The Scottish Football Combination was a football league football structure set up in Scotland for clubs outside the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km so ...

and the reserves (or A sides) of some of the League members.

History

1896–1911

The competition was formed on 7 July 1896, by sides from various other competitions, including the

Scottish Football Alliance The Scottish Football Alliance was a football league football structure set up in Scotland in competition with the Scottish Football League. Its success in the early years of professional football in both England and Scotland made Alliance the bas ...

and the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History ...

. A handful of reserve clubs also expressed a wish to join, and these were accepted; indeed, the competition was over-subscribed,

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...

being accepted as members over

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scot ...

by 9 votes to 7, and Third Lanark's A side being preferred to that of

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a to ...

. Nutt of Wishaw Thistle was the inaugural president, with

Willie Maley William Patrick Maley (25 April 1868 – 2 April 1958) was an Irish-born Scottish international football player and manager. He was the first manager of Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

as vice-president. Reserve sides won the first four titles; the prestige of the competition was such that on six occasions before 1906 member clubs were elected to the Scottish League. In 1906, another competition, the

Scottish Football Union The Scottish Football Union was a football league competition that existed from 1906 till the outbreak of the First World War. It was formed after the collapse of the Scottish Football Alliance. Initial membership of the Union was: Alloa Athlet ...

, was formed, and six clubs left the Combination for the Union. Although new clubs were recruited, the status of the Combination took a blow, and the competition petered out during the 1910–11 season.

1935–37

A second Football Combination was formed with a similar mix of A teams and first XIs in 1935; the A teams were those ineligible to join the regular reserve league as their parent clubs were not in the Scottish First Division. The first President of the revived league was A. A. Jackson of Ayr United and the competition was initially made up of seven clubs, although one of them (

Rosyth Dockyard Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was ...

) withdrew before the season started. Clubs agreed to pay 15 third-class railway fares to visiting clubs, and admission was capped at 6d. This only lasted one full season; the second season saw two clubs stop playing partway through and the Combination disbanded before the 1937–38 season.

Membership

* 5th K.O.S.B.: 1908–10 *

: 1897–1903 *

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa At ...

: 1903–06 *

Annbank Annbank is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is around five miles east of Ayr. Originally a mining settlement, it once had a rail link to Ayr via the Auchincruive Waggonway. The village has a village hall, bakery, shop, bowling green, ...

: 1909–10 *

Arthurlie Arthurlie is an area of the town of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. History of Arthurlie The lands of Arthurlie were held in medieval times by the Stewart family, a branch of the noble Stewarts of Darnley. Later the lands became the prop ...

: 1897–1901 * Ayr Parkhouse: 1904–06 * Ayr United A: 1935–37 *

Bathgate Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, West Lothian, Armadale, Blackburn, ...

: 1905–06 * Beith: 1903–09 *

Bo'ness Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Fal ...

: 1935–37 *

Broxburn Athletic Broxburn Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football (soccer), football club based in the town of Broxburn, West Lothian, Broxburn in West Lothian. They play their home games at Albyn Park. The team currently competes in the , the sixth tier ...

: 1906–08 *

Camelon Camelon (; sco, Caimlan, gd, Camlann)
is a large set ...

: 1903–05 * Celtic A: 1896–97 * Cowdenbeath A: 1906–07 *

Dalbeattie Star Dalbeattie Star Football Club is a Scottish association football club based in Dalbeattie, Dumfries and Galloway. It currently competes in the . The club had previously played in the South of Scotland Football League. Home matches are played a ...

: 1935–37 *

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

: 1905–06 * Dumfries: 1906–11 * Dykehead: 1905–09 * East Stirlingshire: 1896–97 * Edinburgh City A: 1935–37 *

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

: 1896–97 * Galston: 1904–09 * Girvan Athletic: 1908–11, 1935–37 *

: 1896–98 * Heart of Midlothian A: 1896–97, 1898–99 *

Hurlford Hurlford (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile Àtha Cliath'') is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 4,968. Hurlford's former names include Whirlford and Hurdleford. The village was named Whirlford as a result of a ford crossing ...

: 1898–1905, 1806–08 *

Johnstone Johnstone ( sco, Johnstoun,
gd, Baile Iain) is a town ...

: 1898–1905, 1906–08 *

Kilbarchan Kilbarchan ( gd, Cill Bhearchain) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry. History ...

: 1899–1904 * Lanemark: 1907–11 *

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

: 1902–03 * Maxwelltown Volunteers: 1907–08 *

Maybole Maybole is a town and former burgh of barony and police burgh in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It had an estimated population of in . It is situated south of Ayr and southwest of Glasgow by the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The town is bypas ...

: 1906–11 *

Morton A Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film ''Horton ...

: 1903–05 * Nithsdale Wanderers: 1909–11, 1935–37 * Queen's Park Strollers/Victoria XI: 1892–1902, 1903–11, 1935–37 *

Rangers A A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

: 1896–1899 * Renton: 1902–06 * Royal Albert: 1896–1906 * St Mirren A: 1899–1904 *

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nea ...

: 1896–97, 1905–06 * Stranraer: 1935–37 *

Third Lanark A Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

: 1897–1903, 1935–36 *

Thornliebank Thornliebank (Scots: ''Thonliebank'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach nan Dealgan'') is a suburban area in East Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, it is located on the Auldhouse Burn about so ...

: 1897–1901, 1902–06 * Vale OCOBA: 1935–37 *

Vale of Leven The Vale of Leven (Scottish Gaelic: ''Magh Leamhna'') is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning '' ...

History

1896–1911

1935–37

Membership

Champions

References

External links

See also