Scottish Junior Football Association

The first incarnation of the SJFA logo

The second incarnation of the SJFA logo

The SJFA was formed in Glasgow on 2 October 1886[5] and the first season's Junior Cup saw 39 clubs take part.[6] Junior football had existed since the early 1880s, initially as separate local associations across Scotland for clubs not in membership of the SFA. This new national association acted as an umbrella for these local junior associations, as well as establishing the Scottish Junior Cup, a national cup competition. The first three winners of the Scottish Junior Cup all joined the SFA and stepped up to senior level.[7] Gradually, a number of junior leagues grew in strength — particularly in Glasgow, where leading clubs drew large crowds. The Glasgow Junior FA, having seen a number of its proposals rejected at SJFA meetings, seceded from the SJFA in 1907 but returned a year later.[8] Further disputes occurred in 1922 over "poaching" clubs and, in 1927, the GJFA was instrumental in the Intermediate dispute which split the SJFA for four seasons. The record number of clubs to enter the Junior Cup was 412 in 1922–23.[9]

The local associations continued to run their leagues until 1968, when the SJFA instituted major reforms. This first phase of regionalisation removed the need for the many local associations, replacing them instead with six regional committees. These six regions — Ayrshire, Central, East, Fife, Tayside and North — still exist, to a certain extent, as divisions in the national league structure and as operators of certain cup competitions.

The last major league reform took place in 2002, with the six regions "merging" to create a three-pronged regional league setup consisting of East, North, and West regions (see "Organisation and regions").

Since the 2007–08 season, up to four Junior sides have been able to qualify for the Scottish Cup. The four teams are the three Superleague winners (West, East and North) and the Scottish Junior Cup winners, all from the previous season.[10] In the 2015–16 season, Linlithgow Rose became the first junior team to reach the last 16 of the Scottish Cup after beating Forfar Athletic.[11] (see "Juniors in the Scottish Cup").

In 2011, the Scottish Football Association created two new operational boards, Professional and Non-Professional, to provide more focused governance in these differing areas of the game. Junior football is represented on the Non-Professional Game Board alongside other organisations such as the East of Scotland Football League, South of Scotland Football League and Scottish Amateur Football Association.[12]

The term "junior" does not relate to the age of players. Football for young players is generally known as "Youth" (up to Under-19) or "Juvenile" (which is to Under-21 level) football. In the late 19th century, membership of the SFA conferred "senior" status on a club and the junior grade developed outside the SFA framework. Today, the senior grade of football in Scotland is played in the Scottish Professional Football League (until 2013 divided into the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League), as well as the six senior non-leagues: the Highland Football League, the Lowland Football League, the North Caledonian League the East of Scotland Football League, the South of Scotland Football League and the West of Scotland Football League. Over time, as various local football associations and leagues — both junior and senior — have risen in strength, or in some cases disappeared completely. Scottish football developed its current pattern with either junior or senior non-leagues taking precedence in various parts of the country with some occasional overlap. Nowadays, membership of the SJFA automatically confers on a club registered membership of the SFA; however, junior and senior non-league clubs still play in separate competitions.

Despite the lesser media coverage the juniors get, many of the club sides are fairly popular, and some of the bigger games (such as the local derbies between Arthurlie and Pollok, and Cumnock Juniors vs. Auchinleck Talbot) can attract attendances in the thousands. Crowds were far bigger in the past (76,000 for the Junior Cup Final in 1951, with nearly 90,000 watching the semi-finals (including a replay) compared to the level of support attracted now.

112 clubs are members of Scottish Junior Football Association, comprising: East Region (19 clubs), North Region (33 clubs) in SJFA-administered leagues, as well as 52 West of Scotland League and 8 East of Scotland League teams who have retained their membership or rejoined the SJFA after moving leagues.[13]

As well as the local leagues, there are a number of local cup competitions competed for; however, the biggest competition is the Scottish Junior Cup, which every junior club competes for annually, with the final generally held at the end of May. This cup was established in 1886. The final broadcast live on BBC Alba. The cup's sponsor for 18 years, until the start of the 2006–07 season, was OVD Demerara Rum, replaced at the semi-final stage of the 2006–07 competition by Scottish coach operator Citylink. Emirates Airlines sponsored the tournament from 2009–2013[18] and ETHX Energy was the sponsor for 2015–16.[19] The current tournament sponsor is Macron.[20]

The first attempt by the Scottish Football Association to allow Junior representation in the Scottish Cup was voted down in June 2005.[21] In June 2007 however, the SFA did approve changes to the way that all non-league clubs entered the Scottish Cup. The North and South Qualifying Cups for full and associate member clubs in non-league football, which had both sent their four semi-finalists into the main competition, were scrapped and all these clubs now qualified automatically for the first round. In addition, the winners of the East of Scotland Football League, South of Scotland Football League and top two clubs in the Highland Football League all received a bye to the second round, even if that club was only a registered member of the SFA.

