The 2020–21 North Caledonian Football League (known for sponsorship reasons as the Macleod & MacCallum North Caledonian League) was the 112th season of the

North Caledonian Football League The North Caledonian Football Association is a football association operating throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and is a recognised body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and as such has its senior football competitions of ...

. The season began on 17 October 2020, following a delay caused by the suspension of football activity due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Due to no league title being awarded for 2019–20, Golspie Sutherland began the season as the defending champions. In January, the league management committee took the decision to pause the league schedule due to new

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

protection levels that had been introduced in the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

region. A week later, the Scottish FA confirmed that football at all levels below the SPFL Championship had been suspended while restrictions were in place. Only one cup competition, the

North Caledonian Cup The North Caledonian Cup, originally known as the North of Scotland Junior Cup and later the North of Scotland 2nd XI Cup is an annual association football cup for competition between football clubs across the Highlands & Islands of Scotland. T ...

, was drawn and competed for during the season, however due to the suspension of football activities at the turn of the year, the competition was abandoned for

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

. On 6 April 2021, it was announced the league's remaining games would be played between 22 May and 26 June. On 24 June, the season's two remaining fixtures were cancelled due to an uptick of COVID-19 cases in the Highlands. Golspie Sutherland defended their league title, winning the league ahead of the final round of fixtures.

Teams

Alness United returned to competition following a one-year period of abeyance, while Bunillidh Thistle chose not play in the league for

due to concerns related to playing and traveling during the virus outbreak. The league also welcomed Highland Football League club Nairn County's reserve team as a league member for the first time since the 1950s. Taking the competing numbers up to 12 for the

season were new clubs

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claim ...

and

Scourie Scourie ( gd, Sgobhairigh), historically spelled "Scoury", is a village on the north west coast of Scotland, about halfway between Ullapool and Durness. The name comes from the Gaelic word Sheiling or shed, a stone-built place of shelter used dur ...

Stadia and locations

Withdrew

Format

Following a meeting of clubs in August, it was agreed that for the 2020–21 season, the league would be temporarily split into two divisions of six teams – one for the North Caledonian League championship (League 1) and the other for the resurrected Ness Cup trophy (League 2). It was agreed that this change would be for the

season only and that it would revert to a one division format for 2021–22. Teams who placed highest upon the suspension of football in the 2019–20 season were entered into League 1, while the remaining teams were joined by the league's new and returning entrants in League 2.

League tables

League 1

League 2

References

External links

* {{2020–21 in Scottish football 2020-21

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

North Caledonian 2020