East of Scotland Football League


The East of Scotland Football League is a league of football teams from south-east Scotland, which was formed in 1923. The league sits at level 6 on the pyramid system, on par with the South of Scotland Football League and West of Scotland Football League. It is a feeder to the Lowland Football League.
Its clubs are largely located in the Edinburgh, Lothians and Scottish Borders areas, although in recent years clubs from Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Fife, Stirling and Perth have joined the league. A total of 49 teams are competing in the 2020–21 season, drawn from the 63 members of the sister organisation, the East of Scotland Football Association.
Since 2014–15, and subject to both clubs meeting the licensing criteria for promotion, the winners of the East of Scotland Football League and the South of Scotland Football League have taken part in an end of season play-off for a place in the Lowland Football League.

History

Original EoSFL

An earlier East of Scotland League existed between 1896 and 1906, when the supplementary Edinburgh Football League changed its name, after accepting Dundee as a member. There is no connection between the two incarnations of the league.

Recent history

The EoSFL was traditionally one of Scotland's three "senior" non-leagues which sat outside the Scottish Football League, the other two being the Highland Football League and the South of Scotland Football League. It was generally viewed as being weaker than the Highland League, but was still regarded as being stronger than the South of Scotland League.
Some SoSFL clubs opted to join the EoSFL, including Annan Athletic before they were elected to the SFL in 2008. Dalbeattie Star and Threave Rovers also joined however both subsequently left to rejoin the SoSFL and then later the Lowland League.
A number of the sides in the EoSFL have applied to join the SFL in the past, with Annan Athletic applying in, Edinburgh City, Gala Fairydean, Preston Athletic and Spartans.
In 2004, Threave Rovers pulled out of the league to concentrate their efforts on the South of Scotland Football League. This left the league with an uneven number of clubs, and they were expected to fill the vacancy in the summer of 2005, with Gala Rovers widely touted as likely candidates. However, this did not happen. The only change that happened at that year's AGM of the league, was that Tollcross United announced that they would be competing as Tynecastle from the 2005-06 season.
In 2006, Peebles Rovers merged with several local amateur sides to become Peebles, who took Rovers' place in the league. At the 2007 AGM, agreement was reached to admit the reserve side of Berwick Rangers as the twelfth member of the First Division. They also entered the League Cup, but no other cups during the 2007–08 season. However, the reserves lasted only one season following Berwick Rangers' relegation to the fourth tier of Scottish football. They were replaced by Stirling University, but returned for the 2010–11 season.
Gretna 2008 entered the league in 2008, formed in the wake of the financial disaster that befell Gretna's former club, Gretna F.C.. They initially had to play home matches in the nearby town of Annan, the club that took their place in the SFL.
The admission of Duns prior to the 2011–12 season, and then Burntisland Shipyard in 2012–13 brought the number of sides in the EoSFL to 26, the highest it had ever been.

Lowland League and decline

In 2013 the Lowland Football League was formed to act as a direct feeder to the Scottish Professional Football League, covering an area of Scotland south of the Tay Road Bridge. Nine EoSFL clubs gained entry to the Lowland League, reducing the EoSFL to 20 teams. Hibernian entered a reserve team into the league at the start of the 2013–14 season, but withdrew after one season due to their first team being relegated. Further departures saw the league merged into a single division of 16 teams in 2015–16, which was then reduced to just 11 teams during 2016–17 as more clubs moved to the Lowland League, Juniors or resigned.

Influx of Junior clubs

Beginning in 2017 the league experienced a resurgence with SJFA East Superleague champions Kelty Hearts joining from the Juniors. In April 2018, thirteen clubs—most of them from the East Juniors—were accepted into the league for the 2018-19 season, doubling the league's membership. When the window for applications was extended to the league's AGM in June, even more clubs quit the Junior grade, bringing the total membership up to 39 clubs, split over three conferences. The following season Glenrothes made the same switch. In 2020 a further ten clubs, including the return of Eyemouth United after a year out, boosted the league's membership to 49 clubs ahead of the 2020–21 season.

East of Scotland Football Association

While the EoSFL oversees the leagues and League Cup competitions; the East of Scotland Football Association is a technically independent body, which organises all of the other cups. Most of the officials sit on both bodies, and the Executive Committee is a joint organisation. The current President of the EoSFA is Andy McDonald, while the President of the EoSFL is John Greenhorn.
There are 63 members of the East of Scotland Football Association. Three members play in the SPFL:
The first teams of these three members have little involvement in EoSFA competitions. Youth teams of Hearts and Hibernian contest the East of Scotland Shield, while Edinburgh City participate in the East of Scotland Cup final.
12 EoSFA members play in the Lowland League:
The first teams of the Lowland League members contest the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup. Hibernian, Berwick Rangers, and Spartans have all fielded reserve teams in the EoSFL.
The EoSFL and EoSFA are full members of the Scottish Football Association.

Member clubs

The EoSFL's two-tier format, which began in 1987–88, was abolished for the 2015–16 season due to dwindling numbers and replaced with a single division. To cope with the influx of new members in 2018-19, the league consisted of three conferences running in parallel. For 2019–20, the EoSFL was reorganised back into a two-tier setup, with a 16-team Premier Division and two First Division conferences. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no relegation took place in 2020 meaning the Premier Division has been temporarily increased to 18 clubs.
Listed below are the 49 clubs in the EoSFL for the 2020-21 season.

Premier Division

East of Scotland Qualifying Leagues: Removed for 2019–20 due to the increase in league fixtures. Added in 2011–12, this was a pre-season warm-up competition where clubs were split into ten groups and each played the others within their group once, with the group winners and runners-up progressing to the League Cup.

Holders

2018–19 winners unless stated.
* Team promoted to the Lowland League

Total titles won

Clubs currently playing in the league are shown in bold. Clubs no longer active are shown in italics.
RankClubEast of Scotland
League
East of Scotland
Premier Division
Total Titles
1Whitehill Welfare61016
2Spartans299
3Gala Fairydean628
4Peebles Rovers606
5Hibernian 'B'505
6=Annan Athletic044
6=Eyemouth United404
6=Vale of Leithen404
9=Civil Service Strollers303
9=Hawick Royal Albert303
9=Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale033
9=Selkirk303
13=Bathgate202
13=Berwick Rangers202
13=Penicuik Athletic202
16=Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic011
16=Bo'ness101
16=Bo'ness United011
16=Coldstream101
16=Cowdenbeath 'A'101
16=Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare011
16=Edinburgh City011
16=Heart of Midlothian 'B'101
16=Jedburgh Artisans101
16=Kelty Hearts011
16=Leith Athletic011
16=Stirling University011