Country Scotland Founded 1923 Number of teams 12 | Confederation UEFA Divisions 1 Level on pyramid 6 | |
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The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a league of football teams from south-east Scotland, which was formed in 1923. The league sits at level 6 on the pyramid system, on a par with the South of Scotland Football League and is proposed to act as a feeder to the Lowland Football League.
Contents
- Background
- East of Scotland Football Association
- 201617 member clubs
- Cup competitions
- Youth Competitions
- Original EoSFL
- Recent history
- List of winners
- References
Its clubs are largely drawn from the Edinburgh, Lothians and Scottish Borders areas. A total of 16 teams will compete in 2015–16, drawn from the 29 members of the sister organisation, the East of Scotland Football Association (EoSFA).
From the 2014–15 season, it is proposed that the winner of the East of Scotland Football League will face the winner of the South of Scotland Football League for a place in the 2015–16 Lowland Football League. This will be subject to the club meeting the sufficient licensing criteria to satisfy the terms of promotion.
Background
The EoSFL was traditionally one of Scotland's three "senior" non-leagues, which sat below the Scottish Football League (SFL), the other two being the Highland Football League and the South of Scotland Football League (SoSFL). In 2013, a new Lowland League was formed covering all of Scotland, south of the River Tay to act as a direct feeder to the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). Although initially there will not be any automatic promotion and relegation between the EoSFL and the Lowland League, it is planned to be the first step towards creating a coherent Scottish football pyramid.
The EoSFL draws its members from Edinburgh, the Lothians and the Borders regions, but in recent years members have been drawn from a wider area of south-east Scotland, including Burntisland Shipyard, Gretna 2008 and Stirling University. Recently the EoSFL has been viewed as a stronger league than the South of Scotland League (SoSFL), with a number of ambitious SoSFL clubs having opted to join the EoSFL, including Annan Athletic, who left when elected to the SFL in 2008. Teams who also joined include Dalbeattie Star and Threave Rovers, who both subsequently left to rejoin the SoSFL and then the Lowland League.
East of Scotland Football Association
While the EoSFL oversees the leagues and League Cup competitions; the East of Scotland Football Association (EoSFA) is a technically independent body, which organises all of the other cups. Most of the officials sit on both bodies, and the Executive Committee is a joint organisation. The current President of the EoSFA is Morain Scott (of Coldstream), while the President of the EoSFL is Tom Allison (of Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale). The secretary of both organisations is John Greenhorn (of Ormiston).
There are 29 members of the East of Scotland Football Association (EoSFA). Five members play in the Scottish Professional Football League:
Hibernian and Berwick Rangers have both fielded reserve teams in the EoSFL. The first teams of these four members have little involvement in EoSFA competitions. Youth teams of Hearts and Hibernian contest the East of Scotland Shield, while Berwick Rangers and Livingston participate in the East of Scotland (City) Cup.
11 EoSFA members play in the Lowland League:
Spartans and Stirling University have also fielded reserve teams in the EoSFL. The first teams of the Lowland League members contest EoSFA cups (excluding the Qualifying League and League Cup).
The EoSFL and EoSFA are full members of the Scottish Football Association.
2016–17 member clubs
The EoSFL's former two-tier format was abolished for the 2015–16 season, to be replaced with a single fifteen-team division. For 2016–17, the league consists of twelve teams. Civil Service Strollers and Hawick Royal Albert left to join the Lowland Football League, Craigroyston left to join the SJFA East Region South Division and Spartans reserves withdrew, while Tweedmouth Rangers have joined from the North Northumberland Football League.
Cup competitions
Youth Competitions
The EoSFL also organises an under-19 league, along with a League Cup and Challenge Cup. Current members are Civil Service Strollers, Coldstream, Craigroyston, Edinburgh City, Gala Fairydean, Gretna 2008, Heriot Watt University, Leith Athletic, Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale, Spartans and Tynecastle. The under-19 teams of Hearts, Hibernian and Livingston do not participate in EoSFL competitions. All eleven teams play in the Scottish Football Association's Scottish Youth Cup annually.
Original EoSFL
An earlier East of Scotland League existed between 1896 and 1906, when the supplementary Edinburgh Football League changed its name, after accepting Dundee as a member. There is no connection between the two incarnations of the league.
Recent history
The EoSFL was generally not viewed as being as strong as the Highland League (HFL) (with fewer of their club sides defeating SFL sides in the Scottish Cup competition as opposed to the HFL), but was still regarded as being stronger than the SoSFL. A number of the sides in the EoSFL have applied to join the SFL in recent years, with Annan Athletic applying in (2000, 2008 (successful)), Edinburgh City (2002, 2008), Gala Fairydean (1994, 2000, 2002), Preston Athletic (2000, 2002, 2008) and Spartans (2008).
In 2004, Threave Rovers pulled out of the league to concentrate their efforts on the South of Scotland Football League. This left the league with an uneven number of clubs, and they were expected to fill the vacancy in the summer of 2005, with Gala Rovers widely touted as likely candidates. However, this did not happen. The only change that happened at that year's Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the league, was that Tollcross United announced that they would be competing as Tynecastle from the 2005-06 season.
In 2006, Peebles Rovers merged with several local amateur sides to become Peebles, who took Rovers' place in the league. At the 2007 AGM, agreement was reached to admit the reserve side of Berwick Rangers as the twelfth member of the First Division. They also entered the League Cup, but no other cups during the 2007–08 season. However, the reserves lasted only one season following Berwick Rangers' relegation to the fourth tier of Scottish football. They were replaced by Stirling University, but returned for the 2010–11 season.
Gretna 2008 entered the league in 2008, formed in the wake of the financial disaster that befell Gretna's former club, Gretna F.C.. The original club had meteorically risen from the Third Division to the SPL in three years, due to the support of multimillionaire Brooks Mileson. However, they were not competitive in the SPL in their only season in that league in 2007–08, and Mileson was forced to withdraw his support due to a health crisis that would ultimately claim his life. The debt-ridden club resigned its place in the SFL, and was liquidated in August 2008. In the meantime, local supporters formed a new club to keep senior football in the town, although Gretna 2008 initially had to play its home matches in the nearby town of Annan, the club that took their place in the SFL.
The admission of Duns prior to the 2011–12 season, brought the number of sides in the EoSFL to 25, the highest it has ever been. Burntisland Shipyard joined the league for the 2012–13 season, increasing the league to 26 teams.
With the establishment of the Lowland Football League in 2013, the EoSFL was reduced to 20 teams. Hibernian also entered a reserve team into the league at the start of the 2013–14 season, but withdrew after one season due to their first team being relegated.