The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although some members (such as Darlington) transferred to join the Football League Third Division North in 1921, the North Eastern League absorbed the Northern Alliance in 1925–26and split into two divisions.

The league spent nine years like this, returning to one division in 1935; clubs from the second division re-forming the Northern Football Alliance, which became a feeder to it. As years progressed, numbers dwindled and the league initially folded in 1958 after the withdrawal of Football League clubs' reserve sides. The remaining members initially transferred to the Midland Football League before founding the Northern Counties League in 1960. The Northern Counties League was renamed the North Eastern League in 1962–63 but folded for a second time in 1964.

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Dennis debuted for the Boro on 30 Nov 1957 in the North Eastern Senior Cup in his first game for the reserves and scored. A sign of things to come!