Perthshire Football League

Perthshire Football League

See also

Tables supplied by Stewart Davidson and thanks to David Ross and Alan McCabe for supplying some background information, and John Aitken for a complete winners list

The Perthshire League was formed on the 8 January 1898 after a meeting of seven clubs at the White Horse Hotel in Perth. The clubs represented were Scone, Huntingtower, Tulloch, Duncrub Park, Stanley, Luncarty and Airleywright. William Whitelaw was elected honorary president and Harry Christie president. Other officials of the league were -

Mr Stein (Huntingtower) - vice president

Mr R Stewart - treasurer

Mr J Trail - secretary

The league rules were framed up on the 22 January, when it was also read that Duncrub Park could not compete.

The Perthshire League appeared to be an erratically organised competition that seemed to survive in bits and pieces as a Senior league right up until WWII. Blairgowrie were the most respected entrants since they actually eliminated Dumbarton in the 1938-39 Scottish Cup. Other entrants included Vale of Atholl, Dunkeld & Birnam, Fair City Athletic, Breadalbane, Huntingtower, Scone, Tulloch, Stanley and Luncarty.

The pre-WWI days were its most successful. A number of clubs (Tulloch, Scone, Morrisonians, Luncarty etc) failed to survive long thereafter and this seems to have limited competition. A Perth & County League and an Atholl League were also played in the inter-war years.

The Perthshire League resurfaced in the mid to late 1930s and Fair City Athletic are noted as being league winners in 1935-36, this referring to senior rather than junior. Although the competition was regularly left incomplete, it does appear that a championship trophy was awarded in this season. It’s fairly certain that the inter-war competitions were more along the lines of the North Ayrshire Cup competitions of the 1890s - 1900s....sporadically staged and regularly incomplete. It would seem the league disbanded in 1959 and was replaced by the Perthshire Amateur League.

Vale of Atholl lasted longest as a senior side, competing in the Qualifying Cup well into the 1960s and in the Perthshire Cup into the 1970s. Some clubs, such as Blairgowrie may also have played in the Juniors for a time. They last played and won a tie in the Qualifying Cup in 1946-47 but scratched before the second round and subsequently disbanded. The junior team in Blairgowrie was formed around the same time, suggesting they followed the same pattern as a number of teams either side of WW2 (Beith, Bo'ness, Vale of Leven e.g.) where a junior team with the same or similar name to a senior side was set up, often playing at the same ground. The junior side in Luncarty was formed much earlier - in the 1920s. Luncarty are direct descendants of the seniors wheras Scone Thistle played concurrently during Scone's existence.

Whether any other seasons were completed remains unknown. With only three or four SFA affiliated member clubs within its entrants, it must be assumed that any competition was either very brief or possibly encompassed some local amateur clubs. It’s believed that there was a Perthshire Amateur League in existence in the 1930s so it is possible this might be the competition referred to above.

Many of the early league members - Scone, Huntingtower, Stanley, Tulloch and Dunblane - were regular Scottish Cup entrants pre-WW1, but it would seem that the rise of St Johnstone in the 1920s did for the 'lesser' Senior teams in the county. The Perthshire Cup continued until 1974-75 and, Breadalbane who were regular winners of this tourney, played senior opposition as late as September 1961 when they were beaten by an almost full strength St Johnstone in the Dewar Shield. This suggests some form of league structure though the absence of these sides from the all-in Scottish Cup of the mid-1950s, Vale of Atholl excepted, seems to suggest amateur rather than senior non-league.

Breadalbane and Vale of Atholl continue to play in the amateur grades to the present day. Whilst the Aberfeldy club (Breadalbane) have endured at least one brief period of inactivity in the recent past, Vale of Atholl have survived continuously and still play at Pitlochry's Recreation Ground.

Huntingtower and Fair City Athletic, both senior clubs from a bygone era, presently compete in the Perthshire Amateur League also although it is not thought that either are related to their earlier namesakes.

Vale of Atholl entered the Scottish Qualifying Cup for 1966-67 but scratched before the first round where they were due to play Glasgow University, possibly due to the fact that they just weren't able to compete at this level. They hadn't actually qualified for the competition proper (excluding the all-in seasons of the mid 1950s) since 1934-35 and hadn't won a qualifier since 1961-62. They had taken some severe beatings since then - 6-1 v Gala Fairydean, 12-0 v Duns, 5-1 v Burntisland Shipyard and 8-0 v Edinburgh University so maybe they just gave up the ghost.

Below is appended a list of Senior clubs which have operated since the 1890s. Not all of these would have played in the league, the intention being to give an idea of which clubs played during the league’s existence.

A note on Dunkeld clubs - reference to the club playing as Atholl Rangers in the 1910s while the inter-war years saw Dunkeld and Birnam Rovers appear to play as separate clubs. The Dunkeld & Birnam that played in the Scottish Qualifying Cup during this period may therefore have been a representative XI.

