The Glasgow Junior Football League (GJL) 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 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 ...

between 1895 and 1927.Glasgow Junior League
Scottish Football Historical Archive, 27 August 2020 As its name suggests, it was primarily for teams in the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

area, but did include teams from towns outside the city; conversely, other leagues existed concurrently (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 ...

) and some teams based in Glasgow played in those. The league – the champions of which were awarded the Evening Times Trophy – was seen as one of the strongest in Scotland, with its clubs winning or reaching the final of the national knockout competition, 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 ...

, several times. Membership varied, with mergers involving other leagues occurring on various occasions and individual teams being enticed to join the GJL from those leagues. Having continued through

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 ...

, the GJL was dissolved in 1927 when 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 ...

occurred; however its members (and other clubs) formed the Scottish Intermediate Football League which was contested for four years. In 1931, the

Central Junior Football League The Central Junior Football League was a football league competition operated under the Scottish Junior Football Association between 1931 and 2002, with an expansion of its membership in 1968.AGM AGM or agm may refer to: Military * Air-to-ground missile, a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft * Artillery Gun Module, an air-portable self-propelled howitzer * Missile Range Instrumentation Ship (US Navy hull classification ...

stating that it was the 32nd such meeting, suggesting that it was considered a continuation of the pre-1927 GJL. This setup continued until 1968 when the Central League merged with the long-running

Lanarkshire Junior Football League The Lanarkshire Junior Football League was a Association football, 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 ...

as the Central Region, and eventually 2002 the

Ayrshire Junior Football League The Ayrshire Junior Football League, known as the Western Junior League from 1919 until 1968, was a football league competition operated in Ayrshire under the Scottish Junior Football Association which operated until a merger in 2002. The league w ...

(many of whose clubs had also been involved in the intermediate dispute of the 1920s, although they played in a separate division) joined to create the

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 ...

. Two of the clubs who participated in the first season of the Glasgow Junior League in 1895–96 –

Maryhill Maryhill ( gd, Cnoc Màiri) is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road. The far north west of the area is served by Maryhill railway station. History Hew Hill, t ...

and Vale of Clyde – played in the SJFA West in 2019–20, and others who joined in the 19th century (

Ashfield Ashfield may refer to: People * Ashfield (surname) Places Australia * Ashfield, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Municipality of Ashfield, a former local government area in Sydney ** Electoral district of Ashfield, a former electoral dist ...

Glasgow Perthshire Glasgow Perthshire Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Possilpark, in the north of Glasgow. History The Glasgow Perthshire Athletic Club, within which the football club operated, was formed on 7 November 1890 at the Waterloo R ...

, Petershill and

Rutherglen Glencairn Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club is a Scottish football (soccer), football club based in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow. Nicknamed ''The Glens'' and formed in 1896, they play at The Hamish B Allan Stadium (New Southcroft Park). G ...

) also survived into the 21st. At the end of that season – which was curtailed due to the

coronavirus 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 identified ...

– all 63 West Region clubs left the SJFA setup to join a new

West of Scotland Football League The West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL) is a senior football league based in the west of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–10 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Founded in 202 ...

in the Senior pyramid,Junior clubs in the west are about to get the best of both worlds
The Scotsman, 19 April 2020 bringing 125 years of Junior league football in the region (including the intermediate years) to an end.

Champions

Key:

List of winners

References

*
Scottish Junior FA Structure

{{Scottish Junior Football Association 1895 establishments in Scotland 1927 disestablishments in Scotland Sports leagues established in 1895 Sports leagues disestablished in 1927 Defunct Scottish Junior Football Association leagues Football in Glasgow Scottish Junior Football Association, West Region Football in Renfrewshire Football in West Dunbartonshire Football in East Dunbartonshire Football in North Lanarkshire Football in South Lanarkshire Football in East Renfrewshire