The Leicestershire Senior League (currently sponsored by Everards Brewery ) is a football competition based in Leicestershire , England .
35-528: The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire , Shropshire , Staffordshire , Warwickshire , West Midlands , Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire . The league consisted of a single division which sat at Step 5 of the National League System , or the ninth level of the overall English football league system . The league
70-413: A considerably lower rate than a full-time professional athlete . As a result, semi-professional players frequently have (or seek) full-time employment elsewhere. A semi-pro player or team could also be one that represents a place of employment that only the employees are allowed to play on. In this case, it is considered semi-pro because their employer pays them, but for their regular job, not for playing on
105-447: Is prohibitive, semi-pro football is common at the adult levels, in the outdoor or indoor variety , providing an outlet for players who have used up their NCAA eligibility and have no further use for maintaining amateur status. As a sport that normally plays only one game per week, American football is especially suited for semi-pro play and commonly known as "working man's" football; meaning the players have regular jobs and play football on
140-629: Is therefore not part of the NLS, meaning that clubs in that division are not eligible to take part in the FA Vase . An application to re-grade the Premier Division to Step 6 was turned down by the FA in 2006. Step 7 was later abolished and the Premier Division was re-classified as an NLS county feeder. For the 2008–09 season, eight of the leading sides left the league to join forces with eight clubs from
175-546: The 2001–02 season, reverting the number of clubs in the competition back to 22. The league expanded to 24 clubs for the 2003–04 season, at the end of which, for the first time, Alliance clubs were promoted to the Northern Premier League , rather than the Southern League, when Rocester and Willenhall Town joined the more northerly of the two leagues. The following season Coalville Town became
210-446: The 2006–07 season the average attendance across the league was 124, but in the 2007–08 season this fell to 87. The best supported team in that season was Atherstone Town , whose average home attendance was 162. The worst supported team was Oldbury United whose matches drew an average of only 39 spectators. The highest attendance for a single match was 411, for the match between Stratford Town and Barwell . Barwell also took part in
245-633: The Amateur Athletic Union ruled that the Olympics' practice was not actually professionalism but only a "semi" form of it, inventing the term "semi-pro". Although the Amateur Athletic Union did not like the idea very much, it decided that clubs could indeed offer employment without losing their amateur status or compromising the athlete. In North America, semi-professional athletes and teams were far more common in
280-574: The Scottish Premiership , with most teams below the second-level Scottish Championship being semi-professional. Historically, English rugby league and rugby union have had one full-time professional division, with semi-professional divisions at the next level down. The second tier of union, the RFU Championship , became fully professional beginning with the 2009–10 season. Leicestershire Senior League The league
315-611: The Second World War , having originally been formed as the Birmingham & District League and the Worcestershire Combination respectively. Their catchment areas had gradually converged, and by the early 1990s the standard of play and geographical coverage of the two competitions were considered to be similar enough that a new competition was formed to cater for the best clubs previously split across
350-671: The "ten most suitable clubs from the leagues at Step 5" will gain promotion. All clubs gaining promotion from the Alliance were placed in either the Southern League or the Northern Premier League . Teams finishing at the bottom of the Alliance table could be relegated to an appropriate feeder league, depending on the number of teams remaining in the division after other promotion and relegation issues have been resolved. Attendances at Midland Alliance matches were generally small, with many matches attracting fewer than 100 spectators. In
385-415: The Alliance in the 2008–09 season, however the following week it was announced that Stapenhill had folded, leaving 22 teams in the league. The league was contested on a double round-robin basis, with each team playing each of the other teams in the division once at home and once away. Three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a defeat. Goal difference was used to separate teams on
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#1732775433941420-655: The Alliance were eligible for promotion to a Step 4 league, either the Southern League or Northern Premier League depending on geographical considerations. The league merged with the Midland Combination in 2014 to form the new Midland Football League . The Alliance was formed in 1994, taking its initial member clubs from the West Midlands (Regional) League and the Midland Football Combination , which had existed since before
