THE
SCOTTISH
FOOTBALL HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
Site maintained by Brian McColl
(2002-2009)
Please acknowledge the SCOTTISH
FOOTBALL HISTORICAL ARCHIVE (c) if using any material from it.
If you would like to contribute to this
site, have any amendments or have any queries please contact me. Historical
Publications As well as publishing the only annual dedicated to non-League football in Scotland
since 1988, Stewart Davidson’s Scottish Non League Review has also issued numerous booklets
covering a huge range of subjects. Stuart
Robertson has
compiled a series of booklets which gives the results of every Junior game
played in Ayrshire between 1933 and 1968. An excellent addition to any
library, these indispensible records can be obtained by emailing Stuart. Scottish Football Historian Each edition comprises 28 pages
and contains original research on the history of the game in Scotland,
its personalities, players and clubs.
Reproductions of long-forgotten articles on Scottish Football History, book
reviews, obituaries, exchange of information, and news and views of interest
to all those with an interest in the history of Scottish Football. Soccer History magazine, which is edited by Ian Nannestad, is a quality
publication covering football history over Britain with in depth coverage of
the Scottish game. ‘Wish
List’ To complete some of the pages below, I
still require a number of final tables. Even partial tables or else more
information on league memberships would be most welcome. The list does look
lengthy, but apart from the reserve leagues it only features a small number
from each league. If you can help in any way at all, please contact me. Many thanks. Ayrshire
& Renfrewshire League 1903-04, 1904-05 Central
Combination 1903-04
(unfinished) Central
League 1897-98
(unfinished), 1910-11 Combined
Reserve League 1958-59,
1959-60, 1964-65 through to 1971-72, and all Second Series competitions Eastern
League 1905-06,
1906-07, 1912-13, 1920-21, 1921-22, 1922-23 East of
Scotland League 1979-80 Edinburgh
& District League all seasons Fife
League 1916-17 Forfarshire
County League 1909-10 Glasgow
& District Midweek League 1912-13 Glasgow
& West of Scotland League 1903-04 Inter City
League 1905-06,
1908-09 Inter
County League 1904-05,
1905-06, 1916-17 Lanarkshire
League 1899-00,
1901-02 Midland
League 1891-92,
1892-93, 1903-04, 1908-09, 1909-10 Midlothian
League 1895-96 North
Ayrshire League 1899-00
(fuller table), 1900-01 Northern
League 1892-93,
1895-96, 1912-13, 1914-15, 1919-20 Perth City
League 1898-99 Perthshire
League all
seasons Provincial
League 1927-28 Scottish
Alliance 1893-94,
1995-96, 1896-97, 1905-06, 1919-20, 1921-22, 1923-24. 1924-25, 1925-26,
1926-27, 1927-28, 1932-33, 1933-34, 1934-35, 1936-37, 1939-40, 1956-67 Scottish
Reserve League
1890s-1900s, 1912-13, 1913-14, 1945-46, 1946-47, 1947-48, 1948-49 Scottish
Combination 1896-97,
1904-05, 1906-07 through to 1910-11, 1935-36, 1936-37 Scottish
County League 1899-00,
1900-01, 1901-02 Scottish
Reserve League West all
seasons Scottish
Reserve League East all
seasons Scottish
Union 1909-10,
1910-11, 1911-12, 1912-13, 1913-14, 1914-15 (unfinished) Wemyss
League 1907-08
through to 1912-13 Western
League all
seasons Glasgow
Junior League –
1895-96, 1903-04 (full table), 1911-12, 1913-14, 1915-16 to 1921-22, 1922-23
(Div 2 only) to 1926-27 Kincardineshire
Junior League - all
seasons Lanarkshire
Junior League 1891-92,
1896-97, 1897-98, 1898-99, 1907-08, 1909-10, 1914-15, 1919-20, 1920-21,
1921-22, 1923-24 to 1925-26 (Div 2 only needed), 1927-28 to 1930-31, 1932-33, 1939-40,
1940-41, 1940-41, 1948-49 to 1949-50,
1952-53 to 1954-55, 1960-61 Lanarkshire
Junior Alliance 1892-93,
1894-95, 1895-96, 1896-97 Clackmannanshire
Junior League 1896-97,
1897-98, 1898-99, 1908-09 Dumfries
& District Junior League 1945-46 East
Lothian Junior League 1912-13, 1913-14 Kilmarnock
& District Junior League 1903-04 to 1920-21 Lothian
Junior League 1915-16
to 1917-18 Midlothian
Junior League 1895-96 to
1901-02, 1918-19 to 1919-20 Musselburgh
Junior League 1898-99,
1899-00, 1900-01 Scottish
Intermediate League - all
seasons Scottish
Junior League 1893-94,
1899-00, 1900-01, 1901-02, 1903-04, 1909-10, 1910-11 (Div 2), 1911-12,
1912-13 (Div 2), 1914-15 to 1946-47 Stirlingshire
Junior League - most
seasons Western
Intermediate League 1928-29 |
|
2009
updates
25 October – More Glasgow Cup results, mainly concerning Partick Thistle, have
been added thanks to sterling work by Graham Deans.
