Scottish Amateur Football Association - 1909-1917 Humble Beginnings

1909-1917 Humble Beginnings

The Scottish Amateur Football Association (SAFA) was formed in 1909 when after an initial meeting held in February attended by eighty clubs from throughout Scotland, Queens Park FC, Glasgow & District FP Football League and the Glasgow & District Secondary Schools League met and agreed on its formation. James Allison, President of Queens Park FC, took the chair. It wasn’t until January 1910 that the first office bearers were appointed, those being as follows;

President R A Lambie, Glasgow & District FP League, Secretary J W Millen, Hamilton Crescent FP and Treasurer W M Crow of the Glasgow & District Secondary Schools League.

On 28th May 1909, the Scottish Football Association (SFA) discussed a request for membership to the body from the SAFA. This was referred to the Special Committee who reported back in November of that year that a decision would be deferred until a full list of SAFA member clubs was submitted for approval. At this time five SAFA clubs had applied for direct membership of the SFA.

It was not at all unusual to have joint membership as it permitted clubs to participate in competitions organised by the SFA. It is less common today though amateur clubs such as Burntisland Shipyard and Glasgow University retain dual membership. At a meeting on 14th December 1909, the SFA approved the membership of the SAFA and appointed Messrs Liddell and Robertson as their representatives on the SAFA. They were obviously very wary of their new associates as Liddell was Immediate Past President and Robertson was Vice President of the SFA.

Wasting no time the SAFA, in February 1910, asked the SFA to donate a Challenge Cup and badges for annual competition, but in early March of that year the SFA advised the SAFA they understood that some of their member clubs had registered professional players and they must be investigated. Three clubs were expelled from the SAFA, and on 30th March 1910, the SFA agreed to present a cup to the value of £20.00 and the secretary was asked to obtain quotations for the design and cost. The cup finally presented to the SAFA on 27th May 1910, to be known as the Scottish Amateur Cup.

Regardless of the outcome of the request to the SFA, the SAFA proceeded with a national cup competition. Twenty three teams entered the first ever Scottish Amateur Cup competition in 1910 and these are listed below;

Airdrie Lodge Allan Glens FP Babcock & Wilcox Athletic Bellahouston FP Creetown Volunteers Edinburgh Civil Service Hamilton Crescent FP Helensburgh Hutchison School FP John Neilson Institute FP Kilmacolm Leith Amateurs Lennox Amateurs Newton Stewart Paisley Academicals Paisley Grammar School Parkside Amateurs Peterhead Hibernian Pollockshields Amateurs Queens Park Vale of Atholl West Calder Swifts Whitehill FP

The competition got off to an inauspicious start when Kilmacolm protested about the ground conditions at their first round tie against Paisley Grammar School. The tie was replayed the following week with Paisley Grammar School wining. The first winners were John Neilson Institution FP Afc who defeated Paisley Academicals by 2-0 at Love Street Paisley in April 1910. Obviously no cup or medals were presented after the final.

The cup was eventually presented to the winning side in December 1911 and the SAFA had specially commissioned solid gold badges presented to the winners. Remarkably, two of the teams, Whitehill FP (Scottish Amateur Football League) then members of the Glasgow & District FP League and Vale of Atholl, current members of the Perthshire Amateur Football Association, are still in existence.

Prior to this Creetown Volunteers had appealed to the SFA against the decision of the SAFA to expel them from membership as they had one registered professional player but this was dismissed. Also in May 1910, the SFA dismissed an appeal from Helensburgh against a decision of the SAFA saying that they never interfered with decisions of member Associations.

In November 1910, the SAFA asked the permission of the SFA to play an international match against England only to be told their request was premature, and when the SAFA endeavoured to arrange a

meeting with the SFA to discuss the matter, this was refused. By the way, it was only on 1st December 1910 that it was made compulsory for the goalkeeper to have a different coloured jersey from his teammates.

The Annual General Meeting of the SAFA in May 1911 saw three Associations and seventeen clubs in membership, and it was noted with regret that two founder members Paisley Academicals and Kilmacolm had gone defunct. In December 1911, the SFA advised the Olympic Games Committee that they could not send an amateur football team to Stockholm for the 1912 Games. In the 1908 Games, Great Britain had defeated Denmark by 2-0 in the final.

The 1910/11 Scottish Cup attracted twenty three entries the same as the inaugural competition and the holders John Neilson Institution FP were knocked out in the 2nd round albeit after a protest.

In November 1912, the SAFA again requested permission to play an international match against England and were turned down and told that in future if there were to be such a game, it would be under the jurisdiction of the SFA. The SFA did indeed try to arrange the game for December 1913, but this date was changed several times and then abandoned due to the outbreak of war in 1914.

In March 1913, the SAFA requested the permission of the SFA to play teams on the continent. This was agreed to provided they played teams in membership of the International Federation and all details were submitted to the SFA for approval.

December 1913 saw the SAFA requesting affiliation to the SFA, but discussions petered out as did football in general when, on 28thJune 1914, The Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo leading to the outbreak of the Great War.

The SAFA AGM in May 1914 reported three Associations and thirty two clubs in membership, and the Treasurer advised the Association was £21.00 in credit. The 1st round of the Scottish Cup was set for 16th January 1915, but no football occurred for another five years. Similarly the initial international match against England to be organised by the SFA was another casualty.

Amateur football literally stopped for the duration of the war, and in October 1917 the SAFA advised the SFA that it was dormant having only one club in membership. Just prior to this the SFA said they would not be appointing delegates to the SAFA.

From the SAFA formation in 1909 until its cessation due to the hostilities in 1914, the three office bearers, President Lambie, Secretary Millen and Treasurer Crow remained unchanged.

The main purpose of the SAFA at this time appeared to be the administration of the Scottish Amateur Cup competition.