The Scottish Junior Cup

The Scottish Junior Cup is the "Holy Grail" of Junior football. It is contested on an annual basis amongst the 160 plus Junior clubs on a knock-out basis.

The Scottish Junior FA was instituted on the 2nd October 1986 with 39 clubs entering the first tournament under its auspices in 1886-87. Two long since defunct clubs contested the first final in 1887 - Fairfield defeating Edinburgh Woodburn 3-1 at Angle Park Govan. This season's entry was 164 but the record entry was in 1922 -23 when a staggering 412 clubs set out on the long trail which that season led to Tynecastle. Around 20,000 witnessed an all-East final in which Musselburgh Bruntonians defeated Arniston Rangers 3-0.

The record attendance at a Scottish Junior Cup Final was in 1951 when Petershill beat Irvine Meadow in front of 77,650 spectators. The gate receipts totalled £6,381. The following season 69,959 attended the Kilbirnie Ladeside - Camelon Final

The 1977 final between Kilbirnie Ladeside and Kirkintilloch Rob Roy was televised live - the first time for a Junior Cup Final.

The 2000 Final was the first time the destiny of the trophy was decided on penalty kicks. Having finished 2-2, Whitburn who had also won through their semi final against Benburb on penalties held their nerve to eventually triumph 4-3 against Johnstone Burgh in the penalty shoot-out.

In the Association’s Centenary Year, 1986, the Cup was won by Auchinleck Talbot who beat Pollok by three goals to two. They then went on to complete the "hat trick", beating Kilbirnie 1 - 0 the following year after a 1 - 1 draw, and in 1988 beat Petershill by one goal to nil - the first club to win the Cup in three successive seasons. They have now won the Cup on a record 7 occasions.

Arguably the 70’s was the era of Cambuslang Rangers - appearing in five finals in a six year period - winning four of them but going down 1 - 0 to Irvine Meadow after a 3 - 3 and 2 - 2 draw in 1973.

This season will see the Scottish Junior F.A. purchase a replacement Cup. An identical replica of the existing cup, which is now starting to show signs of wear and tear after a hundred years of all sorts of beverages being sampled from it on Cup Final day - and beyond.

The present trophy is not the original one : research shows the original trophy which was in existence for eleven years - the last club to receive it being Strathclyde in 1897 - was presented to the Association by an Edinburgh businessman, Percival King, and the trophy was originally the King Challenge Cup.

The present Junior cup was purchased on 7 August 1897 and it cost £50 - slightly less than the recently ordered replacement!

The following article appears in the Glasgow Herald on 1 May 1999, written by Willie Hunter and highlights one of the many mysteries of the Junior game.

The Bluebells are no pansies.

Between last night’s second semi-final of the OVD Scottish Cup and the final game four weeks tomorrow, there is all of sweet May to unearth a fragrant mystery of Junior football. It has to do with why some clubs say their names with flowers.

How come (this is the big question) did teams go gathering bluebells and primroses and, heaven help them, lilies for titles? When did they take root? Who first thought to pick such blooming names? Such fey questions I have carried into robust Junior company. Being hospitable and helpful people, they have been eager to help me on my way. "Ask the club secretary," some have said. "He usually knows such important things." Other beguilingly have replied : "Would you like a drink?"

For a year the quest has been a flower-strewn road with many colourful twists and turns to it - and many refreshments - but with no ending.

Last season about now the teaser was put to John Byrns, a former head teacher and the historian of the Arthurlie who, in a leisurely way, is preparing to write the story of the Junior Cup. He regretted it was unlikely he would ever find out where such scented names came from. "perhaps they just reflected the colours the clubs first wore. But that’s a guess," he said.

It is an agreeable idea. For it suggests that flower names were first thought of by the mothers and wives who washed the shirts. Although women’s place was to attend only gala games, they every weekend were expected to bandage wounds and to wipe noses after heavy defeats. Why not also have them christening teams who could not think up a title for themselves? A good village wifie who laundered an entire set of, say, azure jerseys would have a back green like a field of bluebells.

Another fond theory (meaning mine) is that teams had flowers thrust upon them by their worst enemies. Name-calling by their closest rivals somehow stuck. For instance, tagging a team as Violets was less bouquet than brickbat. It was intended to convey that these Violets were shrinking in the tackle, just as Lilies were white-livered and less than brave at heart. It is a notion that does not wash as well as the shirt-scrubbing theory. Besides, Junior teams like perfumed names. Dundee Violet are pleased to be known as the Pansies.

In 1929 these Violets were the first flower footballers to win the Junior Cup. Before them (the first final was played in 1887) three Thistles had triumphed. Which becomes the root of another theory.

It was offered by John Burnett, keeper of a sporting collection at the Royal Museum of Scotland. He suggested :"There have always been a lot of Thistles about. Maybe somebody decided to use another flower, and it grew from there."

This hint was given to David Donald, who has been dallying down the same primrose path as me, seeking to sniff out the flowers.

He is a former public relations maestro in Glasgow who now lives in rural France where he toils not much but sometimes spins words for the OVD Cup sponsors. It took him to teach me that nearly all the Roses and Bluebells flourish in the East. In the West the only petals are Stonehouse Violet, and their previous name was Thistle.

His researches had reached about as far as mine, which was nowhere. But he has followed a more scholarly furrow. His aromatic trail has explored libraries and museums. He has tried plucking from heraldry, historical tapestries, and the language of flowers. His has been the high road into the annals of the Junior game. Mebbe the low road would get there quicker, just mebbe. Could the flower game have started underground with coalminers? Playing football brought fresh air and beauty into their lives.

From Cardenden, Fife, Andrew Davidson, secretary of Dundonald Bluebell, told David Donald : "We were a mining community and there was a lot of colour about. I’m told there were wild hyacinths in the Den Wood, and the name came from that."

Tom Johnston, secretary of the Scottish Junior FA, tells me that although only Stonehouse Violet now blossom in the West, there used to be a bigger bunch. Old Ayrshire had its share. There was a Maybole Garden Rose, while Dalmellington had its Heatherbells.

"The main theme seems to be that flower names were chosen by mining communities towards the end of last century," said Tom Johnston.