A Big Spreadsheet

Now updated and expanded – and there’s more to come!

I created the spreadsheet linked from this page for my own use, but a few people have said that it might be of interest to others – so here it is!

This spreadsheet tabulates the finishing positions (from the 1945-46 season onwards) of every league which falls within what we now call Steps 1 to 5. Now of course there was no pyramid in the way we now know it back in 1945, so it’s entirely possible to argue that some of the leagues included aren’t really of that high a status, or that there are some leagues that are not included but ought to be. Please do so! Anyone with comments is invited to send them to me at rochestervaliant@yahoo.co.uk.

MS Excel version (735 kB): abs_excel.xls
MS Excel version (ZIPped, 211 kB): abs_excel.zip

LibreOffice Calc version (221 kB): abs_ooo.ods

(Note. The spreadsheet was created using LibreOffice, so I can vouch for the formatting working properly with that product. I can’t be so sure that all the formatting in the Excel version works properly, but I think it does!)


The leagues included are as follows (in some cases, only the top section at Step 5 or approximate equivalent):

Aetolian League, Athenian League, Birmingham Combination, Cheshire County League, Combined Counties League (formerly Home Counties League), Corinthian League, Delphian League, Eastern Counties League, Essex Senior League, Football Conference (formerly Alliance Premier League), Greater London League, Hampshire League (before creation of Wessex League), Hellenic League, Isthmian League, Kent League, Lancashire Combination, London League, London Spartan League, Metropolitan and District League, Metropolitan London League, Midland Alliance, Midland Combination (formerly Worcestershire Combination), Midland Counties League, North Eastern League, North West Counties League, Northern Counties League, Northern Counties (East) League, Northern League, Northern Premier League, Parthenon League, South Midlands League, Southern League, Spartan League, Spartan South Midlands League, Surrey Senior League, Sussex County League, United Counties League, West Midlands League (formerly Birmingham and District League), Wessex League, Western League, Yorkshire League.

Seasons in the Football League (and FA Premier League) are also included for all clubs which have played in one of the leagues above for at least one season since 1945-46. All other Football League clubs will be added in the next edition, when the starting point will be taken back from 1945 to 1919.

Reserve teams are entirely omitted, although Cambridge Regional College and Oxford City Nomads have been given the benefit of the doubt.


There are two leagues for which the information is incomplete. In at least one of those cases, the missing tables are notoriously unknown to anyone. They are:

Hampshire League: This was effectively a Step 5 league until the creation of the Wessex League for the 1986-87 season, but at present I have been unable to source tables for the period between 1970-71 and 1977-78.
Kent League: The league tables for the seasons from 1968-69 to 1971-72 appear in none of the usual sources, and are generally regarded as unknown.