THE BIRTH OF THE CENTRAL MIDLANDS LEAGUE   by Stan Wilton

The Central Midlands Football League evolved from the South Derbyshire Premier League formed in 1970, and played its first season in 1971/72 with a Premier division of 16 invited clubs and a separate Reserve Division of eleven clubs. The formation of the South Derbyshire Premier League was the brainchild of Peter Hinds, MBE, the then secretary of the Derby & District Football Combination League who, along with Tony Goodacre (Assistant Secretary) and the late Ray Molson (Registrar/PRO), held meetings with the Derbyshire County Football Association with a view to forming a league of semi-professional clubs with private grounds and facilities. The catchment area was to be approximately 40 miles covering Derbyshire, North Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.

Meetings were held with senior clubs of the Derby & District Combination League and other invited senior clubs from outside the league. With invaluable help from Philip Holmes, agreement was reached on the format of the new league which was planned to get underway for the 1971/72 season. Permission for the new South Derbyshire Premier League was granted in August 1970 by the DCFA and it was decided to start with a Premier Division, with the option of a Senior Division being held over. The line-up for the Premier Division was: Alfreton Town Reserves, Belper United, Bishop Lonsdale College, Brunswick Rangers, Carriage & Wagon Welfare, Golden Valley, Heanor Gate, Hilton Athletic, Kilburn Miners Welfare, Long Eaton Albion, Loughborough College, Mackworth Old Boys, Mackworth St Francis, Marlpool Congs, Matlock College and Swanwick Pentrich Road. The first league champions were Loughborough College who took the title from Mackworth St Francis on goal difference. The College also won the League Cup to complete a double by beating Mackworth St Francis 3-1 after extra time.

The following season the League dropped “South” from the title as being restrictive for future development, and the Senior Division was formed to allow the influx of new clubs as the league really started to take off. The League title roles were reversed from the 1971/72 season, Mackworth St Francis taking the title from Loughborough, again on goal difference. Newcomers Newhall United took the League Cup, beating Eastwood Town Reserves 1-0.

The League continued to develop and started attracting clubs from higher leagues in the adjoining counties. The League always maintained its policy of accepting clubs with good private facilities, and by the 1982/83 season, the last as the Derbyshire Premier Football League, it had four divisions with 55clubs. With the amalgamation of the Yorkshire and Midland Counties Leagues it was felt a change of title was needed to further the League’s aims. An application was made to the Football Association to change the name to the Midland League but this was rejected, so a compromise was reached and the Central Midlands Football League became the title commencing the 1983/84 season.

Within three seasons former Midlands League clubs joined and the Supreme Division was formed to cater for a floodlit division as the League became Step 7 members of the Pyramid of Football. A Premier Division was retained, made up of clubs with ambitions for promotion to the Supreme Division. Hinckley Town were League Champions and Ilkeston Town took the League Cup in the Supreme Division’s first season – 1986/87.

In 2007 the Football Association took the decision to introduce a new Step 6 league covering the East Midlands area and the East Midlands Counties League was formed, comprising teams from the Central Midlands League and the Leicestershire Senior League. Officers of the Central Midlands League, including Frank Harwood and Eddie Pearce, were in setting up the new League and the CMFL contributed no fewer than eight teams to help form the new League.

In 2009 the Football Associations announced its intentions to increase the number of Step 7 Leagues in the Central Midlands catchment area. The Premier Division whilst, at that time, not as strong as the Supreme Division, was considered to be considerably stronger than other regional leagues who were being put forward for Step 7 status. It was therefore decided to pool both the Supreme and Premier Divisions and split them geographically to form Premier North and Premier South Divisions, thus ensuring Step 7 status for both divisions. The new Divisions came into being for the first time in season 2011/12.

Late in 2022, discussions took place between the Central Midlands League and the Midlands Regional Alliance with a view to the two Leagues merging. Early in 2023, work started in earnest and, thanks to the hard work and commitment of representatives of both Leagues, the Central Midlands Alliance came into being for the commencement of the 2023/24 season and where given the (LEAGUE OF THE SEASON) by the Derbyshire F A for the hard work it took to pull the CMA and MRA together working with 92 football teams. 2025 the CMA have a new sponsor for the premier NORTH/SOUTH leagues (Camper UK).