Summary
The Fife Junior Football League was a football league competition under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Junior Football Association, which operated as the top league in Fife until a merger in 2002; it existed for a further four years as a second-tier league before the name was discontinued in 2006.
History edit
The league was formed in 1913 from a merger between smaller competitions across the county, initially the Howe of Fife League (played between 1892 and 1913) and the West Fife County League (1893 to 1913), later joined by teams from the East Neuk League (1908 to 1924). It continued during World War I and had periods where there were sufficient numbers involved to have West and East sections whose winners would play off for the title.[1] Due to anticipated problems with travelling distances, the Fife clubs chose not to join the Intermediate dispute of the late 1920s, instigated by clubs in the West of Scotland who broke away from the SJFA.
The league stopped for six seasons during World War II and lost a number of member teams in the late 1940s, but was still running in 1968 and considered sufficiently strong to form one of six 'regions' across Scotland in a re-organisation of Junior football at that time.[2] The Fife area suffered from an economic decline in the subsequent decades, owing to the collapse of the mining industry which had provided the main source of employment in most towns and villages, with several teams folding and others struggling to continue as small isolated communities became impoverished and residents moved away.
As membership of the Fife League fell steadily, a few well-run clubs who had joined more recently than its oldest members became dominant, and in 2002 these teams were invited to form the new regional Superleague in the east of the country along with the leading teams in the East (Lothians) League and the Tayside League. Fife's setup was retained as a feeder division to the Superleague along with the other historic districts until 2006, when they were fully integrated into the East Region; Fife's section became the Central Division below the Super League and a new Premier Division, but it was disbanded in 2013, meaning the county was no longer represented separately in the Junior grade.
Later movement of Fife clubs edit
In 2018, a large group of East Junior clubs (including five from the Kingdom) followed the path taken by Kelty Hearts a year earlier and joined the East of Scotland Football League to take part in the Scottish football pyramid.[3] With Glenrothes making the same switch in 2019, this left eight local clubs in the East Region, including Tayport and Kennoway Star Hearts who never played in the old Fife Junior League. A further seven clubs left for the senior ranks in 2020, leaving Tayport as the only Junior club remaining in Fife.
Champions edit
1913–1968 era edit
Key:
| Club also won the Scottish Junior Cup[4][5] (doubles in bold). |
| Club were also runners-up in the Scottish Junior Cup.[4][5] |
Notes
1968–2002 era edit
| Club also won the Scottish Junior Cup[4][5] (doubles in bold). |
| Club were also runners-up in the Scottish Junior Cup.[4][5] |
Notes
- ^ a b Denotes winner and finalist in playoff between winners of 'A' (West) and 'B' (East) Divisions.
- ^ a b Denotes winner and finalist in playoff between winners of Divisions One and Two, arranged on merit – in both cases Oakley United, the Division One winners, won the overall championship.
- ^ Glenrothes were Division One runners-up.
- ^ Halbeath Juniors were Division One runners-up.
- ^ a b c Denotes winner and finalist in playoff between winners of Divisions 'A' and 'B', arranged by merit – in each case, the A Division winners were also the overall champions.
- ^ a b Kelty Hearts were A Division runners-up.
- ^ St Andrews United were A Division runners-up.
