London 1863-1900

 For the first 20 years of its history, Association Football was centered around London. This situation changed in the 1880s. In 1883 Blackburn Olympic became the first northern club to win the FA Cup. In 1885 professionalism was accepted and in 1888 the  Football League was formed, consisting of northern and midland based clubs.  Woolwich Arsenal became the first London club to join the Football League in 1893.
Looking at the pre league era- if we go back to the foundation of the Football Association in 1863 we see that of the 10 clubs listed as members, 9 were from London,  (Barnes, Blackheath, Civil Service, Crusaders, Surbiton, Crystal Palace*,  N.N. Kilburn,  Kensington School and Perceval House).


When the FA Cup was first contested in 1871-72 8 of the 15 entrants were London clubs (Wanderers, Clapham Rovers, Barnes, Civil Service,Crystal Palace*,Upton Park, Harrow Chequers and Hampstead Heathens).
By 1883 there were 56 London based clubs listed as members of  the Football Association.
Amateur football, mainly in the form of 'old boy's' clubs, continued to thrive in the London area during the 1880s and 1890s.  Noteworthy clubs being Corinthians (founded 1882), former cup winners Old Carthusians, who won the inaugural FA Amateur Cup (1894), and Casuals (founded 1883).

* not the present club of the same name

In the 11 seasons of FA Cup football prior to Blackburn Olympic's victory, London based clubs had won the Cup on 9 occasions (Wanderers (5 wins),Old Etonians (2), Clapham Rovers and Old Carthusians )
According to some sources, 1890 saw Millwall Athletic become the first  professional club in southern England.
 In 1891 Woolwich Arsenal  turned professional . This brought them into conflict with the strictly amateur London Football Association. Woolwich Arsenal attempted to set up a south of england based  version of the Football League, but the London FA quashed the plan, and Arsenal were banned from any competition under that association's auspices. 


In 1892-93 there was an amateur league established for clubs in the  south east of England, This league, the Southern Alliance, lasted for one (uncompleted) season. The London clubs to feature in this league were:

Old St Stephen's
Erith
Tottenham Hotspur
Polytechnic (Chiswick)
Upton Park


As mentioned above, League Football first came to London in the 1893 -94 season when Woolwich Arsenal were elected to the second division. 

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1893-94	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	9

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1894-95	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	8

For the 1894-95 a rival league had also been established for southern clubs. Millwall Athletic were prime movers in the establishment of this, the Southern League, which was open to professional and amateur clubs and survived as a respectable if poorer relative to the Football League up until the 1914-18 war. 

Millwall Athletic 1894

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1894-95	Millwall Athletic	Div.1	1
	Royal Ordnance Factories	Div.1	7
	Clapton	Div.1	8
	Old St Stephen's	Div.2	3
	Uxbridge	Div.2	4
	Bromley	Div.2	5

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1895-96	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	7

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1895-96	Millwall Athletic	Div.1	1
	Clapton *	Div.1	8
	Royal Ordnance Factories	Div.1	9
	Uxbridge	Div.2	4
	Old St Stephen's	Div.2	5
	Bromley*	Div.2	9

* Left league at the end of the season

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1896-97	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	10

Tottenham Hotspur 1897

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1896-97	Millwall Athletic	Div. 1.	2
	Tottenham Hotspur	Div. 1.	4
	Royal Ordnance Factories *	Div. 1.
	Uxbridge	Div.2	4
	Southall	Div.2	7
	Old St Stephen's	Div.2	11

* left the league during the season

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1897-98	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	5

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1897-98	Tottenham Hotspur	Div. 1.	3
	Millwall Athletic	Div. 1.	9
	Uxbridge	Div.2	4
	Southall	Div.2	7
	Old St Stephen's*	Div.2	9

*Renamed  Shepherd's Bush

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1898-99	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	7

Thames Ironworks

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1898-99	Millwall Athletic	Div. 1.	3
	Tottenham Hotspur	Div. 1.	7
	Thames Ironworks	Div.2	1
	Brentford	Div.2	4
	Southall	Div.2	6
	Shepherd's Bush	Div.2	9
	Fulham	Div.2	10
	Uxbridge*	Div.2	11

* Left league at the end of the season

Football League
season		Div	Pos
1899-1900	Woolwich Arsenal	Div.2	8

Southern League
season		Div	Pos
1899-1900	Tottenham Hotspur	Div.1	1
	Millwall Athletic	Div.1	7
	Queens Park Rangers	Div.1	8
	Thames Ironworks*	Div.1	14
	Fulham	Div.2	2
	Shepherd's Bush	Div.2	6
	Brentford	Div.2	9
	Southall	Div.2	10

* Renamed West Ham United