The Central Lancashire Junior Football League was founded in 1977, with its first season being 1978-1979. The first season had divisions at U13s, U14s, U15s and u16s. The League winners at each age group were Leyland Labour Club at U13s and U14s, St Gregory’s at U15s and Leyland St Andrews at U16s. There was a main Cup competition and a supplementary cup competition at each of the 4 age groups.
The league has steadily grown over the years, with U12s added in 1981 and finally U11s in 1988. There was also a time when an U17s section was added, but this was only for the 1980/81 season.
Originally there was only one division at each group, but this has now grown to multi divisions at each age group with promotion and relegation at the end of each season. 2 cup competitions have continued to take place at each respective age group which has also included some finals being played at the home of Preston North End and more recently at the Lancashire Football Association.
In the 1980s, the league also had a representative team, which played against other leagues in the North West. This included winning the competition in mid 80s.
In 2007 the U11s were given the option of playing 9v9 or 11v11, while the u12s were given the same option the following year. However it became compulsory for the u11s to play 9v9 in 2013 and the u12s to play 9v9 in 2014.
The next major change came in 2015 when the League adhered to FA rules and made U11s non-competitive. This meant that results are not published by the league and enabled teams to focus on development rather than their league position. Also in 2015 the league was successful in becoming a Charter Standard League and has now followed FA rules in ensuring that all its member clubs have Charter Standard status (now called England Football Accreditation) within 12 months of joining the League. In 2018, the league was awarded Chartered Standard League of the year by the Lancashire Football Association.
The 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, were badly affected by the Covid pandemic, and despite games being played during both season’s it was decided that they would be classed as void, with normal service resumed for the 2021-22 season.
The 2023-24 season has seen 289 teams from 45 clubs enter the league. This includes six founder member clubs; Penwortham Town, Lostock Hall, Hesketh Bank, Croston, Bamber Bridge and Gregson Lane.