The 2020–21 North Caledonian Football League (known for sponsorship reasons as the Macleod & MacCallum North Caledonian League) was the 112th season of the

North Caledonian Football League The North Caledonian Football Association is a senior football association operating throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and is a recognised body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and as such has its senior football competit ...

. The season began on 17 October 2020, following a delay caused by the suspension of football activity due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Due to no league title being awarded for 2019–20, Golspie Sutherland began the season as the defending champions. In January, the league management committee decided to pause the league schedule due to new

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

protection levels that had been introduced in the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

region. A week later, the Scottish FA confirmed that football at all levels below the SPFL Championship had been suspended while restrictions were in place. Only one cup competition, the

North Caledonian Cup 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 cup for competition between football clubs across the Highlands & Islands of Scotland. Th ...

, was drawn and competed for during the season, however due to the suspension of football activities at the turn of the year, the competition was abandoned for

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. On 6 April 2021, it was announced the league's remaining games would be played between 22 May and 26 June. On 24 June, the season's two remaining fixtures were cancelled due to an uptick of COVID-19 cases in the Highlands. Golspie Sutherland defended their league title, winning the league ahead of the final round of fixtures.

Teams

Alness United returned to competition following a one-year period of abeyance, while Bunillidh Thistle chose not play in the league for

due to concerns related to playing and traveling during the virus outbreak. The league also welcomed

Highland Football League The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Scott ...

club Nairn County's reserve team as a league member for the first time since the 1950s. Taking the competing numbers up to 12 for the

season were new clubs

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claimed sightings of the cryptozoology, cryptozoological Loch Ness Mons ...

and

Scourie Scourie (), historically spelled "Scoury", is a village on the north west coast of Scotland, about halfway between Ullapool and Durness. The name comes from the Gaelic word Sheiling or shed, a stone-built place of shelter used during the summer ...

Stadia and locations

Withdrew

Format

Following a meeting of clubs in August, it was agreed that for the 2020–21 season, the league would be temporarily split into two divisions of six teams – one for the

North Caledonian League The North Caledonian Football Association is a senior football association operating throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and is a recognised body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and as such has its senior football competit ...

championship (League 1) and the other for the resurrected Ness Cup trophy (League 2). It was agreed that this change would be for the

season only and that it would revert to a one division format for 2021–22. Teams who placed highest upon the suspension of football in the 2019–20 season were entered into League 1, while the remaining teams were joined by the league's new and returning entrants in League 2.

League tables

League 1

League 2

References

External links

* {{2020–21 in Scottish football

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

North Caledonian 2020