The North Eastern League was a regional Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition held during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, due to the suspension of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

. Held between 1941 and 1945 (an interim nationwide War Emergency League was played in the 1939–40 season followed by one year of hiatus), the competition was played in two stages each season (autumn and spring), with bonus points awarded in the second stage: initially, for teams with higher aggregate scores over the two series; latterly, for away draws/wins. Some

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

s from the bigger clubs competing in the other region, the Southern League, entered the North Eastern League, with the Rangers 'A' team winning both stages in the first season. In the 1945–46 season, with the war itself at an end, the North Eastern League merged with the Southern League; however, only

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

participated in the ''A Division'' (finishing in

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); the rest of the clubs were placed in the ''B Division'' along with some from the Southern region including those who had finished at the foot of the table in its previous edition. There was also a North Eastern League Cup. Regular football returned in 1946, with the regional competitions disbanded.

Tables

1941–42

First Series

Second Series

BP – an extra point was awarded by having a better aggregate score over each opponent

1942–43

First Series

Second Series

BP – an extra point was awarded by having a better aggregate score over each opponent

Tables

1941–42

First Series

Second Series

1942–43

First Series

Second Series

1943–44

First Series

Second Series

1944–45

First Series

Second Series

See also