Highland_Football_League

Highland Football League
Founded	1893
Country	Scotland
Number of teams	18
Level on pyramid	5
Promotion to	Scottish League Two
Relegation to	Midlands Football League; North Caledonian Football League; North Superleague
Domestic cup(s)	Scottish Cup; Scottish League Cup (champions); Scottish Challenge Cup (top 4)
League cup(s)	Highland League Cup
Current champions	Buckie Thistle (12th title) ; (2023–24)
Most championships	Clachnacuddin; Caledonian (18 titles each)
Website	highlandfootballleague.com
	Current: 2023–24 Highland Football League

Highland Football League

Association football league in Scotland

The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Scottish Professional Football League.

Quick Facts Founded, Country ...

Founded in 1893, it is currently composed of 18 member clubs in a single division. Geographically, the league covers the Scottish Highlands as well as Moray, Aberdeenshire, the cities of Aberdeen and Dundee, Angus and parts of northern Perthshire.

Since 2014–15, it has featured in the senior pyramid system. The winners take part in an end-of-season promotion play-off with the Lowland Football League champions, with the winners then competing against the bottom club in Scottish League Two for a place in the SPFL.^[1] Promotion and relegation also exists between the three Highlands-based regional leagues at level 6 (Midlands League, North Caledonian League, and North Region Junior Football League).

The league's current sponsorship deal is with the Breedon Group.^[2]

Format

Each team in the league plays each other twice during a season – once at home, once away, for a total of 34 matches. The standard league scoring system of 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw is applied, with ties in the league table broken by goal difference. The champions are presented with the League trophy and a flag, either immediately after the match which secures the victory, or at the next match at which it is practical to do so.

With the introduction of the new pyramid structure in Scottish football, a new schedule was introduced in the 2014–15 season, in order to ensure that all matches affecting the title are completed in time for the promotion playoffs beginning in April. As the region is prone to severe weather in winter, postponements have sometimes caused the conclusion of the season to be delayed (e.g. in 2013, a prolonged spell of bad weather meant the final matches were not played until 25 May). Various proposals which would have reduced the number of matches a team would play (either by instituting a two-phase season like that used in the Scottish Premiership, or by dividing the League into two smaller divisions), were considered but did not find favour with League members. Instead, clubs now play both a Saturday and a Wednesday fixture most weeks from August through October, taking advantage of milder weather at the start of the season. The new schedule builds in a four-week buffer near the end of the season during which no matches are initially scheduled, allowing any backlog of postponed matches to be cleared before the final fixtures.

History

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Highland_Football_League, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[5] [N 1]
Forres Mechanics did not compete 1895-1896, 1901-1902, and 2020-21.

[6] [N 2]
Fraserburgh did not compete 1926-1928.

[play-off_winners-7] [N 3]
won after a play-off

[8] [N 4]
Clachnacuddin were awarded the Championship after Black Watch refused to play-off due to the referee that the League appointed

[9] [N 5]
Clachnacuddin had most points

[10] [N 6]
Keith had most points

[11] [N 7]
Fraserburgh and Clachnacuddin were equal on points

[12] [N 8]
Elgin City won the league, but were found to have dishonestly requested the bringing forward of their final match in order to avoid two players being unavailable through suspension

[SFA_vote-1] [1]
"Scottish FA approves Lowland League for next season". BBC Sport. 11 June 2013.

[2] [2]
"Breedon Extends Sponsorship of the Highland League". Highland Football League. Retrieved 27 June 2021.

[3] [3]
"Aberdeen has room for two teams, say Cove Rangers after promotion". BBC Sport. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.

[4] [4]
Smith, Tyrone (23 May 2021). "Brechin City 0–1 Kelty Hearts". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 May 2021.

[13] [5]
Smith, Tyrone (21 March 2020). "Highland League brought to an early end with Brora Rangers awarded title". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 21 March 2020.

[14] [6]
"Brora Rangers & Kelty Hearts champions as Highland & Lowland League seasons end". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[note 1]

[note 2]

[note 3]

[note 4]

[note 5]

[note 6]

[note 7]

[note 8]

[5]

[6]

