East Junior Football League
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The East Junior Football League, also known as the ''Edinburgh & District Junior League'', the ''Midlothian Junior League'' and the ''Lothians Junior League'', 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
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, the Lothians and
Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...
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 ...
. It had fluctuations in membership and territory but had a continuous operation as the top league in the east of Scotland until a merger in 2002; it existed as the ''Lothians District'' for a further four years as a second-tier league before the name was discontinued in 2006.


History

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...
football competitions had been organised in the
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
area since the 1890s, with a ''Edinburgh & District Junior League'' formed in 1892 followed by other small groups in each part of the Lothians region surrounding the city; by the 1910s, the ''Midlothian Junior League'' emerged as the strongest of these, drawing membership from the many small mining communities which regularly produced skilled players and attracted a loyal local support. The ''East of Scotland'' Junior League covering all parts was set up in a 1922 reorganisation, but this was at the same time as the formation of the East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL),East of Scotland Football League
Scottish Football Historical Archive (archived version, 2017) an unrelated 'senior' organisation below, and more closely linked to, the professional
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 ...
. The majority of emerging clubs within Edinburgh and those in the
Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
joined the EoSFL rather than the East Juniors, who were unable to successfully agree on a new format in this lopsided geography, with the predominant
Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...
clubs and those in
East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...
breaking away to form a new ''Midlothian Junior League'' in 1928. Those in
West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...
found themselves with little option but to apply for this 'rebel' setup, which retained the Midlothian name until its suspension during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. After the war, some teams from the defunct
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 ...
from further afield joined the setup, and the league was again re-named ''Edinburgh & District'' but operated with 'West' and 'Mid & East' divisions whose winners would play off for the championship. Despite the true footballing strength of the area never being fully recognised due to the enduring split between the Juniors and the EoSFL, the Edinburgh & District Junior League was considered sufficiently strong to form the East Region, one of the six 'regions' across Scotland in a re-organisation of Junior football in 1968, requiring little adjustment to its operations (the West/East divisions remained until 1973). The period following the change was successful for the territory in terms of East member clubs reaching 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 ...
final, achieving this 9 times (3 wins) in 15 years, compared with 15 appearances (8 wins) in the previous 42 years. This was followed by another strong spell with 7 finals (3 wins) in the 14 years from 1989. However, the small-town teams in the region had generally declined with the closure of local heavy industry, and the surviving clubs looked to boost their income by playing more matches against the leading teams in other areas. In 2002 the new East Region Superleague was created in the east of the country in combination with the Fife League and the Tayside League. The East setup was retained as a feeder division to the Superleague as the ''Lothians District'' along with the other historic areas until 2006, when they were fully integrated into the East Region; the Lothians section became the
South Division South Division may refer to: * South Division (AFL), a division of the Arena Football League * South Division (CFL), a former division of the Canadian Football League * South Division (NAHL), a division of the North American Hockey League * South ...
below the Super League and a new Premier Division. The pattern of local appearances in the Scottish Cup final continued at a similar rate, with 3 of 8 finalists lifting the trophy over a 12-year period.


Later movement of East clubs

In 2018, a large group of East Junior clubs (18 from the old Lothians) joined the East of Scotland (EoSFL) association ''en masse'', aspiring to gain entry to the senior Scottish Professional Football League in future years; This would mean the traditional EoSFL teams and East Juniors could finally be playing together, although with so many teams moving at once, there was not immediate parity, as the new members were placed in a multi-conference system with only one promotion place made available to the
Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...
(where the likes of
Spartans Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...
had established themselves) and the majority facing some years of battling with their old rivals to make it to the next level. Back in the East Juniors, the remaining teams formed the majority of a new ''Super League South'' in 2019 along with those from
Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
who had chosen not to switch.


Champions


1922–1968 era

Key: Notes


1968–2002 era

Notes


List of winners


References

*


External links


Final tables spreadsheet
at the Scottish Football Historical Archive (updated July 2022)
Non-League Scotland (archive version)
with club progression by season (1990 to 2007)
Scottish Junior FA Structure
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 ...
{{Scottish Junior Football Association 1922 establishments in Scotland 2002 disestablishments in Scotland Sports leagues established in 1922 Sports leagues disestablished in 2002 Defunct Scottish Junior Football Association leagues Football in Edinburgh Football in West Lothian Football in East Lothian Football in Midlothian Football in Falkirk (council area) Scottish Junior Football Association, East Region