The Midlands Football League is a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league based in the

Tayside Tayside () was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 16 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named after the River Tay. History Tayside region was created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act ...

area of Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the

Scottish football league system The Scottish football league system is a series of generally connected leagues for Scottish football clubs. The Scottish system is more complicated than many other national league systems, consisting of several completely separate systems or 'gr ...

, acting as a feeder to the

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 ...

. Founded in 2021, the inaugural season was contested by 19 clubs, largely from those who still remained in the

SJFA East Region The Scottish Junior Football Association, East Region is one of two regions of the SJFA, which currently organises the Midlands Football League, Midlands League and local cup competitions. The SJFA was previously split into six regions, but in ...

from the previous season. Geographically, the league covers

Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland (council area), Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Scotland, Angus, Dundee, and F ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

(all East Region clubs based further south already having left the SJFA to join the

East of Scotland Football League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior association football, football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowlan ...

over the previous five years). The winners take part in an end-of-season promotion play-off with the SJFA North Superleague and

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 ...

champions, subject to clubs meeting the required licensing criteria.

History

Background

The

Tayside Junior Football League The Tayside Junior Football League, originally called the ''Midlands League'', was a football league competition operated in Tayside under the Scottish Junior Football Association which operated as the top league in the territory from 1969 until a ...

(originally named the Midlands League) had existed in the region since 1969. It was formed as one of the six new regions of the SJFA in part of a wider restructure of Scottish junior football, bringing several local junior leagues from the area together. It operated until 2002 when it merged with the Fife League and the East (Lothians) League to form a new larger East Region. From 2017, most of the East Region clubs departed the junior ranks to join the senior East of Scotland League which was part of the pyramid with promotion to the

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) and the Park’s Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits a ...

, including some former Tayside teams from Perthshire. By 2020, there were only 30 teams left in the East Region, which was restructured into two regional leagues of North and South. At the end of the season, all of the South teams (mostly from West Lothian) departed to join the senior ranks, leaving only the North teams (former Tayside Junior members) remaining which went on to join the pyramid system underneath the Highland League.

Formation

On 1 April 2021, 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 (soccer), football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the ...

stated their aim to establish a Midlands League for the 2021–22 season at Tier 6 of the Scottish football pyramid. Although there was no official announcement of the league's formation, the

announced the fixtures for the 2021–22 season straight away on 21 June, with 19 clubs shown as league members, Dundee St James and Letham being new clubs in addition to all members of the 2020–21 East Premiership North. On 5 July 2021, it was announced that subject to SFA approval, the Midlands league would be joined at Tier 6 by the SJFA North Superleague and

to form a fully-integrated level below the Highland League from 2021–22.

Member clubs

Seasons

Cup competitions

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA). The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA on the 2nd October 1886 and, as of the 2023–24 ed ...

: Known as the Macron Scottish Junior Cup for sponsorship purposes. **Knock-out tournament for all Junior Association member clubs. *East Region League Cup: Known as the ''Thorntons Property East Region League Cup'' under a sponsorship arrangement, this tournament was introduced for the 2018–19 season East Superleague to compensate for a reduced number of league fixtures. **Knock-out tournament for all clubs. **All matches played to a finish with penalties after 90 minutes, if required. **2 rounds before Quarter-finals. * North and Tayside Inter-Regional Cup: Known as the ''Signature Signs Cup'' for sponsorship purposes. First played for in 1988. **Knock-out tournament for all Midlands League and North Region clubs. **Clubs play early rounds in their own region with eight sides from each area progressing to the last sixteen.

References

External links

Official website
{{SJFA East Region 6

Scot Scottish people or Scots (; ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or ...

Scottish Junior Football Association, East Region Scottish Junior Football Association leagues Sports leagues established in 2021 2021 establishments in Scotland Football in Dundee Football in Angus, Scotland Football in Perth and Kinross Football in Fife Midlands Football League