A Look Into Histories

A LOOK INTO HISTORY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE

SCOTTISH LEAGUE 2023 – ONE IN AND ONE OUT!

The current promotion/relegation system via play-offs in the Scottish Football League has been in place since 2013-14, when the Scottish Professional Football League was formed by a merger of the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. At the same time, the Lowland Football League was founded, and from 2014 to 2021 the leagues below began to be incorporated as each joined the system. The Highland League and the Lowland League play off at the end of the season for the right to play the bottom team in Division Two of the Scottish League.

The first club to be promoted to the SPFL via the new play-offs was Edinburgh City in 2016 at the expense of East Stirlingshire, while in 2019 Cove Rangers were the first Highland League champions to go up, replacing Berwick Rangers.

In season 2022-23 Albion Rovers of the Scottish League Division Two and Spartans, champions of the Lowland League met in a two legged final, the first game at Ainslie Park in Edinburgh finishing all square at 1-1 in front of 2,120.

Albion Rovers from Coatbridge were formed in 1882 when two local teams Albion and Rovers merged. Becoming full members of the S F A in 1884 and Scottish League in 1903 they have always struggled in the lower reaches of the League with their most memorable seasons being 1933/34,1988/89, 2014-15 when they won Division Two though didn’t stay many season’s before relegation.

I visited their ground at Cliftonhill just once, on November 20th 1982 for a match v Montrose when 170 joined me, the lowest attendance in all of British Senior Football that day.

So the 120 year tenure for Albion Rovers whose most famous player was Jock Stein was in jeopardy. Compare that to the Spartans from Edinburgh. Spartans were established in 1951 by two Edinburgh University students with membership confined to former members but this was relaxed years later. They joined the East of Scotland League and really haven’t looked back joining the Lowland League in 2013-14 and won the inaugural competition.

Our Match Programme is for the Pyramid Play Off Final second leg on May 20th 2023, Spartans having beaten Highland League champions, Brechin City en route to this match. Albion Rovers had actually beaten champions Stirling Albion 2-0 on the last day but it wasn’t enough for safety.
A glossy colourful programme was a sell-out on the day, priced £3. A Welcome to Cliftonhill was obviously upbeat in its hope for saving League status and Manager Sandy Clark promises to give everything. There were two match reports for the first game, a fans viewpoint, plenty of colour photos, top 20 memories, Meet the Spartans then all the previous plays off that have seen Edinburgh City, Cove Rangers, Kelty Hearts and Bonnyrigg Rose all elevated to the League. East Kilbride have since joined them. All the seasons Results and League Table were included with team line-ups on the back page.

The match itself in front of 1,173 was very much defensive with the single goal, a penalty scored by Blair Henderson in the 16th minute that gave victory to Spartans who joined the four previous non league sides.