24 October – Tom’s been back in touch with last remaining missing Premier Reserve League
table from 1985-86 season. He writes ‘On the subject of the
"missing" tables, I believe there was no Premier Reserve Leagues
for those seasons. In season 1976-77, the Scottish Reserve League had each
club playing 33 games and therefore I doubt they would have time to play
another league competition.
While in Seasons 1980-81 and 1981-82 - I
have Celtic only competing in the Reserve League West. Indeed Celtic defeated
Dundee United (East winners) 1-0 on aggregate in 1980-81 for the overall
title.’
Kris Scrimgeour has supplied more results for the
Forfarshire Cup. 23 October – Tom McGouran has provided more Reserve league tables. The period covering the Scottish (Reserve) League
from 1955 to 1975 is now complete, while only five seasons (1976-77, 1978-79,
1980-81, 1981-82, 1985-86) are required to complete the Premier Reserve League.
If you can help with these, or any other tables, please contact me.
20 October – Graham Deans has uncovered the date and result of the Glasgow Cup tie between Third Lanark and Partick
Thistle from 1913-14.
I’ve also
updated some information concerning the Dunbartonshire & District League 17 October – Ian Nannestad of Soccer History magazine has noted some
corrections, namely the date (23 April 1952 and not 23 August 1951) of the
Hearts ‘A’ v Berwick Rangers 'C' Division result in 1951-52, and the correct result of the
Clachnacuddin v Forfar Athletic tie in the 3rd Preliminary round of the
1945-46 Victory Cup.
This was initially noted as a walkover
for the Inverness side, but was played a week later than the rest of the ties
of the round and ended 3-2.
16 October – Robert Bruce has sent me final tables of the 1975-76 and 1976-77 Premier and
Scottish Reserve Leagues.
I’ve also
updated the Midlothian
Junior League with a number of missing tables. 10 October – John Condron of the Kerrydale Street
site has drawn my attention to the fact that Celtic’s game against Kelvinside
Athletic in the 1891-92 Glasgow Cup was a friendly match after the latter side had
scratched from the competition after taking the field.
5 October – Robert Bruce of the Rangers History site has uncovered a list of
Rangers’ reserve title wins, which includes ones from 1894-95, 1898-99, 1905-06, 1909-10, 1910-11, 1911-12, 1912-13 and
1914-15 seasons. These championships
don’t tally with known records, but I’ve listed them here hoping someone
knows which competitions they relate to. Robert has also supplied more Scottish
Reserve League tables from the
1955-1975 period, and the table from the unfinished second series of the
1967-68 Combined Reserve League.
