The Ayrshire and Renfrewshire Football League was a short-lived competitive

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league in the period from 1903 to 1905. For membership, it drew upon Junior football teams based in the south-western Scottish counties of

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

and

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfr ...

. Created by the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

, the league was intended to provide its member teams with fixtures on unused Saturdays during the footballing season.

History

This Scottish

league was one of a number of supplementary football leagues that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like several other such leagues of the same period, it proved an unsuccessful experiment at a time when numerous local cup and five-a-side competitions were often seen as more important (see Scottish Football (Defunct Leagues) for other examples). It appears that there were no outright winners in the two seasons that it operated. The league disintegrated midway through the 1904–05 season. The member clubs for each season were: 1903–04 Season

Annbank Annbank is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is around five miles east of Ayr. Originally a mining settlement, it once had a rail link to Ayr via the Auchincruive Waggonway. The village has a village hall, bakery, shop, bowling green, j ...

, Galston, Irvine Academicals,

Johnstone Johnstone ( sco, Johnstoun,
gd, Baile Iain) is a town ...

Maybole Maybole is a town and former burgh of barony and police burgh in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It had an estimated population of in . It is situated south of Ayr and southwest of Glasgow by the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The town is bypass ...

and Paisley Academicals competed to the extent of fulfilling at least one fixture each.

Beith Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...

Kilbarchan Kilbarchan ( gd, Cill Bhearchain) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry. History ...

and Kilwinning Eglinton all resigned without fulfilling any fixtures. 1904–05 Season Ayr Academicals,

Hurlford Hurlford (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile Àtha Cliath'') is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 4,968. Hurlford's former names include Whirlford and Hurdleford. The village was named Whirlford as a result of a ford crossing ...

Johnstone Johnstone ( sco, Johnstoun,
gd, Baile Iain) is a town ...

, Kilwinning Eglinton, Lanemark and

began the season as members of this league. However, none completed their full fixture-list for the season, and the competition was wound up

History

See also