The Football League 1892 - 1893
At the Annual General Meeting in 1892 it was decided to create a Second Division of 12 teams and to expand what would now be called the First Division to 16 members. The Football Alliance, formed in 1889 as a direct rival to the Football League, was
already considered as a Second Division in waiting and 11 out its 12 members
formed the new division. Darwen, who had failed re-election, took the Second
Division place of Alliance club Birmingham St George's, which had gone out of
business at the end of the previous season while The Wednesday (now Sheffield Wednesday),
Nottingham Forest and Newton Heath (now Manchester United) were elected
directly into the new First Division.
The expansion made rule that required member clubs to register distinctive colopurs impractical and it was repealed. Instead team had to have a set of white (or contrasting) shirts available in the event of a colour clash. As a rule the home team changed but this was not rigidly observed.