25 September - Graham Deans, who has corresponded with Queen’s Park FC, has sent
me all the results of the Spiders’ Glasgow Cup
matches. 21 September – I’ve added a page giving
an overview of Juvenile football in
Scotland. This was once a power in the land, with clubs fielding
players as old as 27, but had diminished in status by the mid 1960s. Today
the grade is covered by the Scottish Youth FA and has an age limit of 21. When Inverness City joined the Juniors in
2008, they were believed to be the first from the Highland capital since the
early 1900s. However it had come to light that the Inverness Junior League
existed very briefly just after WWII. Not much is known about this league,
except it disbanded in 1953, but I’ve add a short page about it. If you can
add any more about this competition, please contact me. 15 September – The West of
Scotland FA Cup updated. 7 September – Stuart Robertson has
supplied Forfarshire Cup
results for most seasons between 1883 and 1936, to which I‘ve added a number
of results from the 1960s onwards. I’ve also compiled a page giving all the
league and cup winners for the Scottish Amateur League. 30 August – Abbey Vale Institution, which
competed in the 1870s has been removed from the Club Directory. According to Harry Smith, they only played rugby
and never the association code: ‘I did some research a while
back on rugby in St Andrews. Abbey Park had a brief existence as a
boarding school. They fielded rugby teams but there were no references
in the local paper to them playing football. Confusion could have arisen
because in the 1870's-1880's many newspapers in the East of Scotland referred
to rugby as football. Incidently only this week a developer is reported to
have submitted plans to develop the derelict Abbey Park House.’ 29
August – Border Amateur League
winners and most of the final tables since the 1990s added. If anyone can
help with a brief history of the league, please contact me. John Meffen has forwarded
the final tables of the 1949-50 C Division N&E and Graeme Gibb has sent me a photograph
of Scotstoun Victoria.
This states that they won the League and Jackie Robertson Cup in1932-33, but
I’m not certain if these were at Juvenile or Amateur level. If anyone can
enlighten me, please contact me. 25
August - Chris Munro has contacted me with more
information on two of the early Benburb clubs of the 1890s. Chris writes: ‘I
managed to find that the Benburb of Oatlands played through to the summer of
1898 at Benburb Park. This was the old Thistle ground now located within the
confines of Richmond Park with Jenny's Burn at one end. Richmond Park opened
in 1899 and it was the development that led the Council to requisition the
ground in the summer of 1898 with no recompense to the club. The club paid of
its debts and folded around July 1898. A meeting was called in Whitelaw's
Public House in October 1898 under the title Benburb FC. The people involved
seem to be newcomers although a couple of players seem to have persisted
between the two clubs. This side played its first game on October 15 1898
defeating Mossend Celtic. This is the Benburb that continues to today. This
side used the same strips worn by Benburb from Oatlands. This three month
period is open to conjecture as to any connection between the sides and how
the strips were acquired and the motivation of the newcomers in calling the
meeting and naming the team Benburb FC but general opinion seems to be that
they should be considered to be two different clubs although I think there's
scope to argue otherwise.’ Chris also writes excellent historical blogs for
the Benburb site at www.benburbfc.co.uk
and the formation of the present club is chronicled HERE. 24
August – I’ve added the winners and final tables of the Fife Amateur League,
which was formed in 2001 by the amalgamation of the Kirkcaldy & District
and East Fife Amateur Leagues. .
23
August – Kris
Scrimgeour has sent an amendment to the
list of Dewar Shield
winners. In 1957-58, Dundee beat Buckie Thistle on penalties, soon after they
had beaten Fraseburgh to lift the 1956-57 trophy. Also slight additions have
been made to the Club Directory to reflect the moving up
of four clubs to a higher grade. Turriff United, Speyside Thistle and
Formartine United all joined the Highland League from the North Juniors,
while Spartan’s amateur XI joined the East Region Junior League.
This
year the Scottish Amateur FA celebrates its centenary. To coincide with this,
the SFHA, will be expanding on its amateur coverage. I’ve
added a number of pages on some of the more senior amateur leagues, namely
the Aberdeenshire Amateur League,
the Caledonian Amateur League
and the Central Scottish Amateur
League. I intend to add more of these in the coming weeks.
12
August - Philip
Hulme-Jones has noticed a couple of
anomalies on the East of Scotland League
page of tables, which have been corrected. Also Tom McGouran has sent me some more SPL Youth league
going back to 1992-93.
5 August
– I’ve compiled a page giving the champions and a potted history of the
somewhat enigmatic North Caledonian League,
an amateur league that due to some historical quirk, is recognised by the
Scottish FA as a Senior competition. There are also all of the final tables
of the competition since the late 1990s.
Scott Cockburn has sent me all the final tables of the SPL Youth league.
This was open to Under-18 players when it first ran in 2001, and was extended
to under-19 players two years later.
