-flight games, even more so at the much-loved grounds of the participating Island clubs where many legendary encounters took place.
An increase in numbers saw Division 3 twice split into two regional East/West sections for a spell from 1947–56 and again from 1968–71 after which there were enough teams to form a Fourth Division respectively before a decline in numbers saw the bottom tier disbanded in 1980. The league also briefly ran a North Hants Division from 1954–56 and for a spell during the mid-1970s also operated a Sunday competition. Although there was no official pyramid in these days, the league champions were eligible to apply for promotion to either the Southern or Western League whilst at the other end the bottom two sides would have to apply for re-election. If another team from the same local association (Southampton, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Isle of Wight, North Hants or Aldershot) successfully applied for membership then they would exchange places.