The Scottish Qualifying Cup was a football competition played in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
between 1895 and 2007. During that time, apart from a brief spell in the 1950s, it was the only way for non-league teams to qualify for the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Football Association
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 fo ...
, who were not members of the
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...
Scottish Football Association
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 fo ...
announced a new format for the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League first division, Queen's Park F.C., and four other clubs voted in.
At the end of the 1896–97 season, the
Lanarkshire Football Association
Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland.
Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...
proposed abolishing the Qualifying Cup in favour of everyone starting at round 1, on the basis that "the exemption of the leading clubs had been the cause of much of the decadence of football in this country, and it was hastening the end of many in Lanarkshire. The exemption had killed four clubs, and the best was in a perilous state"; this was on the basis that attendances in the Qualifying Cup were too low even to pay expenses. The proposal was defeated by 46 votes to 36.
Although the first Qualifying Cup was played out until a national final, the last sixteen clubs in the competition (i.e. those who had reached the fifth round stage of the Qualifying Cup) would be put through to the first round of the national competition.
The format of having a number of clubs qualify for the competition proper, but still playing to one or two finals, remained the format for the competition's existence, although the number of entrants and qualifying clubs varied. This led to a paradox where teams that had met in the Qualifying Cup could also meet in the competition proper. For example, the Qualifying Cup final in 1928–29 saw Murrayfield Amateurs beat Thornhill, and the two teams were then drawn together in the "official" first round, Murrayfield winning again.
Annbank F.C.
Annbank Football Club was a football club that existed from 1879 to 1920, from the village of Annbank, Ayrshire, Scotland.
History
The club was founded in 1879. In 1880, the club played its first competitive matches in the Ayrshire Cup, goin ...
won the first-ever Qualifying Cup in 1895–96, beating East Stirlingshire in the final at Underwood Park in Paisley, the ground of Abercorn F.C.; the Shire showed the greater skill, but the Miners, with the veteran "White" Gourlay marshalling the defence, gained something of a smash and grab victory.; the protest was against an East Stirlingshire player so was left unheard. Annbank reached the second round of the competition proper; the furthest any of the qualifying clubs reached in the first season was
Arbroath
Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902.
It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen.
...
reaching the quarter-finals (third round).
The furthest in the competition any Qualifying Cup side reached was the semi-finals, Kilmarnock (Qualifying Cup winners in 1896–97) and Stenhousemuir (Qualifying Cup runners-up in 1902–03) both doing so.
Until season 1930–31 the competition was played as a single national competition, although ties were often drawn on a geographical basis so that the final would often be between the best teams in the North and South. From 1908 until 1914 there was also a Consolation Cup for teams eliminated in the earlier rounds; this was a common arrangement in Scottish cup competitions until expanding leagues reduced the time available for extra cup matches.
From 1931 there were separate competitions for the North and South, and additionally in 1946–47 and 1947–48 there was a Midlands competition (won by Forfar Athletic and Montrose respectively, both times beating East Stirlingshire in the final). There was a brief hiatus for three seasons between 1954–55 to 1956–57 when all clubs were given direct entry into the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2006–07.
Brora Rangers
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Buckie Thistle
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Keith
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People and fictional characters
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* Keith (surname)
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Rothes
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History and castle
At the south end of the ...
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Wick Academy
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North Caledonian League
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Dalbeattie Star
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Edinburgh University
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Preston Athletic
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They were founding member ...
Spartans
Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: wikt:Σπάρτη, Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the nam ...
South of Scotland Football League
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Newton Stewart
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Burntisland Shipyard
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Girvan
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Leith Athletic
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The present club considers itse ...
and Bathgate.
*Most appearances in the final: 5 - East Stirlingshire.
*Most appearances in the final without winning: 2 -
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Geography
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and Brechin City.
*Biggest win: Murrayfield Amateurs 8–1 Thornhill, 1928–29.
RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...