1890–91 in Scottish football

Football in Scotland

Season

1890–91

1890–91 in Scottish football

Scottish Football League champions
Dumbarton / Rangers
Scottish Cup winners
Hearts
Scottish League Charity Cup winners
Dumbarton
Junior Cup winners
Vale of Clyde
Scotland national team
1891 BHC

1890–91 in Scottish football was the 18th season of competitive football in Scotland. This season saw the introduction of the Scottish Football League with ten teams competing.

League competitions

Scottish Football League

Dumbarton and Rangers were declared joint champions after drawing a play-off game 2–2 at Cathkin Park, Glasgow on 21 May 1891. Renton started the season as members of the Scottish Football League, but were expelled for professionalism (the game was still officially amateur at this stage). Also, Celtic, Third Lanark and Cowlairs were all docked four points for fielding ineligible players.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dumbarton^[a] (C)	18	13	3	2	61	21	+40	29	Joint Champions
1	Rangers^[a] (C)	18	13	3	2	58	25	+33	29	Joint Champions
3	Celtic	18	11	3	4	48	21	+27	21^[b]
4	Cambuslang	18	8	4	6	47	42	+5	20
5	3rd LRV	18	8	3	7	38	39	−1	15^[b]
6	Heart of Midlothian	18	6	2	10	31	37	−6	14
7	Abercorn	18	5	2	11	36	47	−11	12
8	St Mirren	18	5	1	12	39	62	−23	11	Re-elected
8	Vale of Leven	18	5	1	12	27	65	−38	11	Re-elected
10	Cowlairs^[c] (R)	18	3	4	11	24	50	−26	6^[b]	Not re-elected
11	Renton^[d]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Expelled, record expunged

Source: ^[1]
Rules for classification: 1) Points;
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Dumbarton and Rangers finished equal on points, and a play-off to determine the winner ended in a 2−2 draw so both teams were declared joint champions.
^ ^a ^b ^c Celtic, 3rd LRV and Cowlairs were deducted four points each for fielding ineligible players.
^ Cowlairs failed re-election to compete in the league for the next season.
^ Renton were expelled from the league in September 1890 for professionalism and their record was expunged.

Other honours

Cup honours

National

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Scottish Cup^[2]	Hearts	1 – 0	Dumbarton
SFL Charity Cup	Dumbarton	3 – 0	Celtic
Scottish Junior Cup	Vale of Clyde	2 – 0	Chryston Athletic

County

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Aberdeenshire Cup	Orion	4 – 1	Caledonian
Ayrshire Cup	Kilmarnock	7 – 1	Hurlford
Border Cup	Selkirk	4 – 3	Hawick Rangers
Buteshire Cup	Bute Rangers	6 – 1	St Blane's
Dumbartonshire Cup^[3]	Dumbarton	4 – 1	Vale of Leven
East of Scotland Shield	Hearts	3 – 0	Armadale
Fife Cup	Cowdenbeath	2 –1	Lassodie
Forfarshire Cup	Dundee Our Boys	6 – 2	Dundee East End
Glasgow Cup	Celtic	4 – 0	3rd LRV
Lanarkshire Cup	Airdrie	2 – 1	Albion Rovers
Linlithgowshire Cup	Armadale	2 – 0	Bo'ness
North of Scotland Cup	Camerons	4 – 2	Inverness Union
Perthshire Cup	Dunblane	4 – 2^[a]	St Johnstone
Renfrewshire Cup	St Mirren	4 – 0	Port Glasgow Athletic
Stirlingshire Cup	East Stirlingshire	4 – 1	Grangemouth

Edinburgh Exhibition

The Edinburgh Exhibition Contest was held to coincide with the 112th International Exhibition held at Meggetland, Edinburgh.^[4]

Rather than a one-off tournament, a series of nine games were arranged. The Edinburgh Evening Dispatch newspaper awarded silver cups to the winners of each match.^[4]

All matches were played at the exhibition's sports grounds at Meggetland.^[4]

Scotland national team

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[b]	Competition	Scotland scorer(s)
21 March	The Racecourse, Wrexham (A)	Wales	4–3	BHC	Bob Boyd (2), James Logan, Robert Buchanan
28 March	Celtic Park, Glasgow (H)	Ireland	2–1	BHC	James Low, Tom Waddell
4 April	Ewood Park, Blackburn (A)	England	1–2	BHC	Frank Watt

Key:

(H) = Home match
(A) = Away match
BHC = British Home Championship

Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
England (C)	3	3	0	12	3	+9	6
Scotland	3	2	1	7	6	+1	4
Ireland	3	1	2	9	10	−1	2
Wales	3	0	3	6	15	−9	0

Source: ^[5]^[6]
Rules for classification: 1) points. The points system worked as follows: 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.
(C) Champions

Notes

^ Replay needed
^ Scotland's score is shown first.

References

^ "1890-1891 SFL". SPFL. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
^ "RSSSF Scottish cup 1890–91". Retrieved 26 June 2011.
^ "Special Notes on Football and Other Sports. Dumbarton v. Vale of Leven". The Glasgow Herald. 16 February 1891. p. 11 – via London Hearts Supporters Club website.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Special 'One Off' Tournaments". Scottish Football Historical Archive. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
^ Reyes, Macario; Morrison, Neil (1 October 1999). "British Home Championship 1884–1899". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
^ "British Championships 1891". Scotland Football Stats. Retrieved 6 October 2022.

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Seasons in Scottish football

v t e 1890–91 in Scottish football
« 1889–90 1891–92 »
Domestic leagues	Football League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final Junior Cup
Related to national team	Results British Home Championship
Club seasons
Scottish Football League	3rd Lanark RV Abercorn Cambuslang Celtic Cowlairs Dumbarton Heart of Midlothian Rangers St Mirren Vale of Leven
Other teams	Hibernian Kilmarnock Queen's Park