Further to this move, allowing registered member clubs to qualify for the Scottish Cup for the first time, it was announced that the winners of the Scottish Junior Cup, North Superleague, East Superleague and West of Scotland Super League Premier Division would qualify for the first round.[22] This process has continued with the winners of the Scottish Amateur Cup qualifying for the first round from 2015 onwards.[23] Girvan still qualified for the Scottish Cup from 2007 as a result of their historic full membership of the SFA. In 2014, they were joined as annual entrants to the competition by Banks O' Dee and Linlithgow Rose who achieved the SFA National Club Licensing criteria. Girvan themselves were awarded a National Club License in June 2016.[24]

If a Junior club does a "double" by winning their respective Superleague championship and the Junior Cup, runners-up do not qualify and the Juniors are only represented by three qualifying entrants. This occurred in the 2007–08 Scottish Cup which was the first competition since the changes as Linlithgow Rose had won both league and cup. Rose performed the best of all three Junior qualifiers in this inaugural season, reaching the fourth round before losing to eventual finalists, Queen of the South. Of the other early entrants, Pollok defeated St Cuthbert Wanderers before taking Montrose to a replay in Glasgow, watched by 1,873 spectators. North champions Culter defeated two East of Scotland League clubs before losing to Highland League side Huntly in the third round.

In the 2008–09 competition, Banks O' Dee achieved the first double figure scoreline by a Junior club, with a 10–0 defeat of Highland League Fort William.[25] This was bettered in the 2016–17 cup by Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic, whose 14–0 defeat of Burntisland Shipyard remains the largest margin of victory by a Junior side in the competition.[26]

Irvine Meadow became the first Junior side to knock out Scottish Football League opposition in 2009, defeating Arbroath in the third round and became the first side to face Premier League opposition when they drew Hibernian in the next round.[27] Linlithgow Rose's defeat of Forfar Athletic in the 2015–16 competition saw them become the first Junior side to reach the fifth round.[28] In 2016-17 Bonnyrigg defeated Scottish Championship side Dumbarton away from home in the third Round.

In the intervening years, Junior clubs have had reasonable success with several clubs defeating Scottish Football League opposition. These results are listed below:

Irvine Meadow v Arbroath

28 November 2009	Irvine Meadow	1−0	Arbroath	Irvine
	Barr 36'	Report		Stadium: Meadow Park Attendance: 1,150

Albion Rovers v Sunnybank

23 October 2010	Albion Rovers	0−1	Sunnybank	Coatbridge
15:00		Report	10' Gordon	Stadium: Cliftonhill Stadium Attendance: 357

Bo'ness United v Queen's Park

23 October 2010	Bo'ness United	2−1	Queen's Park	Bo'ness
	Fleming 45' (pen.) Shields 75'	Report	9' Brough	Stadium: Newtown Park Attendance: 1,271

Bo'ness United v Elgin City

8 November 2014	Bo'ness United	5−4	Elgin City	Bo'ness
	Gribben 4', 31' Snowdon 17' Campbell 65' Walker 77'	Report	11' (pen.), 42' Sutherland 72' Nicolson 88' Andrews	Stadium: Newtown Park Attendance: 1,280

Forfar Athletic v Linlithgow Rose

26 January 2016	Forfar Athletic	0−1 (a.e.t.)	Linlithgow Rose	Forfar
		Report	115' Kelbie	Stadium: Station Park Attendance: 1,168

Dumbarton v Bonnyrigg Rose

6 December 2016	Dumbarton	0–1	Bonnyrigg Rose	Dumbarton
19:45		Flashscores.com	Nelson 86'	Stadium: Dumbarton Football Stadium Attendance: 632

Auchinleck Talbot v Ayr United

19 January 2019	Auchinleck Talbot	1–0	Ayr United	Auchinleck
12:15	McCracken 78'	Report		Stadium: Beechwood Park Attendance: 3,100 Referee: Euan Anderson

Auchinleck Talbot v Cove Rangers

19 October 2019	Auchinleck Talbot	1–0	Cove Rangers	Auchinleck
14:30	Hyslop 88'	[29]		Stadium: Beechwood Park Attendance: 750 Referee: Kevin Graham

Scotland Juniors

Head coach	Keith Burgess
Captain	Craig Pettigrew
Most caps	Bert McNab (12)
Top scorer	George Wilson (7) Dennis Gray (7)
First colours
First international
Scotland 10–1 England (Hamilton, Scotland; 11 May 1889)
Biggest win
Scotland 11–0 Ireland (Glasgow, Scotland; 15 February 1890)
Biggest defeat
England 5–0 Scotland (Wolverhampton, England; 9 April 1927)

Juniors also play internationally, with the best players being picked to play for the Scottish Junior international team against other countries' non-league select teams. The Umbro-sponsored Junior International Quadrangular Tournament takes place every two years and is contested between teams from Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.[30] The tournament is hosted in turn by each country, with matches taking place at the larger junior grounds in the host country, such as Dunterlie Park, Pollok's Newlandsfield and Petershill Park when the tournament was held in Scotland in 2005. The team's most capped player is Bert McNab, of Petershill, who won 12 caps between 1951 and 1955.[31][32]

The team have been led since 2008 by former Glenrothes, Tayport and Kelty manager, Keith Burgess.[33][34]

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