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 Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

cup for competition between football clubs across the Highlands & Islands of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The cup is a registered

Scottish FA 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 governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for ...

competition which runs under the auspices of the North Caledonian FA.

Origins

First introduced during the 1887-88 season as the flagship competition of the Inverness Junior Football Association, the North Caledonian Cup was initially known as the North of Scotland Junior FA Cup, introduced as an association football cup for competition between juniors clubs from Inverness and the surrounding districts across the North of Scotland. In the season that followed, the Inverness Junior FA became known as the North of Scotland Junior FA and the cup would become its marquee competition The first competition was competed for between eighteen teams across the North of Scotland and was won in its first season by Inverness based junior club Crusaders F.C.

History

In its infancy, much like the Highland Football League, cup entrants were mostly teams from the Inverness area and its surrounding districts and for the latter part of the 19th century the competition was dominated by the 2nd XI combinations entered by senior clubs. It was not until the 1902 that the trophy eventually left Inverness when Dingwall Victoria United - who would later become known as Ross County - won the trophy two years in succession. While reserve clubs were still a dominant force, the growth of junior clubs eventually led to teams from Tain,

Grantown-on-spey Grantown-on-Spey ( gd, Baile nan Granndach) is a town in the Highland Council Area, historically within the county of Moray. It is located on a low plateau at Freuchie beside the river Spey at the northern edge of the Cairngorm mountains, about ...

and

Muir of Ord Muir of Ord ( gd, Am Blàr Dubh) is a village in Easter Ross, in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is situated near the western end of the Black Isle, about west of the city of Inverness and south of Dingwall. The village has a populati ...

adding their name to the trophy. When the North of Scotland Junior FA dropped its junior status in 1935, the competition became known as the North of Scotland 2nd XI Cup. By the late 1960s, a surge in the formation of senior clubs throughout

Ross-shire Ross-shire (; gd, Siorrachd Rois) is a historic county in the Scottish Highlands. The county borders Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire – a county consisting o ...

, Sutherland and Caithness resulted in a break-up in the dominance of Highland Football League "2nd XI" sides. In 1984, the association took the decision to rename the association again in a bid to "shake off" the reserve football stigma which had been attached to the cup since its introduction 97 years prior and the trophy became known as the North Caledonian Cup. Since 1972, only six senior reserve teams have won the trophy, the last being

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...

'A' in 1998-99. In 2008, the original trophy was retired due to being in a state of poor repair and was sent to Hampden for safe keeping and refurbishment. Though the competition's lineage remained intact, a new trophy was introduced to replace the original. At the same time, the cup was briefly recognized and referred to as the Jock Mackay Memorial Cup before the competitions became two separate cups.

Past winners

Performance by club

{, class="wikitable" , + !width=240, Club !Wins !Years , - , Caledonian reserves , , 1892–93, 1894–95, 1895–96, 1899–00, 1904–05, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1921–22, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1954–55, 1959–60, 1965–66, 1970–71, 1988–89, 1990–91 , - , Clachnacuddin reserves , , 1901–02, 1908–09, 1919–20, 1922–23, 1929–30, 1936–37, 1949–50, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1991–92, 1994–95 , - , Golspie Sutherland , , 1968–69, 1974–75, 1975–76, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2015–16, 2016–17 , - , Inverness Thistle reserves , , 1890–91, 1893–94, 1900–91, 1909–10, 1925–26, 1930–31, 1931–32 , - , Muir of Ord Rovers , , 1933–34, 1934–35, 1937–38, 1967–68, 1982–83, 2009–10, 2012–13 , - , St Duthus , , 1924–25, 1978–79, 1983–84, 1986–87, 1989–90, 2017–18, 2021–22 , - , Ross County reserves , , 1946–47, 1950–51, 1958–59, 1969–70, 1972–73, 1992–93 , - , Nelson ''(Inverness)'' , , 1907–08, 1928–29, 1932–33, 1935–36, 1953–53 , - , Balintore , , 1984–85, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2004–05 , - , Alness United , , 1973–74, 1999–00, 2013–14 , - , Dingwall Victoria United , , 1902–03, 1903–04, 1927–28 , - , Halkirk United , , 2005–06, 2008–09, 2011–12 , - , Inverness Citadel reserves , , 1896–97, 1897–98, 1920–21 , - ,

Thurso Thurso (pronounced ; sco, Thursa, gd, Inbhir Theòrsa ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Gre ...

, , 2001–02, 2003–04, 2010–11 , - , Wick Academy , , 1979–80, 1980–81, 1985–86 , - ,

Bonar Bridge Bonar Bridge ( gd, Drochaid a' Bhanna, ) is a village on the north bank of the Kyle of Sutherland to the west and the Dornoch Firth to the east in the Parish of Creich in the Highland council area of Scotland. The Kyle of Sutherland ("the Kyl ...

, , 1977–78, 1993–94 , - , Bunillidh Thistle , , 1971–72, 1981–82 , - , Cameron Highlanders , , 1888–89, 1926–27 , - ,

Invergordon Invergordon (; gd, Inbhir Ghòrdain or ) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen. History The town built up around the harbour which was established in 1828. The area beca ...

, , 1987–88, 2018–19 , - , Albert ''(Inverness)'' , , 1913–14 , - , Bishopmill United , , 1911–12 , - , Black Rock Rovers ''(Evanton)'' , , 1966–67 , - , Brora Rangers reserves , , 1964–65 , - , Crown Strollers ''(Inverness)'' , , 1891–92 , - , Crusaders ''(Inverness)'' , , 1887–88 , - , Dingwall Thistle , , 1976–77 , - , Fearn Thistle , , 1995–96 , - , Fortrose & Rosemarkie Union , , 1923–24 , - , Grantown Athletic , , 1910–11 , - , Heatherley FC ''(Inverness)'' , , 1898–99 , - ,

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First and Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 to form the Royal Highland Fus ...

, , 1938–39 , - , Inverness Caledonian Thistle reserves , , 1998–99 , - , Inverness City , , 2006–07 , - , Inverness Union reserves , , 1889–90 , - , Lewis & Harris , , 2014–15 , - , Loco Rangers , , 1951–52 , - , Nairn County reserves , {{center, 1 , 1953–54

References

Football in Scotland