Scottish
Highland Football League
1893-date
See also |
In
2007, the Highland League decided to change its name to the Scottish Highland
League, possibly in anticipation of the formation of a Scottish ”pyramid”
structure. Formed on 4 August 1893 at
the Workmen's Club in In
1893 the eight original members were Cameron Highlanders, Clachnacuddin,
Forres Mechanics, Inverness Caledonian, Inverness Citadel, Inverness Thistle,
Inverness Union and There
were a high number of changes to the league’s line-up in the early years.
Cameron left after the first season, although they competed again in 1897-98,
1903-04 and 1919-20. Forres were absent in 1895-96 and 1900-01, and because
they couldn’t fulfil any fixtures after April 1897, their record for the
1896-97 season was deleted from the final table. Elgin City missed season
1896-97, but returned, as Elgin City United, in 1898. The “United” part was
dropped after 1900. The town had two clubs in 1900-01 when Elgin Caledonian
also took part. Inverness was also well represented during the 1890s. As well
as Caledonian, Clach and Thistle, Celtic, Union and Citadel all competed, the
last named continuing until they lost their ground in 1935. They were also
League champions on one occasion. Other
clubs to join up were Buckie Thistle (1909) and the 93rd Highlanders in 1912.
Aberdeen also entered their reserve side from 1912 to 1914. Nairn County were
also elected to the league in 1914, but couldn’t compete until 1919 after the
league closed down because of the War. Fraserburgh
were elected in 1922, and although they left four years later, they rejoined
in 1929. Keith joined in 1924 with Aberdeen ‘A’, who subsequently went on to
win their second title before leaving again. Huntly (1929) and Ross County
(1929) were among the other sides to join in the 1920s. Ross had been formed
from Dingwall Victoria United who had previously competed in the North
Caledonian League. They had replaced Black Watch, one of a number of military
sides to compete, the others being Cameron Highlanders (1919-20), Seaforth
Highlanders (1919-20), RAF (1939-40, 1947-48), HGTB (1948-49), HLI (1949-50),
KOSB (1931-1934) and 30th TB (1946-47). The
league continued to expand and the 1930s saw the arrival of Peterhead,
Deveronvale and Rothes. Unfortunately 1935 saw the demise of Inverness
Citadel. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the league
programme had barely begun when all football was suspended. The league closed
down for the duration but fourteen teams entered two competitions, the
Central Highland League and the Highland Emergency League, and played out the rest of the season. 1946
saw the league restart, and the introduction of the Highland League Cup.
Initially the competition was played in a knock-out format until a group
system was introduced in 1951. This continued until 1966 when the earlier
system was reintroduced. Apart from the coming and going of the military
teams, only one club was to join in the next forty years, and that was Brora
Rangers in 1963. In
1983, the league was the first in Scotland to introduce the new points
system, awarding a win three points instead of two. Two years later Fort
William were elected and the were joined in 1994 by Wick Academy. The latter
had been brought in to even the league up to sixteen clubs after Ross County,
Inverness Caledonian and Inverness Thistle all left for the Scottish League. The
two Inverness sides had merged as Caledonian Thistle. The expansion of the
Scottish Premier League in 2000 meant that their were two places available in
the Scottish League and these were filled by Elgin City and Peterhead.
