Northern League
Page created: 10 August 2020
Updated: 24 March 2024
The Northern League
was formed in 1891 and was based initially around the counties of Forfarshire
and Perthshire, and the city of Aberdeen. Later it would extend southwards into
Fife. 1893-94 was one of three occasions the championship was not completed -
the others were in 1911-12 and 1913-14 when the competition was very much deminished. Although Arbroath were leading, the league was
abandoned and not restarted until 8 June 1895 when it was reconstituted as a
new league. Victoria United were one of the eight invited clubs, but by the
time the league started the new season, they had been replaced by Fair City
Athletic.
1908-09 was the last
season that the league had a strong membership as the following season, six of
its clubs helped to form the Central
League. From then until 1920, the league became a secondary affair and an
attempt at creating a new stronger, North
Eastern League in 1912 with some Border clubs failed when the Eastern League was set up without the
Forfarshire teams. The Northern League closed down for the war, although it was
briefly revived for a season in 1919-20.
Winners |
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1891-92 East End / Our Boys 1892-93 Arbroath 1893-94 unfinished 1894-95 no competition 1895-96 Forfar Athletic 1896-97 Orion 1897-98 Victoria United 1898-99 Orion |
1899-00 Dundee Wanderers 1900-01 Dundee 'A' 1901-02 Raith
Rovers 1902-03 Dundee 'A' 1903-04 Montrose 1904-05 Dundee 'A' 1905-06 Aberdeen 'A' 1906-07 Kirkcaldy United / Dundee 'A'
1907-08 Brechin
City |
1908-09 Dundee 'A' 1909-10 Dundee 'A' 1910-11 Aberdeen 'A' 1911-12 unfinished 1912-13 Brechin
City 1913-14 unfinished 1914-15 unfinished 1915-1919 no competition 1919-20 unfinished |
1891-92 Northern League
26
Dec St Johnstone were deducted 2 points for violating Rule 8 for not
registering Buttar 14 days before playing him against Our Boys East
End were deducted 2 points on 12 March for fielding D Reid and violating Rule
8 5
Dec Arbroath v Forfar 5-2 stopped a few minutes before time due to darkness
and replayed later 14
Nov Arbroath protested about their game against Aberdeen 0-4 being stopped 7
mins before time owing to darkness. Aberdeen had arrived late and the game
kicked off 19 minutes after the appointed time. Replay ordered 12
Mar Aberdeen v St Johnstone 2-4 was played as a friendly as the ground was
unfit 12
Mar Harp v Our Boys 1-7 was played as friendly
Decider East
End v Our Boys not played East
End and Our Boys were meant to play a championship decider on 25 May.
However, East End declined to play on the basis that they didn't agree with
the deduction of the 2 points for fielding Reid against Montrose. Also, they
did not agree to the proposed share of 'gate' claiming one half of the
drawings. Although the game was postponed until 31 May the match was never
played and the championship was shared. |
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1892-93 Northern League
10
Sep Johnstone Wanderers v St Johnstone 2-1 protest by St Johnstone about the
officials being intimidated and crowd encroachment upheld and was re-played
on 20 May 14
Jan East End v Harp 1-1 was declared a friendly game of two halves of 35 due
to conditions 28
Jan Fair City v St Johnstone 0-3 friendly played due to icy conditions 1
Apr Harp v Our Boys was played at East Dock Street
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1893-94 Northern League
The
missing matches were not played due to resignations and the imminent collapse
of the whole league. 25
Nov Forfar v Montrose 2-0 declared a friendly and replayed later 2
Dec Aberdeen v Forfar 6-4 was stopped after 80 mins due to darkness and the
result was allowed to stand The
Northern League crisis. On
6 January, Johnstone Wanderers refused to travel to Montrose as they had
played there twice before and that 'the 'gate' hadn't paid them'. At
a meeting of the league on 13 January, at the Albion Hotel in Dundee, the
discussion centred upon Johnstone Wanderers and Strathmore for not travelling
to play Aberdeen, refusing to play league fixtures and for withdrawing from
the league. Both clubs were instructed to pay the 10 GBP penalty for not
fulfilling their fixtures. It was moved to continue with the competition with
six clubs, but Mr Fyffe of Victoria United stated that his club would also
withdraw if the two Dundee clubs left; he felt that they were now one as
Dundonians, later Dundee Wanderers. It was moved to continue with five clubs. On
17 Jan Victoria United threatened to resign from the league but fulfil their
remaining fixtures as friendlies. The
league didn't accept the resignations at a meeting on 27 January, while
Victoria confirmed that they would continue to fulfil their fixtures.