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Seats	Joined	Titles
Banks O' Dee	Aberdeen	Spain Park	876	100	2022
Brechin City	Brechin	Glebe Park	4,083	1,519	2021	1
Brora Rangers	Brora	Dudgeon Park	4,000	200	1962	3
Buckie Thistle	Buckie	Victoria Park	3,000	400	1909	12
Clachnacuddin	Inverness	Grant Street Park	2,074	154	1893	18
Deveronvale	Banff	Princess Royal Park	2,600	360	1938	2
Formartine United	Pitmedden	North Lodge Park	2,500	300	2009
Forres Mechanics	Forres	Mosset Park	2,700	502	1893^{[note 1]}	2
Fraserburgh	Fraserburgh	Bellslea Park	3,000	480	1922^{[note 2]}	4
Huntly	Huntly	Christie Park	3,500	270	1928	7
Inverurie Loco Works	Inverurie	Harlaw Park	1,400	250	2001
Keith	Keith	Kynoch Park	2,362	370	1924	7
Lossiemouth	Lossiemouth	Grant Park	2,050	250	1946
Nairn County	Nairn	Station Park	2,250	250	1914	1
Rothes	Rothes	Mackessack Park	2,700	184	1938	1
Strathspey Thistle	Grantown-on-Spey	Seafield Park	1,600	150	2009
Turriff United	Turriff	The Haughs	2,135	135	2009
Wick Academy	Wick	Harmsworth Park	2,412	102	1994

Season	Winner	Runner-up
1893–94	Inverness Thistle	Caledonian
1894–95	Clachnacuddin	Inverness Thistle
1895–96	Caledonian^{[note 3]}	Inverness Thistle
1896–97	Clachnacuddin	Caledonian
1897–98	Clachnacuddin	Caledonian
1898–99	Caledonian	Clachnacuddin
1899–1900	Caledonian	Clachnacuddin
1900–01	Clachnacuddin	Caledonian
1901–02	Caledonian	Inverness Thistle
1902–03	Clachnacuddin	Inverness Thistle
1903–04	Clachnacuddin	Inverness Citadel
1904–05	Clachnacuddin^{[note 4]}	Black Watch
1905–06	Clachnacuddin^{[note 3]}	Inverness Thistle
1906–07	Inverness Thistle	Caledonian
1907–08	Clachnacuddin	Highland Light Infantry
1908–09	Inverness Citadel	Clachnacuddin
1909–10	Inverness Thistle^{[note 3]}	Elgin City
1910–11	Caledonian	Buckie Thistle
1911–12	Clachnacuddin^{[note 3]}	Caledonian
1912–13	Aberdeen 'A'	Buckie Thistle
1913–14	Caledonian	Aberdeen 'A'
1914–15	unfinished^{[note 5]}
1919–20	Buckie Thistle	Clachnacuddin
1920–21	Clachnacuddin	Inverness Thistle
1921–22	Clachnacuddin	Buckie Thistle
1922–23	Clachnacuddin	Elgin City
1923–24	Clachnacuddin	Buckie Thistle
1924–25	Aberdeen 'A'	Caledonian
1925–26	Caledonian	Inverness Thistle
1926–27	Buckie Thistle	Clachnacuddin
1927–28	Buckie Thistle	Clachnacuddin
1928–29	Inverness Thistle	Elgin City
1929–30	Huntly	Elgin City
1930–31	Caledonian	Buckie Thistle
1931–32	Elgin City	Keith
1932–33	Fraserburgh	Elgin City
1933–34	Buckie Thistle	Forres Mechanics
1934–35	Elgin City	Huntly
1935–36	Inverness Thistle	Peterhead
1936–37	Buckie Thistle	Peterhead
1937–38	Fraserburgh	Clachnacuddin
1938–39	Clachnacuddin	Buckie Thistle
1939–40	unfinished^{[note 6]}
1946–47	Peterhead	Huntly
1947–48	Clachnacuddin	Peterhead
1948–49	Peterhead	Clachnacuddin
1949–50	Peterhead	Caledonian
1950–51	Caledonian	Buckie Thistle
1951–52	Caledonian	Huntly
1952–53	Elgin City	Buckie Thistle
1953–54	Buckie Thistle	Elgin City
1954–55	unfinished^{[note 7]}
1955–56	Elgin City^{[note 3]}	Buckie Thistle
1956–57	Buckie Thistle	Caledonian
1957–58	Buckie Thistle	Elgin City
1958–59	Rothes^{[note 3]}	Fraserburgh
1959–60	Elgin City	Caledonian
1960–61	Elgin City^{[note 3]}	Keith
1961–62	Keith	Elgin City
1962–63	Elgin City	Caledonian
1963–64	Caledonian	Nairn County
1964–65	Elgin City	Nairn County
1965–66	Elgin City	Caledonian
1966–67	Ross County	Elgin City
1967–68	Elgin City	Ross County
1968–69	Elgin City	Inverness Thistle
1969–70	Elgin City	Caledonian
1970–71	Caledonian	Inverness Thistle
1971–72	Inverness Thistle	Elgin City
1972–73	Inverness Thistle^{[note 3]}	Ross County
1973–74	Elgin City	Inverness Thistle
1974–75	Clachnacuddin	Keith
1975–76	Nairn County^{[note 3]}	Fraserburgh
1976–77	Caledonian	Peterhead
1977–78	Caledonian	Peterhead
1978–79	Keith	Caledonian
1979–80	Keith	Brora Rangers
1980–81	Keith	Fraserburgh
1981–82	Caledonian	Peterhead
1982–83	Caledonian	Elgin City
1983–84	Caledonian	Keith
1984–85	Keith	Caledonian
1985–86	Forres Mechanics	Elgin City
1986–87	Inverness Thistle	Caledonian
1987–88	Caledonian	Buckie Thistle
1988–89	Peterhead	Cove Rangers
1989–90	Elgin City	Caledonian
1990–91	Ross County	Caledonian
1991–92	Ross County	Caledonian
1992–93	withheld^{[note 8]}
1993–94	Huntly	Caledonian
1994–95	Huntly	Cove Rangers
1995–96	Huntly	Cove Rangers
1996–97	Huntly	Keith
1997–98	Huntly	Fraserburgh
1998–99	Peterhead	Huntly
1999–2000	Keith	Fraserburgh
2000–01	Cove Rangers	Huntly
2001–02	Fraserburgh	Deveronvale
2002–03	Deveronvale	Keith
2003–04	Clachnacuddin	Buckie Thistle
2004–05	Huntly	Inverurie Loco Works
2005–06	Deveronvale	Inverurie Loco Works
2006–07	Keith	Inverurie Loco Works
2007–08	Cove Rangers	Keith
2008–09	Cove Rangers	Deveronvale
2009–10	Buckie Thistle	Cove Rangers
2010–11	Buckie Thistle	Deveronvale
2011–12	Forres Mechanics	Cove Rangers
2012–13	Cove Rangers	Formartine United
2013–14	Brora Rangers	Inverurie Loco Works
2014–15	Brora Rangers	Turriff United
2015–16	Cove Rangers	Formartine United
2016–17	Buckie Thistle	Cove Rangers
2017–18	Cove Rangers	Formartine United
2018–19	Cove Rangers*	Brora Rangers
2019–20	Brora Rangers^[5]	Fraserburgh
2020–21	Brora Rangers^[6]	Fraserburgh
2021–22	Fraserburgh	Buckie Thistle
2022–23	Brechin City	Buckie Thistle
2023–24	Buckie Thistle	Brechin City

