Scottish Amateur Football Association - The Origins of The SAFA

The Origins of The SAFA

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) had been established in 1873 when eight clubs, of whom only Queens Park survives, formed the Association principally to organise and sponsor a cup competition. At this time there were many other Scottish clubs some of whom were members of the Football Association (FA) established in England in 1863.

The establishment of the FA separated what we now call the rugby clubs from the football clubs as prior to this the rules allowed a mixture of handling and kicking the ball.

There were local leagues and cups, friendly matches and a vast amount of “city” matches whereby select teams from Glasgow or Edinburgh for example would play Sheffield or Blackburn. Basically, clubs established their own prestigious fixture list, and there was no formal league set up until the English League was formed in 1888. The SFA decided to adopt the FA rules but only after a lengthy debate about the offside rule. Some things never change!

The English League was “professional” though the practice was not adopted into the rules until 1885. The player exodus from Scotland lured by the big wages being offered was soon to become a flood and expedited the formation of the Scottish Football League (SFL) in 1890 and the introduction of professionalism into Scottish football. Membership of the SFL was by invitation and of the eleven clubs who were founder members, six foundered within the first ten years. Notably, Queens Park and Clyde declined offers to join the new League. Eventually, Queens Park, though of course strictly an amateur club accepted the offer

to join the Scottish League in 1900 more through fear of being frozen out of fixtures than for any dilution of their amateur beliefs.

The Welsh Football Association was formed in 1876 followed by the Irish Football Association in 1880.

In 1882 the Football Associations’ of the four countries formed the International Football Association Board to control the laws of the game. The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was formed in 1903 when representatives of Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland met in Paris, The Football Association declined to attend and the other three home countries were not invited as FIFA could see no reason for separate representation. The FA joined a year later with the other home countries following in 1911. A far cry from the two hundred plus members FIFA boasts in the 21st century.

Football in many guises and degrees of formality was played long before the SAFA was founded. It has often been recorded, that historically whilst Scotland educated its population it failed to feed them. However one of the side benefits of places of education was that they gave rise to sporting opportunity, and there is no doubt the first forms of organised football developed from the churches, schools and universities.

Around 1900 there were leagues in existence formed by local community groups, schools, churches and juvenile associations.

The earliest known records of a football club were of one based in Edinburgh in 1824 when a trainee lawyer, John Hope, organised a season of games on Saturday afternoons for The Foot-Ball Club. The club consisted of members of the legal fraternity and landed gentry and played initially on Dalry Estate, then part of an Edinburgh suburb, and later at Greenhill Park in Bruntsfield. There was an annual subscription of one and sixpence (7.5p). By 1826 the club had eighty five members but no records can be found after 1841.

Of the amateur football clubs that we recognise today, Glasgow University Football Club was established in 1877 closely followed by Edinburgh University in 1878, St Andrews University 1887 and Aberdeen University 1889.

On the basis that the club is the oldest playing a form of football recognisable to day, let us have a closer look at the Glasgow University Football Club. Glasgow University (Caledonian League) joined the SFA in 1878, a membership they have flirted with to the present day, but in their first season when they were drawn against Queens Park in the Scottish Cup they withdrew leaving Queens a bye. The University side competed in Scottish Amateur Football League in its inaugural season 1901/02.

In 1967 a group of graduates formed the Westerlands club who joined the Scottish AFL (SAFL).

In season 1983/84, the club took their leave of the SAFL and joined the newly formed Caledonian League but left the second team to compete in the SAFL In season 1989/90, the club also entered teams in the new Greater Glasgow Premier AFL leaving their 3rd & 4th teams in the SAFL, though in 1993 their long standing membership of the SAFL ended.

Honours gained by the club were Scottish Amateur Cup winners in 1927, West of Scotland Cup winners in 1932, Scottish Amateur League Division 2 winners in 1949, 1962 and 1973. In addition they have had eleven amateur internationalists and one player, WW Beveridge, who gained 3 full international caps for Scotland in 1879 & 80. Club secretary, John Paterson, became President of the SAFL and was elected Vice President of the SAFA in season 1924-25 whilst he was secretary of the club and the first team goalkeeper. Jim Craig, former dentist and Celtic “Lisbon Lion”, is one of many senior players who have played for the club.

Besides playing in the various amateur leagues, the club entered the Scottish Cup on occasion, and in January 1960 had the distinction of being defeated 15-0 by the cup holders St Mirren for whom centre forward Gerry Baker scored ten goals. In 2008 they run four teams in amateur leagues, with three teams performing on Wednesdays in the Scottish University League and still hold membership of the SFA.