The North-East Lancashire League was an association football competition for clubs in Lancashire, which ran from 1889 to 1894.
The League was founded on 2 May 1889 at a meeting at the Bridge Inn, Accrington, with 12 original members:
Clitheroe was also meant to be a member, but withdrew before the season started.
The first champion was Brierfield, despite a 4 point deduction for fielding ineligible players, on goal average from Irwell Springs, with an 8âÂÂ5 win over Burnley Union Star in its final match, coming from 5âÂÂ1 down at half-time by scoring six goals in ten minutes.
Reserve sides of Football League clubs were allowed into the competition from 1890âÂÂ91, which caused problems for clubs fielding their first teams - Accrington for instance bolstering their XI with several first-team players when necessary - and the other titles were won by reserve sides. Accrington's reserves win in 1890âÂÂ91 (having won its first 15 games) and 1891âÂÂ92, and Burnley's reserve side, Burnley Swifts, took the next two titles. The 1893âÂÂ94 season was the League's last, as, at the season end, it was absorbed into the Lancashire Combination; the competition had already been undermined when Bacup (the re-named Irwell Springs) had been elevated into the Lancashire League after 11 games in the season, at which point it had won 9 times.