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years
Caledonian	18	20	1895–96, 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1901–02, 1910–11, 1913–14, 1925–26, 1930–31, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1963–64, 1970–71, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1987–88
Clachnacuddin	18	8	1894–95, 1896–97, 1897–98, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1903–04, 1904–05, 1905–06, 1907–08, 1911–12, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1938–39, 1947–48, 1974–75, 2003–04
Elgin City	14	12	1931–32, 1934–35, 1952–53, 1955–56, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1989–90
Buckie Thistle	12	13	1919–20, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1953–54, 1956–57, 1957–58, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2016–17, 2023–24
Inverness Thistle	8	10	1893–94, 1906–07, 1909–10, 1928–29, 1935–36, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1986–87
Keith	7	7	1961–62, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1984–85, 1999–2000, 2006–07
Cove Rangers	7	6	2000–01, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19
Huntly	7	5	1929–30, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2004–05
Peterhead	5	6	1946–47, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1988–89, 1998–99
Fraserburgh	4	7	1932–33, 1937–38, 2001–02, 2021–22
Brora Rangers	4	2	2013–14, 2014–15, 2019–20, 2020–21
Ross County	3	2	1966–67, 1990–91, 1991–92
Deveronvale	2	3	2002–03, 2005–06
Aberdeen 'A'	2	1	1912–13, 1924–25
Forres Mechanics	2	1	1985–86, 2011–12
Nairn County	1	2	1975–76
Brechin City	1	1	2022–23
Inverness Citadel	1	1	1908–09
Rothes	1	0	1958–59
Inverurie Loco Works	0	4
Formartine United	0	3
Black Watch	0	1
Highland Light Infantry	0	1
Turriff United	0	1

Highland_Football_League

Highland Football League

Format

Scottish Cup

History

Formation

Departures and expansions

Pyramid

Member clubs

Former members

Other competitions

List of HFL championship winners

Performance by club

Notes

References

External links

Share this article: