The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football. It was the top level football league in England from its foundation in the 19th century until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split away to form the Premier League (reduced to 20 clubs in 1995).
The Football League has been associated with a title sponsor since 1983. As this sponsor has changed over the years the league has been known in turn as the Canon League, the Today League, the Barclays League, the Endsleigh League, the Nationwide Football League and the Coca-Cola Football League, until the present sponsor npower was adopted in 2010, contracted until 2013.
Since 1995 it has had 72 clubs evenly divided into three divisions, which are known as The Championship, League One, and League Two. Promotion and relegation between these divisions is a central feature of the League and is further extended to allow the top Championship clubs to exchange places with the lowest placed clubs in the Premier League, and the bottom clubs of League Two to switch with the top clubs of the Football Conference, thus integrating the League into the English football league system. Although primarily a competition for English clubs, one club from Wales also takes part, while in the past Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County, Merthyr Town and Aberdare Athletic have been members.
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations or teams can command large incomes. As a result, more sportspeople can afford to make athleticism their primary career, devoting the training time necessary to increase skills, physical condition, and experience to modern levels of achievement. This proficiency has also helped boost the popularity of sports.
Most sports played professionally also have amateur players far outnumbering the professionals. Professional athleticism is seen by some as a contradiction of the central ethos of sport, competition performed for its own sake and pure enjoyment, rather than as a means of earning a living. Consequently, many organisations and commentators have resisted the growth of professional athleticism, saying that it was so incredible that it has impeded the development of sport. For example, rugby union was for many years a part-time sport engaged in by amateurs, and English cricket has allegedly suffered in quality because of a "non-professional" approach.
For the Welsh rugby union player see Adam Thomas (rugby union player)
Adam Thomas (born on 11 August 1987 in Manchester, England) is a British actor, currently starring in British ITV soap opera Emmerdale as Adam Barton. He is also well known for his former role in BBC drama Waterloo Road as Donte Charles from 2006 to 2009.
It was in 2002, at the age of 15, that Adam started his television career with a guest appearance on the BBC daytime soap opera Doctors. It was another four years before Adam rose to fame in his breakthrough role as Donte Charles in the BBC drama series Waterloo Road of which he was an original cast member upon its inception in 2006.
The role of Donte led Adam to enjoy guest appearances in popular hospital drama Casualty in 2008 in which he played a boxer, as well as a second appearance in Doctors in 2007. He also appeared as himself on ITV gameshow All Star Family Fortunes alongside his older brother and fellow actor Ryan, who plays Jason Grimshaw in the soap Coronation St..