Other England Football League - What might have been

[Pie 4 Life]

The year is 1900, a new turn of the century has brought in new hope for the people of England. With a great variety of sports on offer already, men who enjoyed cricket wanted a way to keep fit in the off-season. While they enjoyed football, another form a football, with an oval ball, was to come to their shores. Men from Australia had arrived and were speaking of a new game known as Australian Rules Football.

Those men told English delegates about the game and from there, word spread around the country. Within weeks, the interest had began to grow for this Australian Rules Football. How would it work and who would run it? A new board of directors was formed from working class men, who were keen to see it put forward.

By October 1900, the board of directors had determined eight licences would be granted for the inaugural season in 1901. Unsurprisingly, London, which had more nine times more population than any other city, had four submissions. Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds also put their submissions in for teams. Bids from Sheffield, Bristol, Leicester, Bradford and Newcastle also came in, but there were only 12 spots.

Team bids approved:

London Royals
North London Swans
West London Wildcats
South East London Giants
Birmingham Bears
Liverpool Blues
Manchester Mosquitos
Leeds Lions

Naturally, the Royal Family requested ownership of a team and successfully received the licence for the London Royals. A rich businessman by the name of Lucas Hayward took up ownership of the Birmingham Bears, while local lawyer Dominic Gough purchased a licence for the West London Wildcats. A former bobby who was serving as a chief judge was not to be without a side, with Patrick King taking control of the North London Swans. Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror newspapers referred to himself as a giant, purchased the licence of the South East London Giants.

The most controversial ownership was Ryan Porter, an American who had settled in Britain in the last decade. He owned the licence to the Manchester Mosquitos, which referenced to the country as "sucking the life out of its people". Naturally the new ball game had attracted interest in neighbouring countries, with a Frenchmen registering to become an English citizen to buy a licence, which he used for the Liverpool Blues - a direct opposite to the red side that played English football. The final team Leeds Lions, was formed through a community effort where the town's community members all put money towards a licence to be the only non-privately owned team in the lead.

Seeds for the England Football League (EFL) had begun. The next step was finding players.

 

[Pie 4 Life]

As the inaugural 1901 season drew closer, teams began recruiting players from across England and the greater United Kingdom. Evan Sims was the first official player signed, when he was approached to join the West London Wildcats. Sebastian Benson, a tradesman was lured to the London Royals, with his large 6ft 8' frame particularly attractive to the royal family. Lewis Miles, a furniture finisher became captain of the Birmingham Bears, while Edward Howard a miner who had recently moved from the States, joined fellow ex-pat Ryan Porter at the Manchester Mosquitos. Teams began to fill rapidly with tradesmen, accountants, lawyers, doctors and law enforcement. From all over England, players began to sign up, free to try with any club, except Leeds, with the local community determined to have an all-Leeds residents side.

The first round of practice matches signalled a month out from the season. Naturally, London Royals demanded to host the first of the practice matches, with Manchester Mosquitos as their opponents. They had a point to prove against the Americans and wanted to show Ryan Porter and his crew what the full force of England could hand down on the sporting field. North London Swans hosted the South East London Giants, while Liverpool Blues faced off against Leeds Lions and Birmingham Bears hosted the West London Wildcats.

Unfortunately for the Royals, the Mosquitos had the first honours, defeating the city-based club in a shock result. In fact, the Mosquitoes kicked eight goals in the second half to run away 13.11 (89) to 4.13 (39) in front of a stunned and rather angry home crowd. In a deliberate act to anger those at the ground further, Ryan Porter sang the American national anthem after the game. In the other games, North London got the better of their southern counterparts, winning by 16 points, while Leeds knocked off Liverpool by 25 points and Birmingham got home by nine points against West London.

Following the shock loss, the King announced that "no expense would be spared" to try and find the best players to fill the London side and that it was "unacceptable" to lose to an American. Birmingham and South East London were quite well funded, while Leeds was clearly the poorest side, but still managed the result required. The next set of matches would kick-off the season.

 

[Pie 4 Life]

On the eve of the opening round, last minute fans cued up to support their sides by purchasing tickets. The four London sides were well represented with London Royals in particular gaining support from pro-monarch hierachy. Manchester Mosquitos had clearly become the team everyone loved to hate with anti-Mosquito posters flying proudly around London. It worried owner Ryan Porter little, who said "We're here to win, we'll leave the off-field whinging to the other sides". Meanwhile Leeds was struggling to field a team, having set the restriction of being a Leeds resident to play for the side. Some people were going to the extend of inviting neighbouring townspeople into their homes and signing them up under their addresses to enable them to play for the Lions.

Round 1:
London Royals vs South East London Giants
Leeds Lions vs West London Wildcats
North London Swans vs Manchester Mosquitos
Birmingham Bears vs Liverpool Blues

Unsurprisingly, The Daily Mail owner Lord Northcliffe already turned up the heat on the Royals ahead of their opening round clash through his papers questioning if they were capable of playing at this level given they had "let England down" by losing to an American side. It would prove to be a mistake as London went on to record an opening round victory over the Giants by 17 points. Leeds were less talk and more action as the side took out the highly favoured Wildcats at Leeds' home ground, much to the excitement of the fans. They partied long into the night singing songs and selling out the pubs through the celebrations. North London Swans became the second city side to win, in a favourable victory, easily accounting for "those Americans", the Mosquitos by 56 points. The Swans moved to the top of the ladder because the win, while across town, the Blues became the first side to record a win away from home in a low scoring contest by 15 points.

London Royals 10.17 (77) def. South East London Giants 7.8 (50)
Leeds Lions 10.6 (66) def. West London Wildcats 7.7 (49)
North London Swans 14.5 (89) def. Manchester Mosquitos 4.9 (33)
Birmingham Bears 2.10 (22) def by. Liverpool Blues 4.13 (37)