Scottish_Junior_Cup
Scottish Junior Cup
Football tournament
The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA on the 2nd October 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compete in the tournament. The cup has an unseeded knockout format with semi-finals played as single legs, and the final played at a neutral venue of an SPFL club.
Organising body | Scottish Junior Football Association |
---|---|
Founded | 1886; 138 years ago (1886) |
Region | Scotland |
Number of teams | 108 (2022–23) |
Current champions | Cumnock Juniors (3rd title)[1] |
Most successful club(s) | Auchinleck Talbot (14 titles) |
2023–24 Scottish Junior Cup |
Since the 2006–07 season, the winner of the Junior Cup Final has qualified for the following season's senior Scottish Cup.[2][3] The competition is named the Macron Scottish Cup for sponsorship reasons.[4]
Cumnock Juniors are the current holders, having defeated Rutherglen Glencairn 1–0 in the 2022–23 final on 2 June 2023 at Broadwood Stadium.[1]
The competition is open to all member clubs of Scottish Junior Football Association, and all tier 6 clubs and below on payment of entry fee, subject to the approval of the committee.[5]
Matches which are tied after 90 minutes proceed directly to penalty kicks, and semi-finals take place as single matches. Prior to the 2020–21 season, drawn matches were replayed and semi-finals took place as two legged ties.
The Cup has been competed for since the 1886–87 season, when Fairfield Govan became the first winners. The SJFA purchased an exact replica in 2007, to replace the original which was showing its age.
Auchinleck Talbot are the most successful club, winning the trophy 14 times to date, including three times in a row from 1986 to 1988 and 2018 to 2022 (no team won in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).[6]
The record attendance for a Junior Cup Final is 77,650 for the 1951 final between Petershill and Irvine Meadow XI.[7]
In 2010, Linlithgow Rose lifted the Scottish Junior Cup for the fourth time in their history and third in a decade. They now join a small group of teams that have managed to lift the cup more than three times.
The cup's long-term sponsor, the OVD Rum company, which, as of 2006, had an eighteen-year-long association with the competition, withdrew their backing before the start of the 2006–07 competition. Unlike most other sponsored contests whose names change often, OVD had become so ingrained into the Scottish Junior Cup that it was often simply referred to as the "OVD Junior Cup". The Scottish Junior Football Association announced in 2006 that they would provide the sponsorship and prize money themselves, meaning the cup would be known simply as the Scottish Junior Cup. A new sponsor was found during the 2006–07 competition for the semi-finals and final - Scottish Citylink, a long-distance coach operator. The competition was sponsored by Emirates between 2009 and 2013.[8] The tournament was without a sponsor in 2013–14, with Barr Construction sponsoring the final only, then the SJFA entered a partnership with Dementia Scotland for the latter stages of the 2014–15 competition.[9][10]
The cup had been without a sponsor since ETHX Energy sponsored the 2015-16 competition,[11] however from 2018, sportswear company Macron has sponsored the tournament.[4]
- (R) = Won after a replay/2nd replay.
- (aet) = Result after extra time.
- (P) = Won on penalties.
- Glasgow Junior Football League teams did not enter.
- Clubs involved in the Intermediate dispute did not take part.
- As of after 2022–23
Clubs which are currently members of the SJFA are indicated in bold.
- As of after 2022–23
- No clubs from the North regional league formed in 1968, or from its successor, the North Region formed in 2001, has won the Scottish Cup or reached the final.
- Scottish Junior Cup: Cumnock lift trophy after dramatic finish against Rutherglen Glencairn, Clive Lindsay, BBC Sport, 2 June 2023
- "Junior clubs enter Scottish Cup". BBC Sport. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
- Juniors make mark in Scottish Cup, BBC Sport, 29 September 2007
- "Macron unveiled as sponsor of the Scottish Junior Cup". www.scottishjuniorfa.com. 28 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- "CONSTITUTION, RULES and CUP COMPETITION RULES 2021-2022" (PDF). Scottish Junior Football Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- "Emirates back showpiece trophy as first-round draw is made". Evening Times. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
- "Scottish Junior Cup nets Barr as headline sponsor". Barr. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
- "Dyslexia Scotland to partner the Scottish Junior Cup". Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
- "Juniors: Paisley firm ETHX Energy clinches Scottish Cup sponsorship deal as Troon ace Colin Spence revels in mouth-watering third-round draw". Evening Times. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
- "Scottish Junior Cup Winners 1917". St Mirren Juniors - StMirren.info. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
- "1917–18 season". St Mirren Juniors - StMirren.info. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
- Protest | Row That Rocked the Juniors, Evening Times, 17 June 1961
- Bathgate Thistle 2-1 Cumnock Juniors: Hill's long quest rewarded by Scottish Junior Cup final win, The Scotsman, 2 June 2008
- Citylink Scottish Junior Cup final: Auchinleck Talbot 2 Clydebank 1, Daily Record, 1 June 2009
- Emirates Scottish Junior Cup Final: Musselburgh 1-2 Auchinleck Talbot, Scotzine, 29 May 2011
- "Best of the West: COVID-19 blow to Scottish Junior Cup". Glasgow Times. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- McGlone, David; McLure, Bill (1987). The Juniors - 100 Years. A Centenary History of Scottish Junior Football. Mainstream. ISBN 1-85158-060-3.
- Purdie, Tom (2011). The Scottish Junior Cup 1946-1975. Amberley. ISBN 9781445611167.