[bmccoll]

Did Ross County not play as Dingwall Victoria United during the 1920s, playing in the North Caledonian League before joining the Highland League in 1929. It does appear that the present club is different from the 19th century side.

[MSC]

The 1993 (centenary) championship was withheld. Elgin City finished top by 4 points, however at their request their final fixture in which they clinched top place had been brought forward 24 hours to Friday 23rd April. They claimed that this was in order to allow extra recovery time for their players before a friendly match against Dundee on the Sunday. The following afternoon their two nearest challengers duly played out a draw. However it was reported in the press a few days later that had the match gone ahead as scheduled on Saturday 24th April then two of Elgin's players would have been ineligible due to suspension. At a League Management Committee meeting on Thursday 29th April, the league determined that by not informing the league of the impending suspensions, Elgin had brought the game into disrepute and voted unanimously to strip them of their title.

[Lossie Loon]

highlander, on Aug 19 2007, 22:32, said:

Thats Harsh.!

But funny.

[cmontheloknow]

bmccoll, on Aug 19 2007, 19:47, said:

Did Ross County not play as Dingwall Victoria United during the 1920s, playing in the North Caledonian League before joining the Highland League in 1929. It does appear that the present club is different from the 19th century side.

Their potted history in 'Highland Hundred' glosses over what went on in the 36 years they were out the Highland League but suggests it was down to lack of funds they withdrew in the 1st place (halfway through the season). Bill McAllister notes it took 2 years of fundraising to set up a Highland club.

As for the query about Inverness Citadel, they along with a handful of other clubs had been playing as part of the Inverness Combination Association with was dissolved after the foundation of the North FA in 1888.

The Shore Street side finished runners up in the Highland League in 1903-04 and 1906-07, before finally winning the league in 1908-09. Their name, states McAllister, came from the 'Citadel built for Cromwell's army in 1652'. Cromwell's Tower is all that remains of the citadel. Their unofficial nickname was 'The Sheep's Bags'.

[Waspie]

cmontheloknow, on Aug 21 2007, 07:39, said:

As for the query about Inverness Citadel, they along with a handful of other clubs had been playing as part of the Inverness Combination Association with was dissolved after the foundation of the North FA in 1888.

The Shore Street side finished runners up in the Highland League in 1903-04 and 1906-07, before finally winning the league in 1908-09. Their name, states McAllister, came from the 'Citadel built for Cromwell's army in 1652'. Cromwell's Tower is all that remains of the citadel. Their unofficial nickname was 'The Sheep's Bags'.

The won the Qualifying Cup too in the 1930's and Shore Street must have been a decent enough ground by the standards of the time because it often hosted big cup matches as a neutral venue. According to the Bill McAllister book cmontheloknow mentions above however the exposed nature of the ground (and the fact that the harbour area changed from housing to an industrial estate ) meant their support dwindled and they left the HL in 1935 and gave up the ghost altogether a couple of years later. Dont suppose any Invernesian football fans know the exact location of the old Shore Street pitch? Would have been my local team had they survived down the decades...

This post has been edited by Waspie: 21 August 2007 - 21:45

[cmontheloknow]

Waspie, on Aug 21 2007, 22:44, said:

The won the Qualifying Cup too in the 1930's and Shore Street must have been a decent enough ground by the standards of the time because it often hosted big cup matches as a neutral venue. According to the Bill McAllister book cmontheloknow mentions above however the exposed nature of the ground (and the fact that the harbour area changed from housing to an industrial estate ) meant their support dwindled and they left the HL in 1935 and gave up the ghost altogether a couple of years later. Dont suppose any Invernesian football fans know the exact location of the old Shore Street pitch? Would have been my local team had they survived down the decades...

Another snippet from the Bill McAllister book: their playing colours were maroon and when they played their North Qualifying Cup Final at Pittodrie against Murrayfield Ams, they had to borrow a strip from Inverness Thistle to avoid clashing with their opponents maroon shirts.

[doopherdaffer]

Nup, yeas ur aw wrang........... they fielded an inelligible sheep!!!

[prorege]

Their ground was on Cromwell Road, parallel to the street. Going there now, the last oil tank on the right heading northwards marks the spot of one corner flag and Lotland Road bisects the pitch.

There was a grandstand on the Cromwell Street side of the ground.

[cmontheloknow]

shiredownunder, on Sep 8 2007, 06:35, said:

Harsh? It's farcical ! Surely it's up to the Management Committee to know when players are suspended? It shouldn't be up to a club to do the League's job for them!

It was felt that Elgin had deliberately not mentioned the fact they'd be without key players when asking to bring their game forward a day (and thus dodge the bans). If it had been mentioned, permission to move the game would not have been granted.

It is up to clubs to play by the rules. There was a case in Junior football a few years ago where a team managed to play half a season with no signed players due to themselves cocking up the registrations (they should have chased up not getting confirmation of delivery of the registrations at Hampden, and didn't as it hadn't arrived in the first place). They managed to get to the latter stages of the Junior Cup before someone checked up on the eligibility of a player recently signed, and, shock horror! Hampden discovered there were a double figures number that were ineligible. The team were kicked out of that competition, a light punishment for having breached rules in every other cup competition game they'd played. I think there's also a limit of how many unsigned players can play league games so they may have been open to punishment there.

Clubs have to fulfill their side of the deal.

This post has been edited by cmontheloknow: 08 September 2007 - 09:57

[cmontheloknow]

shiredownunder, on Sep 8 2007, 14:53, said:

"Clubs have to fulfill their side of the deal"
I don't dispute that part, but equally the Committee should surely at least be aware of what the deal is?
Call me naive here but I'd have thought one of their responsibilities would be to keep up to date with these admin tasks.

I don't know how it was in 1993 but discipline records in 2007 are held by the SFA I think. The clubs now receive a mailer with who is an is not available.

[Waspie]

prorege, on Aug 30 2007, 15:52, said:

Their ground was on Cromwell Road, parallel to the street. Going there now, the last oil tank on the right heading northwards marks the spot of one corner flag and Lotland Road bisects the pitch.

There was a grandstand on the Cromwell Street side of the ground.

Thanks.