455-554: The Alliance, although in 2008 the new East Midlands Counties Football League was formed at the Step 6 level and it was anticipated that successful teams from the Leicestershire Senior League, which is officially a Step 7 league, would now move up to the new league and that the champions of the new league would in turn move up to the Alliance if they fell within its coverage area. In 2014 the Alliance merged with
490-402: The Midland Combination to form the new Midland Football League . The clubs which had been members of the Alliance formed the Premier Division of the new league. The Alliance was known under various sponsored names following deals with companies including Baker-Joiner, Polymac Services, Harvey World Travel, Travel Factory, and Aspire. In July 2008, it was announced that 23 teams would compete in
525-722: The Premier Division, Division One and Division Two (increased from 2 divisions ahead of the 2018–19 season), and is a feeder to the United Counties League. It fed the East Midlands Counties Football League until its dissolution in 2021. The Football Association classified the Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division as Step 7, due to the quality of football played and the standard of the grounds on which teams play. The First Division
560-464: The United States, where college ice hockey dominates at that age group; the junior leagues in the United States generally operate as fully amateur teams to maintain the players' eligibility to play in college. Lower-end minor leagues and more obscure sports often operate at a semi-professional level due to cost concerns. Because the cost of running a fully professional American football team
595-603: The attendant scholarships , in maintaining amateur status (unlike the Amateur Athletic Union, the NCAA forbade any sort of compensation outside of scholarships, including job offers tied to their playing, until 2020). Eligibility for participation in the Olympics in some sports is still dependent upon maintaining a purely amateur status (although far less so than was previously the case), and such athletes may be supported by government money, business sponsorships, and other systems. At
630-466: The company's team. The semi-professional status is not universal throughout the world and depends on each country's labour code and each sports organization's specific regulations. The San Francisco Olympic Club fielded an American football team in 1890. That year, the Olympic Club was accused by a rival club of enticing athletes to jump to its ranks with offers of jobs. An investigation by
665-489: The early and mid-20th century than they are today. Large blue-collar employers such as factories and shipyards often fielded baseball and basketball teams, with players receiving full-time salaries comparable to other employees. In theory, such players split their work week between athletic training and the normal duties of the company's employees, though highly competitive teams often evolved into "sponsored" squads which trained for sports full-time and only nominally worked in
700-410: The factory. The National Industrial Basketball League evolved out of these company-branded basketball teams. By the 1940s, baseball split off into separate truly amateur softball teams, sometimes sponsored by employers, and an expanded system of fully professionalized minor leagues whose lower ranks included many former industrial players. There are many benefits, such as collegiate eligibility and
735-558: The first Alliance team to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup , a feat which was repeated in the 2005–06 season by both Chasetown and Leamington . With the creation of the National League System by the Football Association the league was officially defined as a Step 5 league. The champions of the Midland Combination, West Midlands (Regional) League and Leicestershire Senior League continued to gain promotion to
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#1732775433941770-423: The first league championship by a margin of 12 points from Hinckley Athletic in the 1994–95 season, and gained promotion to the Southern League . The Alliance's status as a feeder to the Southern League was cemented when Armitage 90 were relegated in the opposite direction. Armitage went on to dominate the league in the 1995–96 season but disbanded midway through the season, with the result that their record
805-525: The league were as follows: The winners of the Alliance's two cup competitions were as follows: A total of 65 clubs played in the Midland Football Alliance: Semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at
840-426: The match with the lowest attendance, when their game away to Oldbury United drew only 20 spectators. The largest crowd ever registered for an Alliance match was 1,280, for the match between Racing Club Warwick and local rivals Leamington on 26 December 2005. The smallest crowd recorded was 10, for a match between Wednesfield and Biddulph Victoria on 19 April 2003. The league champions and clubs promoted from
