The Wartime League was a football league competition held in England during World War II, which replaced the suspended Football League. The exclusion of the FA Cup in these years saw the creation of the Football League War Cup and it was a friendly championship. History Following the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declaration of war by Britain against Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, the British government announced on 21 September 1939 that football games would continue but not under the divisions that the game traditionally held season to season. The Football League teams each played 2-3 League matches per division before it was abandoned. After a fifty-mile travelling limit was established, the Football Association divided the football league into separate regional leagues with reduced attendance numbers. In the interests of public safety, the number of spectators allowed to attend these games was limited to 8,000. These arrangements were later revised, and clubs were allowed gates of 15,000 from tickets purchased on the day of the game through the turnstiles. Many footballers during this time left their careers to join the Territorial Army. Between September 1939 and the end of the war, 784 footballers joined in the war effort. 91 men joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers, 76 from Liverpool, 65 from Huddersfield Town, 63 from Leicester City, 62 from Charlton, 55 from Preston North End, 52 from Burnley, 50 from Sheffield Wednesday, 44 from Chelsea, 41 each from Brentford and Southampton, Sunderland and West Ham United, and 1 from Norwich City. Each season saw the divisions switched around from region to region. The first season of the Wartime League 1939–40 season, saw ten divisions established, two in the north of England, one in the West Midlands, one in the East Midlands, one in the South West and two in the South, which were both played in two sections. Arsenal, Tottenham, Queens Park Rangers, and Crystal Palace were all winners of their own South section. The FA Cup was suspended and to substitute for its absence, the Football League War Cup was established. By May 1940 the early stages of the conflict, known as the Phoney War, ended and Germany invaded France, bringing the war increasingly closer to Britain. Concerns for the safety of spectators increased as a result of the Luftwaffe's campaign of bombing. Despite this, over 40,000 fans braved the warnings and turned out at Wembley Stadium to