Although this left the league with an even number of clubs, Junior club
Inverurie Loco Works were allowed to turn Senior and join as a fifteenth
club. As members of the
North Of Scotland FA, the league clubs dominate the North Of Scotland Cup,
with the only other entrants being Golspie Sutherland of the North Caledonian
League, the only club in that body to hold full Scottish FA membership. Clubs
also compete for the two principal County trophies, the Inverness and the
Aberdeenshire Cups. |
Highland
League Champions
|
Highland
League Cup winners
|
1893-94
1894-95
Clachnacuddin 1895-96
1896-97
Clachnacuddin 1897-98
Clachnacuddin 1898-99
1899-00
1900-01
Clachnacuddin 1901-02
1902-03
Clachnacuddin 1903-04
Clachnacuddin 1904-05
Clachnacuddin* 1905-06
Clachnacuddin 1906-07
1907-08
Clachnacuddin 1908-09
1909-10
1910-11
1911-12
Clachnacuddin 1912-13
1913-14
1914-15 unfinished 1919-20
Buckie Thistle 1920-21
Clachnacuddin 1921-22
Clachnacuddin 1922-23
Clachnacuddin 1923-24
Clachnacuddin 1924-25
1925-26
1926-27
Buckie Thistle 1927-28
Buckie Thistle 1928-29
1929-30
Huntly 1930-31
1931-32
1932-33
Fraserburgh 1933-34
Buckie Thistle 1934-35
1935-36
1936-37
Buckie Thistle 1937-38
Fraserburgh 1938-39
Clachnacuddin 1939-40
unfinished 1946-47
Peterhead 1947-48
Clachnacuddin 1948-49
Peterhead 1949-50
Peterhead 1950-51
1951-52
1952-53
1953-54
Buckie Thistle 1954-55 unfinished 1955-56
1956-57
Buckie Thistle 1957-58
Buckie Thistle 1958-59
Rothes* 1959-60
1960-61
1961-62
Keith 1962-63
1963-64
1964-65
1965-66
1966-67
1967-68
1968-69
1969-70
1970-71
1971-72
1972-73
1973-74
1974-75
Clachnacuddin 1975-76
1976-77
1977-78
1978-79
Keith 1979-80
Keith 1980-81
Keith 1981-82
1982-83
1983-84
1984-85
Keith 1985-86
Forres Mechanics 1986-87
1987-88
1988-89
Peterhead 1989-90
1990-91
1991-92
1992-93
1993-94
Huntly 1994-95
Huntly 1995-96
Huntly 1996-97
Huntly 1997-98
Huntly 1998-99
Peterhead 1999-00 Keith 2000-01
Cove Rangers 2001-02
Fraserburgh 2002-03
Deveronvale 2003-04
Clachnacuddin 2004-05
Huntly 2005-06
Deveronvale 2006-07
Keith 2007-08
Cove Rangers 2008-09
Cove Rangers |
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Forres Mechanics Clachnacuddin Huntly Ross
County Clachnacuddin Huntly Inverness
Caledonian Buckie
Thistle Forres Mechanics Buckie
Thistle Buckie
Thistle Buckie
Thistle Fraserburgh Elgin
City Buckie
Thistle Lossiemouth Peterhead Nairn
County Keith Peterhead Elgin
City Peterhead Ross
County Inverness
Caledonian Inverness
Thistle Inverness
Caledonian Inverness
Thistle Keith Keith Keith Inverness
Caledonian Inverness
Caledonian Ross
County Buckie
Thistle Peterhead Clachnacuddin Elgin
City Keith Forres Mechanics Keith Inverness
Caledonian Inverness
Thistle Keith Peterhead Elgin
City Ross
County Huntly Huntly Cove
Rangers Huntly Lossiemouth Elgin
City Forres Mechanics Cove
Rangers Forres Mechanics Forres Mechanics Keith Clachnacuddin Cove
Rangers Fraserburgh Keith Inverurie Loco Works Inverurie Loco Works |
Highland League Membership |
|
Aberdeen
'A' Black
Watch Brora
Rangers Buckie
Thistle Cameron
Highlanders Clachnacuddin Cove
Rangers Deveronvale Forres
Mechanics Formartine
United Fraserburgh Highland
Light Infantry Huntly Inverness Citadel Inverness
Inverurie
Loco Works Keith King's
Own Scottish Borderers Lossiemouth 93rd
Highlanders Peterhead RAF
Kinloss Rothes Seaforths Strathspey
Thistle Turriff
United 30th
Training Battalion |
1912-1915, 1924-25 1904-05,
1926-1929 1963- 1909- 1893-94,
1897-98, 1903-04, 1919-20 1893- 1986- 1938- 1900-01 1895-96,
1897-1901, 1902-2000 1893-1895,
1896-1901, 1902- 2009- 1985- 1922-1926,
1928- 1948-49 1907-1909 1949-50 1928- 1893-1994 1897-1899 1893-1935 1893-1994 1893-1896,
1897-1899 2001- 1924- 1931-1934 1946- 1919- 1912-1914 1931-2000 1893-94,
1929-1994 1939-40,
1947-48 1938- 1910-11,
1919-1920 2009- 2009- 1946-47 1994- |
*
Note
(1):
The
following clubs left for the Scottish
League
Inverness
Caledonian and Inverness Thistle merged as Caledonian
Thistle in 1994.
Note
(2):
Royal
Air Force actually joined in 1939-40, but played just four games before the
League was abandoned after the outbreak of War.
Two
leagues were then set-up in its place:
Highland
Emergency League 1939-40 |
Central
Highland League 1939-40 |
Inverness
Thistle
Clachnacuddin Army XI Evanton RAF/Service XI Ross County Nairn County Forres Mechanics Inverness
Caledonian |
Rothes
Elgin City Buckie Thistle RAF Kinloss Lossiemouth Keith Buckie
and Keith were replaced by an Army XI For
the second series |