875-492: The same points. As the Alliance was a Step 5 league, its member clubs were eligible to take part in the FA Cup and FA Vase as long as their grounds met the required standards. The league also operated two cup competitions of its own, the knock-out League Cup, which was staged every season, and the Joe McGorian Cup, which was contested between the previous season's League Cup winners and league champions and which
910-407: The same time, professional sports have become such a massive and remunerative business that even many low-level feeder teams can afford to have fully professional athletes. In Canada, semi-professionalism is prevalent in junior ice hockey , in which the top level players (most of whom are teenagers still in, or just out of, high school) are paid at a semi-professional level. This is not the case in
945-594: The short summer seasons and low salaries require players to hold jobs in the offseason to make ends meet. There are several hundred semi-professional football teams at non-League level. The bottom division of the English Football League (the fourth tier of the English football league system ) has traditionally been the cut-off point between professional ("full-time") and semi-professional ("part-time") in English football . However, many teams in
980-422: The top levels, as finances depend on promotion and relegation both of parent male teams and of the female teams themselves. Full professionalism for women is still in the planning stages; top female players often depend on other sources of income (such as coaching and physical training), and many attend university or college while playing. In Scottish football , semi-professional teams compete at all levels below
1015-538: The top non-League competition, the National League , have become "full-time" professional clubs in an effort to achieve League status. Many former League clubs also remain as fully professional teams following relegation to the lower leagues at least for as long as they retain a large enough average attendance to generate the income needed to pay the players. Women's football in England is semi-professional at
1050-685: The two leagues. The league drew ten member clubs from each of the two leagues for its inaugural season. The clubs selected to join from the Midland Combination were Barwell , Boldmere St Michaels , Bolehall Swifts , Pershore Town , Sandwell Borough , Shepshed Dynamo , Shifnal Town , Stapenhill , Stratford Town and West Midlands Police . Those selected from the West Midlands (Regional) League were Brierley Hill Town , Chasetown , Halesowen Harriers , Hinckley Athletic , Knypersley Victoria , Oldbury United , Paget Rangers , Rocester , Rushall Olympic and Willenhall Town . Paget Rangers won
1085-538: The weekends. In the 20th century the term "semi-pro football league" refer to higher level amateur leagues, though the players do not get paid, the leagues and the games are run in a somewhat professional manner. The National Lacrosse League , whose teams also typically play only one game per week, pays a salary that is enough to be considered fully professional, but players also are able to pursue outside employment to supplement their income. The lowest levels of organized baseball are also effectively semi-professional, as
Midland Football Alliance - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-546: Was expunged from the table. For the 1999–2000 season the league increased in size to 22 clubs when two clubs were promoted into the Alliance but none relegated out of it. One of the promoted clubs was Oadby Town of the Leicestershire Senior League , the first time a team from that league had been promoted into the Alliance. Two years later, the league increased in size to 23 clubs as more teams joined than left, but Stapenhill resigned midway through
1155-436: Was first contested in 1996. According to official FA regulations, clubs from the Alliance were eligible for promotion to a Step 4 league, provided their grounds met the required standard. Clubs promoted from Step 5 leagues were placed in the most geographically appropriate Step 4 leagues as determined by the FA's Leagues Committee. The number of clubs promoted from the Alliance each season could vary, as regulations stated that
1190-467: Was formed in 1896, had a two-year hiatus between 1901 and 1903, and has run continuously since 1903 apart from during the two world wars and a four-year spell in the 1930s. A second division was added in 1948. The longest serving team in the league was Holwell Sports , who completed 76 seasons in the league, 60 of them in the top division but left in 2008 to join the new East Midlands Counties Football League . The league currently has three divisions,
1225-406: Was formed in 1994, drawing its initial membership from the strongest clubs in the Midland Football Combination and the West Midlands (Regional) League , both of which became feeder leagues to the new competition. Each season, the champion club of each feeder league was eligible for promotion to the Alliance, and Alliance clubs could in turn be relegated to the feeder leagues. Successful teams in
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