Midland League
including
the Central Combination, the Central League (1896-1898 and 1903-1905
versions) and the Eastern League (1904-1907
version)
Page created: 11 August 2020
Updated: 1 April 2024
After the original meeting to form a league was held at the Station
Hotel in Larbert on 9 April 1891, the Midland League was officially
constituted on 18 April 1891. A further meeting on 16 May was held by eight
clubs at the Crown Hotel in Alloa, which was to be
the league's headquarters. Representatives of Camelon,
Dunblane, Alva, Alloa Athletic, Grangemouth and
Dunfermline Athletic were all in attendance. Mr Murphy of Camelon
FC was asked to communicate with Bridge of Allan, Clackmannan, Cowdenbeath and Raith Rovers to be asked to also join.
The league was officially dissolved in 1892 and reconstituted as a new
league, but without the champions Raith Rovers. The
Midland League lasted for six seasons in total and was superceded
by the creation of the Central
Combination on 25 June 1897 which included four of the Midland League clubs
plus others from the Central League and Scottish Combination. At the same time
a Central League was formed in 1896 by six clubs; Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline
Athletic, Fair City Athletic, Kirkcaldy, Lochgelly
United and St. Johnstone. In 1897 the Central League was also superseded by the
formation of the Central Combination, and disbanded, unfinished, at the end of
1897-98.
In 1898, St Johnstone and Fair City Athletic left for the Perth City League and they were
replaced by Alloa Athletic and Clackmannan. By 1903,
the league was struggling after it had lost six of its strongest clubs
including the Champions and runners-up to other bodies. East Stirlingshire and
St Johnstone (who also played in the Northern League) rejoined,
along with newly formed East Fife and Hearts of Beath.
To try and maintain some quality, Celtic 'A' and West Calder were also approached,
but they declined to compete. The Central Combination's last season was not
completed and it disbanded soon after. Although Falkirk were the only
Combination club to be elected to the Scottish League whilst still members
(1902), nine others later gained admission to the national competition.
In 1903, several clubs were concerned about the future of the Central
Combination and a proposal by Bathgate to form a new league was taken up and at
a meeting in Glasgow the Midland League was re-formed. This league was wound up
in 1904 though so another attempt was made at the Eastern League. Nine sides formed the new competition on 6 Aug
1904, although Hearts of Beath were replaced by Heart
of Midlothian 'A' who ran away with the title. Early in the following season,
the Scottish Alliance was reformed
and Bo'ness, Broxburn and Broxburn Shamrock who were still Eastern League
members at the time left for this league. The Eastern League soldiered on for
one more season but it was very much the poor relation and was disbanded in
1907.
Following the collapse of the Central Combination in 1903, four clubs,
Dunblane, King's Park, Strathallan and Vale of Teith formed a new Central
League competition but Vale of Teith withdrew
without playing a game. This lasted just one season but a new league was formed
at the Station Hotel in Larbert during November 1904.
Dunfermline Athletic considered joining but decided against it. As the clubs
were also members of other established leagues, and the competition was seen as
a supplementary league much like the Inter-City
and Glasgow Leagues that existed at
the time. Elected officials were President D Mackay (Alloa
Athletic) and Secretary and Treasurer J Macnicol
(King's Park).
The last time the Midland League
was played was between 1908 and 1911 when Bo'ness, Broxburn Athletic,
Clackmannan, Dunblane, Falkirk 'A', Stenhousemuir and West Lothian Albion
banded together. Bo'ness, Broxburn Athletic and Stenhousemuir went on to help
form the Central League in 1909,
while champions Falkirk 'A' were one of the founder members of the Scottish
Reserve League. Broxburn Shamrock joined and although the fixtures were
unfinished Clackmannan were awarded the championship. The Midland League
continued the following season with only three clubs and was wound up at the
end of the season
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Winners |
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Midland League (1) 1891-92 Raith
Rovers 1892-93 King's Park 1893-94 East Stirlingshire 1894-95 Falkirk 1895-96 Stenhousemuir 1896-97 Clackmannan Central League 1896-97 Cowdenbeath 1897-98 unfinished 1898-1903 no competition 1903-04 Dunblane 1904-05 King's Park |
Central Combination 1897-98 East Stirlingshire 1898-99 Stenhousemuir 1899-00 Falkirk 1900-01 Stenhousemuir 1901-02 Stenhousemuir 1902-03 Alloa
Athletic |
Midland League (2) 1903-04 unfinished Eastern League 1904-05 Heart of Midlothian 'A' 1905-06 Heart of Midlothian 'A' 1906-07 unfinished Midland League (3) 1908-09 Falkirk 'A' 1909-10 Clackmannan 1910-11 Hearts of Beath |
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1891-92 Midland League
The remaining games; Grangemouth v Camelon and Alloa Athletic v
Dunblane were probably not played. Cowdenbeath resigned in March 1892 and their
results so far were expunged Clackmannan were deducted 3 points on 3 Oct for
violating the Registration Rule. They were penalised a further 2 points in
April 1892 Dunfermline Athletic and Cowdenbeath were both
deducted 2 points on 5 Dec for violating the Registration Rule In June 1892, the
league was wound up and subsequently re-formed with ten clubs, including
Falkirk and East Stirlingshire. These two latterly withdrew their membership 14 Nov Alloa Athletic v
Dunblane 1-2 was declared void on 5 Dec due to'the
referee's incompetence' 7 Nov Dunblane v Bridge of Allan 1-3 Dunblane
played with only 4 recognized regular players 12 Dec Alva v Alloa 4-3
replay ordered 19 Dec Raith v Dunfemline 3-1 declared a friendly due to non-arrival of
referee 9 Jan Alloa v
Dunfermline 3-2 friendly played as Dunfermline only had 8 players 6 Feb Grangemouth v Alloa
played at Alloa On both 21 and 28 May, Dunfermline played two
matches to finish their fixtures. Against Clackmannan, they fielded a local
juvenile side, Ensign, hence the 17-1 defeat
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1892-93 Midland League
5
Nov Camelon v Alva 2-3 was stopped after 80 mins
and was replayed on 15 Apr 12
Nov Alva v Alloa 0-0 replay ordered 10
Dec Camelon v Grangemouth 3-0 was declared a
friendly due to snow 4
Mar Grangemouth v Dunfermline the latter left the pitch when the score
reached 4-0 but the result stood 6
May Alva v Dunfermline Athletic was not played after Dunfermline failed to
appear.
