FairWeatherFan Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 I was just wondering how a club became a member of the SFA prior to the introduction of Club Licensing? The likes of Turriff United, Formartine United and Strathspey Thistle entered the Scottish Cup for the first time in 2012-13 but had joined the HFL back in 2009-10. Which seems like quite a gap and coincides with the introduction of licensing. Inverurie Locos joined the HFL in 2001-02. As it was the Qualifying Cup era it's hard to tell when they first entered but won it in 2004-05. So perhaps there was a 3 year stint in a Senior league before applying On the other hand. Gretna 2008 was another club I thought to check on but they didn't make their Scottish Cup debut until 2014-15. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 (edited) On 19/10/2019 at 13:38, FairWeatherFan said: I was just wondering how a club became a member of the SFA prior to the introduction of Club Licensing? The likes of Turriff United, Formartine United and Strathspey Thistle entered the Scottish Cup for the first time in 2012-13 but had joined the HFL back in 2009-10. Which seems like quite a gap and coincides with the introduction of licensing. Inverurie Locos joined the HFL in 2001-02. As it was the Qualifying Cup era it's hard to tell when they first entered but won it in 2004-05. So perhaps there was a 3 year stint in a Senior league before applying On the other hand. Gretna 2008 was another club I thought to check on but they didn't make their Scottish Cup debut until 2014-15. You applied if you met the criteria - this was adjudged by SFA AGM (historically) or Board (recently). No particular "probation period". In recent years membership criteria was aligned with Entry level licensing. Since 1957: 1963 ... Hawick; Golspie 1965 ... Clydebank 1966 ... Glasgow Corporation Transport 1972 ... Ferranti; Threave 1976 ... Spartans; Dalbeattie 1978 ... Fort William; Annan 1980 ... Whitehill 1987 ... Cove 1990 ... [Clachnacuddin liquidated > membership transferred] 1994 ... Caledonian Thistle 1995 ... Preston 1996 ... Edinburgh City 2002 ... Gretna FC (from FA); Inverurie 2012 ... Formartine, Turriff [+ Rangers liquidated > membership transferred] 2014 ... Strathspey; East Kilbride, Gretna, Stirling Uni; Linlithgow, Banks o'Dee 2015 ... BSCG, Cumbernauld 2016 ... Edusport 2018 ... Kelty, LTHV 2019 ... Blackburn, Broxburn, Dundonald, Easthouses, Hill of Beath, Jeanfield, Penicuik, Tynecastle Edited October 20, 2019 by HibeeJibee 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 (edited) Conversely - folded/resigned/expelled/etc.: 1964 ... Murrayfield; Shawfield 1966 ... Peebles 1967 ... Third Lanark; Vale of Atholl 1968 ... Chirnside, Eyemouth 1969 ... Whithorn 1971 ... Glasgow Corporation Transport 1974 ... Duns 1986 ... Aberdeen University 1988 ... Babcock & Wilcox 1994 ... Inverness Caledonian, Inverness Thistle 2002 ... Airdrieonians 2004 ... Tarff 2008 ... Gretna FC 2019 ... Selkirk Edited October 21, 2019 by HibeeJibee 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 1 hour ago, gogsy said: Remember reading Vale of Atholl were stripped of their membership after a couple of seasons when they couldn't get their park for Scottish Qualifying cup games because it was being used for Pitlochry Highland Games. Mid sixties as hibeejibbee post would suggest. Loss of venue struck many clubs... e.g. Duns, Eyemouth, Chirnside (IIRC). Peebles turned Junior, then moved back a few years later - but their unenclosed park was incompliant. Aberdeen Uni supposedly forgot their annual subscription - ground was incompliant to rejoin. Shawfield, Whithorn, Airdrie, Tarff, Gretna FC and Selkirk folded. Inverness pair merged. Unsure about Murrayfield or Babcock & Wilcox. Glasgow Corporation Transport is puzzling... joined in 1966 - left/folded 5yrs later. They played in motley 'Combined Reserve League' with 'B' teams, Glasgow Uni and Jordanhill College. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tutankhamen Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 1 hour ago, HibeeJibee said: Loss of venue struck many clubs... e.g. Duns, Eyemouth, Chirnside (IIRC). Peebles turned Junior, then moved back a few years later - but their unenclosed park was incompliant. Aberdeen Uni supposedly forgot their annual subscription - ground was incompliant to rejoin. Shawfield, Whithorn, Airdrie, Tarff, Gretna FC and Selkirk folded. Inverness pair merged. Unsure about Murrayfield or Babcock & Wilcox. Glasgow Corporation Transport is puzzling... joined in 1966 - left/folded 5yrs later. They played in motley 'Combined Reserve League' with 'B' teams, Glasgow Uni and Jordanhill College. Didn't Glasgow Corporation Transport have it's own ground a couple of streets away from Celtic Park? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNU_Linux Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 2 hours ago, Tutankhamen said: Didn't Glasgow Corporation Transport have it's own ground a couple of streets away from Celtic Park? According to the Scottish Football Historical Archive club database they played at Helenvale park on Helenvale street which was opened in 1924. More details in the below link. https://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSE00190 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nightfly Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 Unsure about Murrayfield or Babcock & Wilcox. Regarding Babcock & Wilcox, I found a piece that mentions that they lost the use of Moorcroft Park and couldn't find an alternative. It seems the team may even have been called Moorcroft FC at the time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 1 hour ago, The Nightfly said: Regarding Babcock & Wilcox, I found a piece that mentions that they lost the use of Moorcroft Park and couldn't find an alternative. It seems the team may even have been called Moorcroft FC at the time. They played as Babcock & Wilcox in their last Qualifying Cup South appearance: 1987-88 (lost 6-0 at Annan). Their absence isn't noted in the next season's Non-League Review. However: http://scottishleague.