Club	Town	Years of existence
Airleywright	Bankfoot	1897	1922
Allanvale	Blackford	1911	1913
Almondvale Wanderers	*	19**	19**
Alyth	Alyth	1969	1975
Atholl Rovers	Blair Atholl	1900	1901
Auchterarder Primrose	Auchterarder	1913	1914
Auchterarder Thistle	Auchterarder	1899	1907
Balbeggie	Balbeggie	192*	193*
Ballinluig	Ballinluig	192*	192*
Birnam	Birnam	1911	1912
Birnam Rovers	Birnam	192*	193*
Blairgowrie (Amateurs)	Blairgowrie	1912	1947
Blairgowrie	Blairgowrie	1924	1925
Blairgowrie Our Boys	Blairgowrie	1882	1912
Breadalbane	Aberfeldy	1880
Comrie	Comrie	1895	1904
Crieff Morrisonians	Crieff	1898	1921
Drummond Hill	Kenmore	192*	193*
Dunblane	Dunblane	1880	1915
Duncrub Park	Dunning	1894	1908
Dunkeld (& Birnam)	Dunkeld	1895	1947
Erichtside	*	19**	19**
Errol Amateurs	Errol	1936	1974
Fair City Athletic [1]	Perth	1884	1902
Fair City Athletic [2]	Perth	1935	1937
Grandtully	Grandtully	1900	1901
Grandtully Vale	Grandtully	192*
Huntingtower	Huntingtower	1895	1931
Killin	Killin	192*	19**
Luncarty	Luncarty	1904	1922
Meigle Rovers	Meigle	*	*
Methven	Methven	19**	19**
Moulin City	Moulin	19**	19**
Murthly	Murthly	19**	19**
Pitlochry	Pitlochry	1901	1902
Rob Roy	Callander	1878	1899
Scone	Scone	1899	1922
St Johnstone	Perth	1885
Stanley	Stanley	1890	1930
Stanley East End	Stanley	19**	19**
Star of Atholl	Blair Atholl	1905	1907
Stormontfield	Stormontsfield	19**	19**
Strathallan XI	Dunblane	1903	1905
Strathardle United	Kirkmichael	1900	1901
Tayside	*	1969
Tulloch	Tulloch	1898	1921
Vale of Atholl	Pitlochry	1878
Vale of Ruthven	Auchterarder	1891	1897
Vale of Teith	Doune	1877	1906

Champions

1897-98 Scone Thistle

1898-99 Huntingtower

1899-00 Dunblane

1901-02 Fair City Athletic

1902-03 Huntingtower

1903-04 Tulloch

1904-05 Stanley

1905-06 Duncrub Park

1906-07 Stanley

1907-08 Stanley

1908-09 Stanley

1909-10 Huntingtower

1910-11 Morrisonians

1911-12 Scone Thistle

1912-13 Blairgowrie

1913-14 Tulloch

1919-20 Blairgowrie

1920-21 Vale of Atholl

1921-22 Vale of Atholl

1922-23 Vale of Atholl

1923-24 Dunkeld & Birnam

1924-25 Dunkeld & Birnham

1925-26 Blairgowrie

1926-27 Vale of Atholl

1927-28 Vale of Atholl

1928-29 Vale of Atholl

1929-30 Moulin City

1930-31 Breadblane

1931-32 Moulin City

1932-33 Vale of Atholl

1933-34 Blairgowrie

1934-35 Blairgowrie

1935-36 Fair City Athletic

1936-37 Blairgowrie

1937-38 Breadblane

1938-39 Black Watch

Runners-up

1897-98 Stanley

1898-99 Stanley

1899-00 Stanley

1901-02 Airleywright

1902-03 Fair City Athletic

1903-04 Luncarty

1904-05 Duncrub Park

1905-06 Tulloch

1906-07 Morrisonians

1907-08 Morrisonians

1908-09 Morrisonians

1909-10 Tulloch

1910-11 Tulloch

1911-12 Morrisonians

1912-13 Morrisonians

1913-14 Morrisonians

1919-20 Morrisonians

1920-21 Morrisonians

1921-22 Blairgowrie

1922-23 Morrisonians

1923-24 Blairgowrie

1924-25 Blairgowrie

1925-26 Dunkeld & birham

1926-27 Birnam Rovers

1927-28 Morrisonians

1928-29 Moulin City

1929-30 Vale of Atholl

1930-31 Vale of Atholl

1931-32 Vale of Atholl

1932-33 Blairgowrie

1933-34 Vale of Atholl

1934-35 Breadblane

1935-36 Vale of Atholl

1936-37 Fair City Athletic

1937-38 Blairgowrie

1938-39 Fair City Athletic

League Cup

1911-12 Scone

1897-98	Airle	Hun	Lun	Sco	Sta	Tull
Airleywright	X	19 Feb 3-4	19 Mar 3-0	5 Mar 1-5	5 Feb 0-5	29 Jan
Huntingtower		X	5 Mar 10-3	5 Feb	9 Apr 2-2
Luncarty	22 Jan 6-2	12 Feb	X		12 Mar 3-4	19 Feb 1-5
Scone	12 Feb	12 Mar 2-1	29 Jan	X	22 Feb 6-2	19 Mar 4-2
Stanley		29 Jan		19 Feb 2-3	X	12 Feb
Tulloch	12 Mar 4-2	22 Jan 1-5	5 Feb		5 Mar 3-2	X

