Central Football Combination

1897-1904

See also Main index Club directory Central League Midland League Northern League Perth City League Scottish Combination

Formed in 1897, this league was set-up by members of the recently defunct Midland League, with clubs from the Central League and Scottish Combination. In 1898, St Johnstone and Fair City Athletic left for the Perth City League and they were replaced by Alloa and Clackmannan. Although East Stirlingshire were runners-up in 1899, they left and weren’t replaced. By 1903, the league was struggling after it had lost six of its strongest clubs including the Champions and runners-up to other bodies. East Stirlingshire and St Johnstone (who also played in the Northern League) rejoined, along with newly formed East Fife and Hearts of Beath. To try and maintain some quality, Celtic ‘A’ and West Calder were also approached, but they declined to compete. The Combination’s last season was not completed, and it disbanded soon after. Although Falkirk were the only Combination club to be elected to the Scottish League whilst still members (1902), nine others later gained admission to the national competition.

Champions

1897-98 East Stirlingshire

1898-99 Stenhousemuir

1899-00 Falkirk

1900-01 Stenhousemuir

1901-02 Stenhousemuir

1902-03 Alloa

1903-04 unfinished

Membership Alloa Athletic Bathgate Bo'ness Broxburn Camelon Clackmannan Dunblane Dunipace East Fife East Stirlingshire Fair City Athletic Falkirk Hearts of Beath Kilsyth Wanderers King's Park St Johnstone Stenhousemuir

Seasons 1898-1903 1902-03 1901-1903 1902-03 1897-1903 1898-1901 1897-1904 1899-1901 1903-04 1897-1899, 1903-04 1897-98 1897-1902 1903-04 1897-1900 1897-1904 1897-98, 1903-04 1897-1903

Came from Central League Midland League Midland League Scottish Combination Central League Scottish Combination Midland League Midland League Central League Scottish Combination

Left for Scottish Combination Midland League Midland League Midland League Scottish Combination Eastern League Perth City League Scottish League Perth City League Northern League

	1897-98	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9	East Stirlingshire Stenhousemuir Camelon Falkirk King’s Park Kilsyth Wanderers Fair City Athletic Dunblane St Johnstone	16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16	14 11 7 6 5 5 5 2 4	2 2 3 3 5 3 2 5 1	0 3 6 7 6 8 9 9 11	73 64 51 31 44 26 32 37 33	24 29 37 38 51 41 43 56 72	30 24 17 15 15 13 12 9 9

 **Alternative Table**

	1897-98	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9	East Stirlingshire Stenhousemuir Camelon King’s Park Falkirk Kilsyth Wanderers Fair City Athletic Dunblane St Johnstone	16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16	14 11 7 5 6 6 5 2 4	2 2 3 5 2 2 2 5 1	0 3 6 6 8 8 9 9 11	72 64 51 45 31 26 33 37 33	24 29 38 51 39 41 43 56 7	30 24 17 15 15 14 12 9 9

	1898-99	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9	Stenhousemuir East Stirlingshire Kilsyth Wanderers Clackmannan Camelon Falkirk King’s Park Alloa Athletic Dunblane	16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16	14 9 7 7 7 6 5 4 2	1 4 3 3 2 2 2 4 2	1 3 6 6 7 8 9 8 12	57 41 39 31 37 44 33 29 12	31 25 35 35 28 38 42 45 44	29 22 17 17 16 14 12 12 6

Dunblane were unable to complete their fixtures so scratched their last 4 matches, against Stenhousemuir, East Stirlingshire, Clackmannan & Camelon.

 **Alternative Table**

	1898-99	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9	Stenhousemuir East Stirlingshire Kilsyth Wanderers Clackmannan Camelon Falkirk King’s Park Alloa Athletic Dunblane	16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16	14 9 7 7 7 6 5 4 2	1 4 3 3 2 2 2 4 1	1 3 6 6 7 8 9 8 13	56 41 39 31 40 44 33 29 12	31 25 35 36 25 36 40 47 44	29 22 17 17 16 14 12 12 5

Dunblane were unable to complete their fixtures so scratched their last 4 matches, against Stenhousemuir, East Stirlingshire, Clackmannan & Camelon.

	1899-1900	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9	Falkirk Camelon Alloa Athletic Stenhousemuir Dunblane Kilsyth Wanderers Clackmannan Dunipace King’s Park	16 14 16 13 13 9 13 14 14	10 8 8 8 6 5 3 2 1	4 3 2 0 1 1 4 3 2	2 3 6 5 6 3 6 10 11	45 34 40 36 34 20 23 24 14	25 21 41 23 29 17 30 46 35	24 19 18 16 13 11 10 7 4

Kilsyth Wanderers withdrew and the fixtures were left unfinished. However Falkirk were declared champions as they couldn’t be caught.

	1900-01	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7	Stenhousemuir Falkirk King’s Park Camelon Dunblane Alloa Athletic Clackmannan	12 12 12 12 12 12 12	8 7 7 5 5 2 2	2 1 1 3 1 2 2	2 4 4 4 6 8 8	41 43 32 46 31 13 15	17 26 23 26 43 51 35	18 15 15 13 11 6 6

	1901-02	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7	Stenhousemuir Falkirk Bo’ness Camelon King’s Park Dunblane Alloa Athletic	12 12 12 12 12 12 12	8 7 7 6 4 3 2	3 2 1 2 1 0 1	1 3 4 4 7 9 9	31 29 29 24 15 16 17	20 22 21 17 23 20 27	19 16 15 14 9 6 5

	1902-03	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8	Alloa Camelon Bathgate Stenhousemuir King’s Park Broxburn Bo’ness Dunblane	14 14 14 13 14 11 11 12	9 9 6 7 6 5 4 1	2 1 3 1 3 1 1 0	3 4 5 5 5 5 9 11	40 32 27 30 25 26 25 8	19 22 27 19 29 24 33 40	20 19 15 15 15 11 9 2

Broxburn were awarded 4 points after Dunblane failed to fulfil their fixtures with them

1903-04 unfinished

Dunblane

East Fife

East Stirlingshire

Hearts of Beath

King’s Park

St Johnstone

Source for final tables: John Meffen and Stewart Davidson