The Ayrshire Junior Football League, known as the Western Junior League from 1919 until 1968, was a

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 competition operated in

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 ...

under the

Scottish Junior Football Association The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the level of football ...

which operated until a merger in 2002. The league was formed in the aftermath of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, primarily from clubs in the territory which today is

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...

that had participated in smaller leagues such as the ''Irvine & District'' competition. After only a few years of operation, the Western clubs became embroiled in the

Intermediate dispute The Intermediate dispute was a major split in Scottish football which lasted from 1925 to 1931 and concerned the compensation that Junior clubs received when one of their players moved to a Senior football league side. Although largely confined to ...

relating to compensation payments due to clubs joining

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

teams, and along with the larger and more powerful Glasgow Junior Football League, broke away from the SJFA and its flagship tournament, the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compete ...

in 1927 to form a rival Intermediate Association, although still playing in a separate division from the Glasgow clubs. The dispute was resolved in 1931 and the Western League resumed alongside a new

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

for the Glasgow clubs, with the former ''Scottish Intermediate Cup'' which had been contested between them now named the

West of Scotland Junior Cup The West of Scotland Junior Challenge Cup was an annual Scottish football competition played in a one-leg knockout format (played at 'home' team grounds as drawn, until the final at a neutral venue), organised by the West Region of the Scottish ...

as an additional trophy to the Scottish Cup, with clubs from the

Lanarkshire Junior Football League The Lanarkshire Junior Football League was a football league competition operated in Lanarkshire under the Scottish Junior Football Association which operated from 1891, being the oldest-running regional competition of its kind until a merger in 196 ...

also taking part. The membership was soon expanded in 1934 with a group of clubs from the mining villages of south-east Ayrshire whose local league, founded in 1920 had folded (clubs in the north had been reluctant to admit them previously due to travel difficulties involved, a factor which had also prevented local clubs joining other leagues such as the

Scottish Junior Football League The Scottish Junior Football League (SJL) was a Scottish football competition that, through various incarnations, existed from 1892 to 1947. It was based in the west of Scotland and largely consisted of Junior clubs that were not considered goo ...

in the past). In 1968 the Junior football system across Scotland was reorganised, with Lanarkshire's league merging with the Central setup. The league in Ayrshire remained largely unchanged as one of six across the country, although the name was changed from the Western League to the ''Ayrshire Regional League'' and the few clubs which had been playing in it which were not based in the region moved to the Central leagues. From 1946 to 1976 the league was divided into North and South sections with the winners in a playoff to decide the overall champion, and thereafter two merit divisions were formed with a dozen clubs in each and promotion/relegation between them. It was at this point that

Auchinleck Talbot Auchinleck Talbot Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Auchinleck, East Ayrshire. They currently play in the . The club is also a member of the Scottish Junior Football Association, and have won the Scottish Junior Cup on a reco ...

, Scottish Cup winners in the 1940s but never a consistent force and without a major trophy in several years, rose to dominate the Junior grade at both regional and national levels, which generally continued into the 21st century.Club History
Auchinleck Talbot F.C. The divisional setup remained until 2002, when the largest clubs in Ayrshire and Central merged under a two-tier Super League within a new

Scottish Junior Football Association, West Region The Scottish Junior Football Association, West Region was one of three regions of the SJFA which organised its own distinct league and cup competitions. The SJFA used to be split into six regions, but in 2002 they took the decision to reform into t ...

to increase the number of lucrative matches to be played between them (the three regions in the east of the country did likewise). A lower division of the West Region was designated specifically for legacy Ayrshire clubs in parallel with two for Central clubs, until 2018 when it was decided to organise all divisions on a regional basis. Some local cups still retained the link to Ayrshire.

Champions

1919–1968 era

Key:

1968–2002 era

Key: Notes

List of winners

Notes

References

*
Scottish Junior FA Structure

Non-League Scotland (archive version)
with club progression by season 1990 to 2007) {{Scottish Junior Football Association 1921 establishments in Scotland 2002 disestablishments in Scotland Sports leagues established in 1919 Sports leagues disestablished in 2002 Defunct Scottish Junior Football Association leagues Football in East Ayrshire Football in North Ayrshire Football in South Ayrshire Scottish Junior Football Association, West Region