Founded | 1896 |
---|---|
Country | England |
Divisions | Premier Division Division One Division Two |
Number of teams | 40 |
Level on pyramid | Levels 11 (Premier Division) |
Feeder to | United Counties League |
Promotion to | United Counties League Division One |
Current champions | Rugby Borough (Premier Division) FC Wymeswold (Division One) North Kilworth Sports (Division Two) (2018–19) |
Website | FA Full-Time |
The Leicestershire Senior League (currently sponsored by Everards Brewery) is a football competition based in Leicestershire, England.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
The league was formed in 1896, [1] 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. [2] A second division was added in 1948. [1]
The longest serving team in the league was Holwell Sports, who completed 76 seasons in the league, 60 of them in the top division [3] but left in 2008 to join the new East Midlands Counties Football League.
The league currently has three divisions, 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 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 the Central Midlands League to form a new league, the East Midlands Counties Football League, at Step 6 of the National League System. That league is now defunct.
The champions of the league's top division since its creation have been as follows: [4]
Leicestershire is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, and Staffordshire to the west. The city of Leicester is the largest settlement and the county town.
Charnwood is a local government district with borough status in the north of Leicestershire, England. It is named after Charnwood Forest, much of which lies within the borough. Towns in the borough include Loughborough, Shepshed and Syston. Villages in the borough include Barrow upon Soar, Birstall, Hathern, Mountsorrel, Quorn, Rothley, Sileby and Woodhouse Eaves.
Coalville is a town in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. In 2011, it had a population of 34,575. It lies on the A511 between Leicester and Burton upon Trent, close to junction 22 of the M1 motorway where the A511 meets the A50 between Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Leicester. It borders the upland area of Charnwood Forest to the east of the town.
Shepshed is a market town and civil parish in the Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England with a population of 14,875 at the 2021 census. It is the second biggest settlement in the borough, after the town of Loughborough.
Anstey is a large village in Leicestershire, England, located north west of Leicester in the borough of Charnwood. Its population was 9,000 at the 2021 census. This figure is expected to increase due to the building of a new housing development off Groby Road. The village is separated from Leicester by the Rothley Brook, Castle Hill Park and the A46, and it borders the villages of Glenfield, Groby, Newtown Linford, Cropston and Thurcaston as well as the suburb of Beaumont Leys and Anstey Heights. To the north-west lies Bradgate Park.
Loughborough is a constituency in Leicestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Jeevun Sandher of the Labour Party. The constituency is a considered a bellwether, as it has reflected the national result at every general election since February 1974.
GNG Oadby Town Football Club is an association football club based in Leicester. The club plays in the United Counties League Premier Division South.
The Charnwood Forest Railway was a branch line in Leicestershire constructed by the Charnwood Forest Company between 1881 and 1883. The branch line ran from Coalville to the town of Loughborough.
Loughborough Corinthians F.C. was an English football club based in Loughborough, Leicestershire, that played in the Midland League.
The Leicestershire & Rutland Senior Cup is the county cup for the Leicestershire and Rutland County Football Association (LRCFA). Entry to the competition is selected by the Competitions Committee of LRCFA and usually consists of Step 6 and 7 teams of the National League System. The current holders are Kirby Muxloe who won the 2023–24 competition.
The Leicestershire Rugby Union (LRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for those counties. The LRU administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in those two counties and administers the Leicestershire county rugby representative teams.
The 2018–19 United Counties League season was the 112th in the history of the United Counties League, a football competition in England.
The 2020–21 season was the 114th in the history of the United Counties League, a football competition in England. The league operated two divisions in the English football league system, the Premier Division at Step 5 and Division One at Step 6, for the last time this season.
The 2021–22 season was the 115th in the history of the United Counties League, a football competition in England. The league operated three divisions in the English football league system for the first time since the 1979–80 season. These are the Premier Divisions North and South at Step 5, both firsts in the league, and Division One at Step 6.
The 2024–25 season is the 118th in the history of the United Counties League, a football competition in England. The United Counties League operates three divisions in the English football league system, the Premier Divisions North and South at Step 5 and Division One at Step 6.