The London Combination 1915-19

The 1914-18 war put football under the spotlight. The United Kingdom declared war on Germany on August 4th, and the country, in a state of  fervour, was somewhat stunned when, on September 1st , the Football League programme kicked off as usual.
In fact the 1914-15 season was completed in the face of criticism from the press, the public and politicians that footballers 'weren't doing their bit' for the war effort, and that it was very un-English for fit young men to be paid for playing a game whilst there was a war on. 
For the 1915-16 season and onwards the Football League and FA Cup were suspended. Makeshift competitions were arranged on a regional basis.
London and south of England based clubs , largely from the Southern League but including the capital's 5 Football League clubs (Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Clapton Orient and Fulham) came together in the London Combination.

1915-16
Principal competition
		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Chelsea	22	17	3	2	71	18	37
2	Millwall	22	12	6	4	46	24	30
3	Arsenal	22	10	5	7	43	46	25
4	West Ham United	22	10	4	8	47	35	24
5	Fulham	22	10	4	8	45	37	24
6	Tottenham Hotspur	22	8	8	6	38	35	24
7	Brentford	22	6	8	8	36	40	20
8	Queen's Park Rangers	22	8	3	11	27	41	19
9	Crystal Palace	22	8	3	11	35	55	19
10	Watford	22	8	1	13	37	46	17
11	Clapton Orient	22	4	6	12	22	44	14
12	Croydon Common	22	3	5	14	24	50	11
Supplementary competition
		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
13	Chelsea	14	10	1	3	50	15	21
14	West Ham United	14	9	2	3	32	16	20
15	Tottenham Hotspur	14	8	3	3	32	22	19
16	Fulham	14	9	0	5	38	19	18
17	Millwall	14	8	2	4	30	22	18
18	Crystal Palace	14	8	2	4	41	29	18
19	Watford	14	5	3	6	22	20	13
20	Brentford	14	5	2	7	29	33	12
21	Croydon Common	14	4	3	7	28	27	11
22	Clapton Orient	14	3	4	7	17	27	10
23	Arsenal	14	3	4	7	19	31	10
24	Luton Town	14	4	1	9	31	44	9
25	Queen's Park Rangers	14	2	5	7	14	37	9
26	Portsmouth	14	2	2	8	23	64	8

1916-17
		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	West Ham United	40	30	5	5	110	45	65
2	Millwall	40	26	6	8	85	48	58
3	Chelsea	40	24	5	11	93	48	53
4	Tottenham Hotspur	40	24	5	11	112	64	53
5	Arsenal	40	19	10	11	62	47	48
6	Fulham	40	21	3	16	102	63	45
7	Luton Town	40	20	3	16	101	82	43
8	Crystal Palace	40	14	7	17	68	72	35
9	Southampton	40	13	8	18	57	80	34
10	Queen's Park Rangers	40	10	9	20	48	86	29
11	Watford	40	8	9	22	69	115	25
12	Brentford	40	9	7	24	56	99	25
13	Portsmouth	40	9	4	27	58	117	22
14	Clapton Orient	40	6	7	27	49	104	19

1917-18
		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Chelsea	36	21	8	7	82	39	50
2	West Ham United	36	20	3	7	103	51	49
3	Fulham	36	20	7	9	75	60	47
4	Tottenham Hotspur	36	22	2	12	86	56	46
5	Arsenal	36	16	5	15	76	57	37
6	Brentford	36	16	3	17	81	94	35
7	Crystal Palace	36	13	4	19	54	83	30
8	Queen's Park Rangers	36	14	2	20	43	73	30
9	Millwall	36	12	4	20	52	74	28
10	Clapton Orient	36	2	4	30	34	104	8

1918-19
		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Brentford	36	20	9	7	94	46	49
2	Arsenal	35	20	5	11	85	54	45
3	West Ham United	36	17	7	12	65	51	41
4	Fulham	36	17	6	13	70	55	40
5	Queen's Park Rangers	36	16	7	13	69	60	39
6	Chelsea	36	13	11	12	70	53	37
7	Crystal Palace	36	14	6	16	66	73	34
8	Tottenham Hotspur	36	13	8	15	52	72	34
9	Millwall	36	10	9	17	50	67	29
10	Clapton Orient	36	3	6	27	35	123	12

When life, and football,  began to return to normal in 1919, there was a distinct possibility that top class football in England might continue to be divided along geographical lines. The Southern League as an organization was no longer the force it was. It could not compete with the Football League and, in fact, made overtures to the Football League to absorb its members en masse, either as a southern Second Division or as a means of expanding  the Football League to 3 divisions. There was a  possibility of the 5 London based Football League clubs defecting and forming an alternative league to replace the old Southern League. On  25th April 1919  the London Combination held a meeting to decide whether it should vote itself out of existence , having been intended as a temporary wartime league.  The  member clubs voted in favour of  retaining the Combination. The London clubs  felt that they had been neglected by the northern orientated League management committee  during the war, but that they had managed very well despite this. Added to this was the fact that on merit alone, based on their positions at the end of the 1915-15 season, all 5 should have been in Division 2 when league football resumed.
The Football League, as we have seen, was business minded, always seeking new markets, looking for opportunities to widen it's sphere of influence. The possibility of losing it's foothold in the capital went against everything the League had been working towards in the 1890s and 1900s. 
To be continued...