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1920&p=10397&hilit=babcock#p10397 From the SFA Annual Report 1988-89: "Throughout the 1988/89 season, the club membership has remained at last season's figure of 78. At the time of writing, one club, Moorcroft FC, formerly Babcock and Wilcox, looks likely to fall by the wayside come the last Council meeting on 17th April, 1989. The loss of its registered ground, Moorcroft Park, is shaping like a mortal blow, and unless an acceptable replacement is produced urgently, the club's membership will have to be terminated." And the following year's Annual Report confirmed that this was the end - at least, for SFA membership. Is it possible that Moorcroft continued as an amateur side? It is - they are members of the Scottish Amateur League and have a website here. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nightfly Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 That's the piece I read. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 It's interesting to note that of the 16 clubs to have dropped-out over the last 60+ years... I'm not counting the Inverness pair as they'd consciously merged... no fewer than 12 were from the Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, rural Perthshire or were institutional/works teams. Of the remaining 4 you have 3 from the 2 big cities (including Third Lanark) and Airdrie. While it may have been oblivious to each individual club as history made its slow march onward, and reasons varied from place-to-place... you've a clear trend of losses coming from rural areas, inner cities and industry. Conversely of the 35 clubs to have joined... discounting Caledonian Thistle as mentioned; and Gretna FC and GCT as they're included above... only 11 were from rural areas or institutions, and 7 of them were pre-1980: the remaining 4 are Strathspey plus phoenix club Gretna, Stirling Uni and oddity Edusport. Of the remainder you've 5 from the 2 big cities and 19 from towns in Lanarkshire, the Lothians, Fife, Perth and Aberdeen/shire. Here there's a clear trend of gains from urban belts. (Indeed even the 5 from Edinburgh and Glasgow do not fit the old inner city models properly... Spartans were a graduate club of Edinburgh Uni, plus play in Pilton; Edinburgh City were the works team Postal United, took-up at the Commonwealth Stadium, plus now share out in Pilton; BSCG were a youth club and play at Alloa; LTHV and Tynecastle are youth club mergers). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
energyzone Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 According to the Scottish Football Historical Archive club database they played at Helenvale park on Helenvale street which was opened in 1924. More details in the below link. https://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSE00190Part of the ground is still there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omar Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 On 21/10/2019 at 00:00, HibeeJibee said: They played as Babcock & Wilcox in their last Qualifying Cup South appearance: 1987-88 (lost 6-0 at Annan). Their absence isn't noted in the next season's Non-League Review. However: http://scottishleague.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1920&p=10397&hilit=babcock#p10397 From the SFA Annual Report 1988-89: "Throughout the 1988/89 season, the club membership has remained at last season's figure of 78. At the time of writing, one club, Moorcroft FC, formerly Babcock and Wilcox, looks likely to fall by the wayside come the last Council meeting on 17th April, 1989. The loss of its registered ground, Moorcroft Park, is shaping like a mortal blow, and unless an acceptable replacement is produced urgently, the club's membership will have to be terminated." And the following year's Annual Report confirmed that this was the end - at least, for SFA membership. Is it possible that Moorcroft continued as an amateur side? It is - they are members of the Scottish Amateur League and have a website here. Babcock’s would have essentially lost their ground as the company looked to reign in their commitment to Renfrew. They had their own bowling club, social club and sports grounds, but all of these have since been transferred to Renfrewshire council. Moorcroft was the traditional local name of the ground, and Moorcroft played on for a number of years into the 21st century, at times fielding two teams in the Greater Glasgow and Scottish Amateur Leagues. Interestingly, and getting back on topic they retained membership of the Renfrewshire FA, so had semi-regular Renfrewshire cup semi-final appearances against St. Mirren and Morton. Presumably this membership was carried on from Babcock’s? I’m not sure if Moorcroft are still on the go. Renfrew FC’s youth teams are among those who use the brand new 4G facility which sits where the grass football parks and cricket square lay. Ironically, Renfrew looked into moving to Moorcroft themselves before the establishment of New Western Park. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 Edinburgh City moved into Meadowbank in 1995 with a view to getting SFA Membership and entry to the Qualifying Cup South and on to the Scottish Cup. IIRC we got a ground inspection from an SFA official (at a ground that had hosted Scottish League football months previously but I suppose they had to go through the motions). The first Edinburgh City game in the Qualifying Cup South was actually away to St Cuthbert's in 1996 and we lost away to Hawick (!) in the next round I can't remember if anyone after City applied and were accepted until the advent of club licencing/ letting the Juniors into the Scottish Cup. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tutankhamen Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 On 20 October 2019 at 18:46, GNU_Linux said: According to the Scottish Football Historical Archive club database they played at Helenvale park on Helenvale street which was opened in 1924. More details in the below link. https://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSE00190 My brother played for Ibrox garage in the Glasgow Corporation bus league. At one point there was 13 garages all with a football team. They played midweek at the various public football (ash) pitches. Although Parkhead garage did use Helenvale Park for home games and cup finals. There was also a number of satellite bus garages run by other companies in the Greater Glasgow areas which also had football. Eastern Scottish had two depots in the West. Remember my brother saying he was playing v Eastern Scottish at Ballieston Juniors ground in a Transport cup game, at lunchtime on a Tuesday. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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