League Level III North
History
The Football League Division 3 North (D3N) was founded in 1921 to complement to the existing Division 3 South. Whereas the Southern Section was just drawn from the Southern League, there was no pre-eminent northern league until the formation of the Northern Premier League in 1968. Instead the new Northern Section was drawn from a variety of leagues: Stockport (relegated from Division 2); Grimsby (transferred from Division 3 South); Walsall and Wrexham (Birmingham League); Crewe, Nelson, Rochdale, Southport, Stalybridge Celtic and Tranmere (Central League); Accrington Stanley, Barrow and Wigan Borough (Lancashire Combination); Chesterfield, Halifax and Lincoln (Midland League); Ashington, Darlington, Durham City and Hartlepool (North-Eastern League). The Northern Section was extended to 22 teams in 1923 with the election of Doncaster (from the Midland League) and New Brighton (from the Lancashire Combination) in 1923. With a further extension to 24 teams each in 1950, the two regional leagues continued until 1958 when they were reorganised as the national Division 3 and Division 4.
The list of northern champions is as follows: Barnsley (3), Doncaster Rovers (3), Lincoln City (3), Chesterfield (2), Grimsby Town (2), Hull City (2), Port Vale (2), Stockport County (2), Bradford City (1), Bradford Park Avenue (1), Darlington (1), Derby County (1), Nelson (1), Oldham Athletic (1), Rotherham United (1), Scunthorpe United (1), Stoke City (1), Tranmere Rovers (1), Wolverhampton W (1). Note that a number of teams played in both Division 3 North and Division 3 South (namely Coventry, Grimsby, Mansfield, Port Vale, Shrewsbury and Walsall) but none won titles in both sections.
All-time Table
There is an all-time Division 3 North table, ranked by two points per win and goal average.
Representative Matches
A number of representative matches were played between teams representing the Northern and Southern Sections with the following results:
| 1954-55 | Division 3 South | 2 | Division 3 North | 0 |
| 1955-56 | Division 3 North | 3 | Division 3 South | 3 |
| 1956-57 | Division 3 South | 2 | Division 3 North | 1 |
| Division 3 North | 2 | Division 3 South | 1 | |
| 1957-58 | Division 3 South | 2 | Division 3 North | 2 |
| Division 3 North | 0 | Division 3 South | 1 |
Summary of Results
Reading played several games against teams from Division 3 North in the FA Cup with the following results:
| PL | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | P3/PL | |
| TOTAL | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 14 | +4 | 1.167 |
| HOME | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 1.000 |
| AWAY | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 |
| NEUTRAL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 3.000 |
Results by Opponent
| PL | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | P3 | ||
| 1 | Southport | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 |
| 2 | Chester City1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 4 |
| 3 | Wrexham | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 4 |
| 4 | Hull City | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 1 |
| 5 | Doncaster Rovers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 0 |
| 6 | Darlington | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
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1 includes Chester |
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