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1893-94 Midland League
30
Sep Falkirk v Dunblane 6-7 was stopped after 85 mins due to darkness and
replayed later, Dunblane had arrived late 25
Nov Falkirk v Stenhousemuir 1-4 was abandoned due to darkness and replayed
later, but a protest by Stenhousemuir about Falkirk's late arrival was
dismissed because it was submitted late 9
Dec Camelon v Bridge of Allan 6-2 stopped early and
replayed later 24
Feb Dunblane v Falkirk 1-2 friendly played due to ground conditions 10
Mar King's Park v East Stirlingshire 7-4 played as a friendly due to
ground conditions At
the Midland League AGM on 16 June 1894, the following votes were cast
regarding re-election Gairdoch 12 votes (elected), Alloa
Athletic 10 (re-elected), Alva 8 (re-elected), Grangemouth 4 (not elected),
Kilsyth Wanderers 2 (not elected). Bridge of Allan had resigned their place.
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1894-95 Midland League
20
Oct Falkirk v Alva 10-2 Alva left field after 70 mins due to torrential rain,
result stood 16
Feb Alloa v King's Park 2-3 friendly played due to state of the
ground and replayed on 9 Mar 16
Mar Dunblane v East Stirlingshire was also reported as 4-2
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1895-96 Midland League
14
Dec King's Park v Gairdoch 1-1 was unfinished
due to Gairdoch arriving late, King's Park being awarded two
points 2
Nov Kilsyth v Camelon 5-0 was stopped after 70
minutes and replayed later 28
May Gairdoch v East Stirlingshire was played at Bainsford At a special meeting of the league on 8 July
1896, the resignations of Falkirk, East Stirlingshire and Stenhousemuir were
accepted, and applications from Clackmannan, Dunipace,
Denny Athletic, Kilsyth Hibernian and St Johnstone considered. After a vote,
Clackmannan, Dunipace and St Johnstone were all
elected for the 1896-97 season after polling 7 votes each, Kilsyth (4 votes)
and Denny (2 votes) were unsuccessful. At a subsequent meeting at Larbert on 15 July, St Johnstone declined to join and as
there were no other applications, the vacancy would remain unfilled.
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1896-97 Midland League
14
Nov Dunipace v Kilsyth Wanderers 3-0 was stopped
after 76 mins due to darkness Clackmannan
and Dunblane didn't play each other due to a dispute
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1896-97 Central League
12
Dec Kirkcaldy v Lochgelly 2-2 stopped after 70 mins
due to darkness and was to be replayed later 23
Jan Kirkcaldy v Lochgelly 1-2 friendly played owing
to the late arrival of Lochgelly 5
Dec Kirkcaldy v Dunfermline 2-4 was replayed later The
remaining fixtures were unplayed
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1897-98 Central
Combination
23
Oct King's Park v Dunblane 1-1 replay ordered 5
Feb Fair City Athletic v East Stirlingshire 2-5 replay ordered 12
Feb East Stirlingshire v Falkirk 1-2 was abandoned after 70 mins and replayed
later 2
Oct King's Park v Fair City 3-1 replay ordered 19
May AGM held in Stirling. Kilsyth were awarded both points for the unplayed match against Falkirk which was due to be played
on 2 April. East Stirlingshire were ordered to pay the 3 GBP they had
withheld from Stenhousemuir. Fair City Athletic, St Johnstone and Dunblane
all had to apply for re-election with Bo'ness, Dunipace, Clackmannan and Alloa
Athletic. Alloa, Dunblane and Clackmannan were
elected and the two Perth sides dropped out
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1897-98 Central League
Competition
unfinished |
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1898-99 Central
Combination
Dunblane
were unable to complete their fixtures so scratched against Stenhousemuir,
East Stirlingshire, Clackmannan and Camelon, who
were all awarded 2 points each 1
Oct Clackmannan v Stenhousemuir 2-2 was unfinished due to crowd encroachment
and Stenhousemuir were awarded the points in early November 12
Nov East Stirlingshire v Falkirk 2-3 was replayed later 3
Dec Clackmannan v Falkirk 1-2 was stopped after 75 mins and replayed later 10
Dec Alloa v Stenhousemuir 3-5 was stopped after 80
mins due to darkness and replayed later 25
Feb Clackmannan v Kilsyth Wanderers 2-1 was played as a friendly as the
referee failed to appear 8
Apr Clackmannan v Dunblane was postponed due to Dunblane arriving shorthanded
and the tie was never fulfilled
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1899-1900 Central
Combination
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