1897-98

Pts

Scone

Stanley

Huntingtower

Tulloch

Airleywright

Luncarty

1898-99	Airle	Hun	Lun	Sco	Sta	Tull
Airleywright	X
Huntingtower		X			1 Apr
Luncarty			X
Scone				X
Stanley		28 Jan 4-3	5 Nov 6-1	1 Oct 0-3	X	4 Mar 6-0
Tulloch						X

Luncarty fined 10s 22 April 1899 for dropping out of the competition.

1898-99

Pts

Huntingtower

Stanley

Scone

Tulloch

Airleywright

Luncarty

Luncarty withdrew after three matches. The points of their remaining games were awarded to their opponents.

1899-00	Airle	BoE	Hun	Sco	Sta	Tull
Airleywright	X		20 Jan	7 Apr 5-5	21 Oct 1-0
Bridge of Earn		X	3 Feb 2-1		31 Mar	21 Oct 4-1
Huntingtower	4 Nov	7 Oct 0-3?			27 Jan 0-7
Scone	3 Feb 6-1	17 Mar 8-0	3 Mar 1-1	X	14 Oct 2-4
Stanley	17 Mar 5-3	14 Apr	7 Apr 4-0	7 Oct 0-2		3 Mar 6-0
Tulloch			17 Feb 0-0		3 Feb	X

24 Mar Scone 2 Stanley 2

14 Apr Stanley deducted 3 points for fielding illegible players v Scone, appealed

1900-01	Airle	BoE	Hun	Sco	Sta	Tull
Airleywright	X
Bridge of Earn		X
Huntingtower			X
Scone				X
Stanley	15 Sep 1-1				X
Tulloch						X

1901-02	Airl	DP	FCA	Hunt	PWE	Scon	Stan	Tull
Airleywright
Duncrub Park						5 Oct 4-4
Fair City Athletic		2 Nov 5-1			5 Oct 6-2	8 Feb 1-2		16 Nov 9-2
Huntingtower	14 Feb 5-1				28 Sep 3-5
Perth West End			23 Nov 3-4			18 Jan 0-5		8 Feb 0-1
Scone								2 Nov 3-4
Stanley			28 Sep 4-1			29 Mar 1-0		5 Oct 4-2
Tulloch		28 Sep 1-4				15 Feb 1-7

19 Oct Duncrub Park v Huntingtower 4-0

16 Nov Perth WE v Huntingtower 8-2 stopped in 75 mins due to darkness

15 Feb Tulloch v Scone at Perth

29 Mar Stanley v Scone 1-0 virtually decided league championship

1902-03	Airl	DP	Hunt	Scon	Stan	Tull
Airleywright	X	1 Nov 0-3	4 Oct 1-4
Duncrub Park		X			4 Oct 0-2
Huntingtower	14 Feb 5-1		X
Scone				X	9 May 1-1	1 Nov 1-1
Stanley					X	27 Sep 3-1
Tulloch						X

9 May Scone v Stanley 1-1 (decider?)

1903-04	DP	Hunt	Lun	Scon	Stan	Tull
Duncrub Park	X	17 Oct 0-2				26 Mar 1-1
Huntingtower	3 Oct 3-5	X			12 Sep 2-2	31 Oct 1-7
Luncarty	23 Jan 1-3		X	17 Oct 8-0
Scone				X		27 Feb 0-2
Stanley				26 Mar 2-1	X
Tulloch				23 Jan 7-0		X

24 Oct Scone v Tulloch 0-3

31 Oct Scone v Duncrub Park 0-1 stopped due to darkness

1904-05	DP	Hun	Lun	Sco	Sta	Tul
Duncrub Park	X	8 Oct 0-0*	4 Feb 6-1		1 Apr 1-4	10 Sep 3-1
Huntingtower	1 Apr 8-2	X		19 Sep 2-3	4 Feb 2-5
Luncarty			X	15 Oct 0-3		17 Sep 2-4
Scone				X
Stanley		22 Oct 3-0	10 Sep 2-3		X	28 Jan 2-0
Tulloch			8 Oct 0-2		15 Oct 1-0	X

*at Huntingtower

1905-06	DP	Hun	Lun	Sco	Sta	Tul
Duncrub Park	X					21 Oct 1-0
Huntingtower	30 Sep 1-2	X		21 Oct 1-7		14 Oct 0-4
Luncarty	16 Sep 1-4		X	31 Mar 0-7		20 Jan 0-5
Scone	14 Oct 4-1	20 Jan 3-3		X		9 Sep 0-0
Stanley		31 Mar 1-0			X	27 Jan 0-2
Tulloch			18 Nov 3-2			X