Scottish
Football Alliance
Overview
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See also Scottish Alliance
1891-1897 Scottish Alliance
1905-06 Scottish Alliance
1919-1938 Scottish Alliance
1939-40 Scottish Alliance
1956-57 |
The Scottish
Alliance was one of a number of leagues set up a year after the Scottish
League was formed in 1890. In 1893 a number of clubs returned, but during the
summer, the Alliance was used as the backbone of the new Second Division of
the Scottish League. A number of clubs from the Scottish Federation, which
subsequently disbanded, joined and the Alliance continued for four more years
before disbanding. The second
Scottish Alliance was formed in 1905. Unlike the previous competition, this
one was eastern based, with only Rangers 'A' representing the west of
Scotland. At the end of the season all the clubs with the exception of
Broxburn Shamrock combined with some clubs from the Scottish Combination to
form the Scottish Union. The next time the Scottish
Alliance appeared, it was principally as a reserve league for Scottish League
clubs. However one aspect of it, like the Scottish Reserve League
(1909-1915), was the inclusion of a number of non-League sides within its
membership. At the Alliance's AGM in 1938, a motion by Hamilton Academical to
remove the two remaining non-League sides - Beith and Galston - for financial
reasons was approved by 15 votes to 5. The Alliance was then effectively
reformed as the Scottish Reserve League, and was to be an exclusively First
Division reserve body. After a year the Scottish Alliance was re-formed in
1939 but disbanded after only a few games because of the War. The last mention
of a Scottish Alliance came in 1956-57 when the reserve sides of some Second
Division sides and Queen’s Park’s third team formed a new competition. With
initially only six clubs involved, the competition was played over Autumn and
Spring series, |