Competition
unfinished |
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1894-95 Northern League No
competition |
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1895-96 Northern League
Lochee United v Aberdeen was not played with Lochee being awarded both points. 12
Oct Arbroath v Lochee United 3-0 protested and
replayed 2
Nov Aberdeen v Arbroath 2-5 crowd broke in towards the end of the game but
the result stood 2
Nov Forfar Athletic v Lochee United 2-2 protested
and replayed 25
Jan Dundee Wanderers v Montrose 3-1 stopped after 80 mins due to darkness but
the result stood 25
Jan Lochee United v Forfar Athletic 3-1 finished in
darkness and replayed 14
Mar Fair City Athletic v Dundee Wanderers 3-2 declared void because it wasn't
the official referee 18
Apr Aberdeen v Forfar Athletic 1-2 referee stopped the game 5 mins early by
mistake and replayed 9
May Arbroath v Aberdeen 7-2 a replay was ordered but wasn't played due to the
season finishing
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1896-97 Northern League
10
Oct Montrose v Lochee United 0-0 Lochee late in arriving so friendly played, 35 mins each
way 5
Dec Aberdeen v Orion 2-5 the game had started 10 mins later and was stopped
after 80 mins due to darkness. Despite both clubs agreeing beforehand not to
protest, the match was replayed on 1 May 26
Dec Forfar Athletic v Montrose 3-0 abandoned after 50 mins due to rain 26
Dec Lochee United v Arbroath 0-3 abandoned after 70
mins due to rain 30
Jan Forfar v Dundee Wanderers 4-5 declared a friendly due to snow 30
Jan Lochee United v Orion 1-5 declared a friendly
due to snow 5
Jun at the league AGM Lochee United and Aberdeen
were re-elected, Dundee 'A' and Dundee Harp being unsuccessful
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1897-98 Northern League
4
Dec Forfar Athletic v Victoria United 5-2 friendly played due to icy
conditions 4
Jun AGM held at Arbroath. Aberdeen and Lochee
United were re-elected
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1898-99 Northern League
12
Nov Forfar v Dundee Wanderers 4-2 was stopped after 65 mins due to darkness
and a replay ordered 19
Nov Forfar v Aberdeen 1-4 protest that 4 mins were not played due to
darkness, replay ordered 26
Nov Forfar v Montrose 2-1 replay ordered
Play-off at Gayfield Park, Arbroath 13
May Orion v Dundee Wanderers 1-0 |
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1899-1900 Northern
League
30
Oct Montrose v Lochee United 4-2 stopped after 70
mins due to darkness replay ordered 4
Nov Victoria United v Aberdeen 2-0 finished in darkness but the result stood 4
Nov Dundee Wanderers v Montrose 2-0 stopped after 65 mins due to poor weather
and replayed later 23
Dec Victoria United v Lochee United 3-3 stopped
after 75 mins and replayed later 13
Jan Aberdeen v Dundee Wanderers 6-1 stopped after 72 mins due to darkness,
result stood Lochee United had a total of 4 points deducted
after 6 games, around 4-9 Dec. Two for playing an unregistered player called
Bunce in a friendly with Dundee Wanderers and for playing a league match
against the Wanderers later than scheduled
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1900-01 Northern League
Aberdeen
v Arbroath both matches played at Pittodrie Park 6
Oct Dundee 'A' v Montrose 7-0 stopped in second half due to rain 6
Oct Dundee Wanderers v Victoria United 2-3 stopped after 70 mins due to rain 13
Oct Dundee Wanderers v Orion 2-3 stopped after 88 mins due to darkness 1
Dec Aberdeen v Orion 2-2 stopped in 85 mins due to darkness 8
Dec Aberdeen v Victoria United 3-0 stopped due to darkness and Aberdeen
awarded points 8
Dec Dundee Wanderers v Lochee United 1-4 stopped
due to darkness and Lochee awarded points 12
Jan Victoria United v Fair City Athletic 5-2 stopped after 80 mins due to
darkness and Victoria awarded both points 17
Apr Fair City v Dundee played at Dens Park, Dundee 6
May Fair City v Orion played at Cattofield,
Aberdeen
Decider at Dens Park, Dundee 18
May Dundee 'A' v Orion 3-0 |
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1901-02 Northern League
21
Dec Cowdenbeath v Arbroath 2-1 friendly played due to state of the ground 21
Dec Orion v Victoria United 1-1 friendly played due to state of the ground,
stopped after 40 mins 28
Dec Dundee Wanderers v Dundee 'A' 0-3 declared a friendly due to state of the
pitch 4
Jan St Johnstone v Victoria United 2-0 abd after 15
mins due to ground condititions 25
Jan Aberdeen v Cowdenbeath 0-0 stopped after 70 mins due to the weather 1
Feb Victoria United v Aberdeen 2-0 played as a friendly due to frost Montrose
v Lochee United both games played at Links Park,
Montrose
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