List of winners edit
| Club | 1919–1968 era | 1968–2002 era | Overall | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | R-up | First win | Last win | Win | R-up | First win | Last win | Win | R-up | |
| Glenrothes | 3 | 0 | 1965–66 | 1967–68 | 7 | 4[a] | 1969–70 | 1984–85 | 10 | 4[a] |
| Hill of Beath Hawthorn | 0 | 0 | N/A | 8 | 6 | 1986–87 | 2001–02 | 8 | 6 | |
| Lochore Welfare | 7 | 4 | 1947–48 | 1963–64 | 0 | 3 | N/A | 7 | 7 | |
| St Andrews United | 6 | 5 | 1927–28 | 1964–65 | 1 | 0[a] | 1989–90 | 6 | 6[a] | |
| Oakley United | 0 | 0 | N/A | 6 | 3 | 1971–72 | 2000–01 | 6 | 3 | |
| Kelty Hearts | 0 | 0 | N/A | 5 | 6[b] | 1990–91 | 1998–99 | 5 | 6[b] | |
| Lochgelly Albert | 4 | 2 | 1937–38 | 1954–55 | 1 | 1 | 1973–74 | 5 | 3 | |
| Dundonald Bluebell | 3 | 2 | 1951–52 | 1957–58 | 1 | 1 | 1982–83 | 4 | 3 | |
| Newburgh | 1 | 1 | 1924–25 | 2 | 3 | 1972–73 | 1976–77 | 3 | 4 | |
| Glencraig Celtic | 3 | 4 | 1913–14 | 1918–19 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 3 | 4 | |
| Rosslyn Juniors | 3 | 2 | 1929–30 | 1932–33 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 3 | 2 | |
| Hearts of Beath | 2 | 5 | 1935–36 | 1940–41 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2 | 5 | |
| Bowhill Rovers | 2 | 3 | 1930–31 | 1934–35 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2 | 3 | |
| Denbeath Star | 2 | 1 | 1916–17 | 1917–18 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2 | 1 | |
| Inverkeithing United | 2 | 1 | 1919–20 | 1933–34 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2 | 1 | |
| Kingseat Juniors | 2 | 1 | 1920–21 | 1921–22 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2 | 1 | |
| Dunnikier Colliery Juniors | 2 | 1 | 1922–23 | 1939–40 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2 | 1 | |
| Thornton Hibernian | 1 | 2 | 1958–59 | 1 | 1 | 1968–69 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Blairhall Colliery | 1 | 2 | 1936–37 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 | 2 | ||
| Steelend Victoria | 1 | 0 | 1950–51 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 1 | 1 | ||
| Halbeath Juniors | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 | 1[a] | 1980–81 | 1 | 1[a] | ||
| Rosyth Recreation | 1 | 0 | 1949–50 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 | 0 | ||
| Windygates Rovers | 1 | 0 | 1914–15 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 | 0 | ||
| East Fife Juniors | 1 | 0 | 1923–24 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 | 0 | ||
| Anstruther Rangers | 1 | 0 | 1925–26 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 | 0 | ||
| Wellesley Juniors | 0 | 4 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 4 | ||
| Kelty Rangers | 0 | 2 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 2 | ||
| Clackmannan Juniors | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 2 | N/A | 0 | 2 | ||
| Leven Juniors | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 | 0 | 1981–82 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Cupar Juniors | 0 | 1 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 1 | ||
| Lochgelly Celtic | 0 | 1 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 1 | ||
| Auchtermuchty Juniors | 0 | 1 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 1 | ||
| Kinglassie Colliery | 0 | 1 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 1 | ||
| Nairn Thistle | 0 | 1 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 1 | ||
| Glencraig Colliery | 0 | 1 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 1 | ||
| Frances Colliery | 0 | 1 | N/A | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 1 | ||
| Tulliallan Thistle | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 1 | N/A | 0 | 1 | ||
Notes
References edit
- ^ a b Fife County Junior League, Scottish Football Historical Archive, 20 December 2020
- ^ a b Fife Region Junior League, Scottish Football Historical Archive, 15 December 2020
- ^ McLauchlin, Brian (7 June 2018). "East of Scotland League vote signals exodus of 25 junior clubs". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Scottish Junior Cup > Finals 1886 to 1956". Scottish Football Association (archive version, 2018). Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Scottish Junior Cup > Finals 1957 - Present [2009]". Scottish Football Association (archive version, 2018). Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ a b Towns, Fields and Clubs of Fife, via Scottish Football Historical Archive, 2012
- McGlone, David; McLure, Bill (1987). The Juniors - 100 Years. A Centenary History of Scottish Junior Football. Mainstream. ISBN 1-85158-060-3.
- Fife Junior History, Eric R. Thomson
- Non-League Scotland (archive version), with club progression by season 1990 to 2007)
- Scottish Junior FA Structure, Scottish Junior Football Association