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 good enough for the major leagues of the time i.e. the Glasgow Junior Football League (GJL), the Central Junior Football League and 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 ...

History

The first SJL was formed in 1892 but, despite its title, was effectively a

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 ...

district league. It was formed by ten clubs: five from the city and five from the neighbouring districts. Ashfield,

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Parkhead Parkhead ( sco, Pairkheid) is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necrop ...

and Vale of Clyde were among its founding members. While it was seen as reasonably successful by the district sides, the city sides did not share that view and all five left at the end of the season. The league continued for one more season but was wound up in 1894. The second SJL was a continuation of the Glasgow and District Junior League. It lost three of its city members in 1900, and after replacing them decided to rename itself. Its main problems were its inability to attract any of the major sides – these clubs aspired to be in the GJL – and its high turnover in membership. In all the league lasted only four years. The third, and main, SJL was formed by seven of the clubs who lost their places in the Glasgow Junior League "great betrayal" scandal of 1908. Twelve teams enlisted in its initial season including

Bellshill Athletic Bellshill Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the town of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire. It plays in the . History The history of the club can be traced back as far as 1897 when Bellshill Athletic were founded as a Ju ...

, Blantyre Victoria and

Pollok Pollok ( gd, Pollag, lit=a pool, sco, Powk) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,0 ...

. Given little hope by its critics, this version prospered and lasted until 1946. It was initially confined to the Glasgow district, but soon extended to include sides from Bute,

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the ...

, Ayrshire and

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling. It borders Perth ...

. After a year, a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

was added with automatic promotion and relegation. Because of

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, it operated with one division from 1915 until 1919, when the Second Division was reintroduced. The SJL's main problem was it remained in the shadow of the GJL, to which most of its members aspired. Over the years the SJL lost many of its stronger clubs including

Shawfield Shawfield is an industrial/commercial area of the Royal Burgh of Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located to the north of the town centre. It is bordered to the east by the River Clyde, to the north by the Glasgow neighbourhood of Oa ...

and

Shettleston Shettleston ( sco, Shuttlestoun, gd, Baile Nighean Sheadna) is a district in the east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name 'Shettleston' is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a mult ...

in 1921. A protest to 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 ...

(SJA) was lost on a technicality, however the loss of St Anthony's and St Roch's a year later led to another protest to the SJA and a subsequent charge of poaching. The GJL refused to hand these two clubs back, resulting in another of the GJL's splits with the SJA. The resulting formation of a Second Division saw the SJL lose a further five clubs. After the dispute was over a year later, the SJL admitted some of the GJL's discarded teams. In 1923 the SJL re-organised its divisions into East and West sections – the winners playing off for the title – but the Second Division was reintroduced after two years. 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 ...

of 1927 saw the defection of eight of its clubs to the new Scottish Intermediate Football League, and the subsequent recruitment of several clubs from the defunct Stirlingshire Junior Football League made it necessary to return to the East/West sections. The wide geographical spread of its clubs made life difficult for the league after 1939. Two wartime editions were played in 1939–40 and 1940–41 but the league subsequently suspended its operations for the rest of

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 opposing ...

. An attempted revival in 1945 was put off for a year, but the Central Junior Football League's refusal to hand back co-opted teams from the war essentially killed the SJL off. It attempted one more season and disbanded. During its lifetime, the league provided an avenue for many clubs to participate in the Junior game. The principal leagues of the time were more or less closed shops, and the SJL's members may never have played at this level had it not been around.

Winners

*Scottish Junior League *SJL Victory Cup *SJL Victory Consolation Cup

References

{{Defunct football competitions in Scotland Defunct football leagues in Scotland Defunct Scottish Junior Football Association leagues Sports leagues established in 1892 1892 establishments in Scotland 1947 disestablishments in Scotland Sports leagues disestablished in 1947