If
anyone has any more on the history of Under-age, youth and Juvenile football,
and they’d like to post it on the site, please contact me.
3 August
– Every final table of the East of Scotland League
is now available to view.
2 August
- Philip
Hulme-Jones who is researching Stranraer’s
results, has quite rightly pointed out glaring errors in the page I have
about the South of Scotland League,
the list of league champions being the same as the League Cup winners! This
has now been corrected.
30 July
– I’ve added a page about the Midlothian Junior League,
which dominated the East of Scotland before and just after the Great War.
Also
additions have been made to the 1910-11 Scottish Junior League
Division2 and 1930-31 Scottish Intermediate League
Western Division, and a new page about the Glasgow District Junior
League
29 July
– I’ve further updated the Glasgow Junior League
page with tables (including some of the GJL 2nd XI League) sent to me by Stewart Davidson. I’ve also added a page about the short-lived Scottish Junior Alliance
of 1892-93. The Club Directory
has also had some amendments made to it.
27 July
– I’ve added a page concerning the Glasgow Junior League
which was arguably the most powerful Junior league to have existed, taking on
and beating the SJFA on a number of occasions before it disbanded in 1927.
Tom McGouran has also sent me a couple of amendments to the C Division, mainly regarding fixture
dates. Tom writes ‘Your grid has Celtic playing Falkirk on 26 August. In my
research for Celtic scorers and teams, I found out on that date Celtic played
East Fife. I checked 23 August, that date the grid has Celtic playing East
Fife but I found no game. The figures on the League table this season do not
match the scores on the grid for Celtic. In 1954-55 C Division Celtic played
Raith Rovers on 31 December and not 1 January.’
25 July
– The Kincardineshire Junior
League page I added yesterday was an earlier one I’d been working
on. The correct one is now on the site. I’ve also added a page about the Friendship Cup by
Bob
Rutherford that was played between
Scottish and French clubs in the early 1960s.
24 July
– I’ve added a page concerning the Kincardineshire Junior
League, which existed sporadically between 1905 and 1955. Ian Sumner’s military knowledge of the Scottish battalions has
now been added to the Club Directory.
22 July
– Stuart
Robertson has added more final tables to
the Kilmarnock & District
Junior League and Western Intermediate League
pages. Robert
Watson has also supplied the table for
the 1929-30 Eastern Division of the Scottish Intermediate League.
I’ve
added a page listing all the top goalscorers in the Scottish League since 1890-91. Please contact me if you notice any errors, or
can to some of the earlier seasons regarding the lower divisions.
21 July
– More Lanarkshire Junior League tables from
the 1920s to the 1950s have been sent in by Robert Watson.
19 July
– Firstly I’ve updated both the Glasgow Cup and
the C Division of
1954-55 (both from Tom
McGouran). Secondly, I’ve completed new
pages with leagues sent to me by Stewart Davidson. The Kilmarnock & District
Junior League, Lanarkshire North Western
League, Midland Junior League,
Renfrewshire Junior League,
Scottish Intermediate League,
Western Intermediate League,
South Ayrshire Junior League,
Stirling & District
Junior League and Strathaven & District
Junior League all have some final tables and seasonal memberships.
If you can fill in any blank seasons, please contact me. I’ve also made a couple of
minor amendments to the Scottish Junior League
and Stirlingshire
Junior League pages.
17 July
– The record of the Glasgow Cup
competition is edging towards completion thanks to research sent to me by
Third Lanark historian Graham
Deans. There are still a very small
number of matches to find, but the page now gives virtually every result up
to 1988.
16 July
– The Scottish Junior League
existed in three versions between 1892 and 1947. Stewart Davidson supplied a great many tables, and again using John Aitken’s ‘West of Scotland Juniors’ book, I’ve posted a
page detailing the history of this somewhat overlooked league.
13 July
– I’ve updated the Lanarkshire Junior League and Lanarkshire Junior Alliance pages that Stewart supplied with information from John Aitken’s ‘West of Scotland Juniors’ book and given a potted
history of both leagues. Any more information on either would be most
welcome. For more information on the latter years of both the LJL and the
Lanarkshire Junior FA, I thoroughly recommend the two booklets published by Stewart Davidson.
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A – Z INDEX