Scottish War Emergency Cup

The Scottish War Emergency Cup was a temporary competition held at the start of the Second World War, due to the suspension of the Scottish Cup by the SFA. It was held between February and May in 1940, the competition involved all sixteen League clubs still operating at the time, Cowdenbeath later withdrew which meant Dunfermline Athletic received a bye in the first round. Rangers beat Dundee United 1–0 in the Final.^[1][2]

All match details are sourced to the Scottish Football Historical Archive.^[1]

First round

Dunfermline Athletic received a bye in the first round due to Cowdenbeath's withdrawal.

First legs

Albion Rovers v Aberdeen

24 February 1940	Albion Rovers	3–3	Aberdeen
	Burke Dempsey		Ferguson Patillo	Attendance: 5,500

Alloa v Rangers

24 February 1940	Alloa	1–4	Rangers
	Gillan		Duncanson Thornton Waddell	Attendance: 7,000

Celtic v Raith Rovers

24 February 1940	Celtic	4–2	Raith Rovers
	Crum Divers Gould		Murray Kinnear	Attendance: 6,200

Clyde v East Fife

24 February 1940	Clyde	3–1	East Fife
	Noble Wallace		Adams	Attendance: 4,500

Dumbarton v Arbroath

24 February 1940	Dumbarton	4–3	Arbroath
	Dunn Milne Lang		Miller Mudie	Attendance: 4,500

Dundee v Third Lanark

24 February 1940	Dundee	1–1	Third Lanark
	McGillivray		Dewar	Attendance: 6,320

Falkirk v Hibernian

24 February 1940	Falkirk	5–0	Hibernian
	Dawson Keys Napier Carruthers			Attendance: 7,060

Hamilton Academical v Stenhousemuir

24 February 1940	Hamilton Academical	7–1	Stenhousemuir
	McIntyre Wilson McKerrell Harrison		Buchan	Attendance: 3,500

St Johnstone v Heart of Midlothian

24 February 1940	St Johnstone	2–1	Heart of Midlothian
	Lorimer Hird		Brown	Attendance: 4,300

Kilmarnock v Ayr United

24 February 1940	Kilmarnock	1–0	Ayr United
	Gallacher			Attendance: 8,630

King's Park v Motherwell

24 February 1940	King's Park	4–6	Motherwell
	Stewart McDowall Ferrier		McInally Wales McCulloch Wood Bremner	Attendance: 3,330

Partick Thistle v Dundee United

24 February 1940	Partick Thistle	2–4	Dundee United
	Morrison Picken		Gardiner Adamson Kerr	Attendance: 5,210

Queen's Park v Airdrieonians

24 February 1940	Queen's Park	3–2	Airdrieonians
	Kyle Aitken Ferguson		Gillick Reid	Attendance: 7,650

St Bernard's v Morton

24 February 1940	St Bernard's	1–5	Morton
	Philp		McGarry Calder Milne	Attendance: 5,070

St Mirren v Queen of the South

24 February 1940	St Mirren	6–0	Queen of the South
	Linwood Caskie			Attendance: 10,000

Second legs

Aberdeen v Albion Rovers

2 March 1940	Aberdeen	0–1 (3–4 agg.)	Albion Rovers
			Bell	Attendance: 8,841

Airdrieonians v Queen's Park

2 March 1940	Airdrieonians	3–1 (5–4 agg.)	Queen's Park
	Flavell Mooney Reid		Mitchell	Attendance: 8,000

Arbroath v Dumbarton

2 March 1940	Arbroath	0–2 (3–6 agg.)	Dumbarton
			Dunn	Attendance: 2,150

Ayr United v Kilmarnock

2 March 1940	Ayr United	2–2 (2–3 agg.)	Kilmarnock
	Marshall McKenzie		Collins Thomson	Attendance: 9,940

Dundee United v Partick Thistle

2 March 1940	Dundee United	1–1 (5–3 agg.)	Partick Thistle
	Fraser		Sharp	Attendance: 8,000

East Fife v Clyde

2 March 1940	East Fife	1–0 (2–3 agg.)	Clyde
	McLeod			Attendance: 3,100

Heart of Midlothian v St Johnstone

2 March 1940	Heart of Midlothian	5–0 (6–2 agg.)	St Johnstone
	Phillips Briscoe Brook			Attendance: 7,974

Hibernian v Falkirk

2 March 1940	Hibernian	4–0 (4–5 agg.)	Falkirk
	Finnigan Nutley Cuthbertson			Attendance: 4,520

Morton v St Bernard's

2 March 1940	Morton	5–0 (10–1 agg.)	St Bernard's
	Calder Turnbull Martin			Attendance: 3,400

Motherwell v King's Park

2 March 1940	Motherwell	3–2 (9–6 agg.)	King's Park
	Ogilvie Bremner Wood		Binnie Black	Attendance: 2,792

Queen of the South v St Mirren

2 March 1940	Queen of the South	4–1 (7–4 agg.)	St Mirren
	Connor Lang Law		Brady	Attendance: 3,800

Raith Rovers v Celtic

2 March 1940	Raith Rovers	3–0 (5–4 agg.)	Celtic
	Lyons (o.g.) (o.g.) Hume Tulip			Attendance: 5,463

Rangers v Alloa

2 March 1940	Rangers	2–2 (6–3 agg.)	Alloa
	Venters Waddell		Rice Fitzsimmons	Attendance: 8,000

Stenhousemuir v Hamilton Academical

2 March 1940	Stenhousemuir	4–1 (5–8 agg.)	Hamilton Academical
	Buchan Rodi Allan		McIntyre

Third Lanark v Dundee

2 March 1940	Third Lanark	3–1 (4–2 agg.)	Dundee
	Sinclair Dewar Dykes		Adam

Second round

Clyde v Dunfermline Athletic

9 March 1940	Clyde	3–1	Dunfermline Athletic
	Agnew Beaton McLaren		Johnston	Attendance: 7,000

Dumbarton v Airdrieonians

9 March 1940	Dumbarton	0–2	Airdrieonians
			Reid Flavell	Attendance: 5,500

Dundee United v Third Lanark

9 March 1940	Dundee United	7–1	Third Lanark
	Gardiner Kerr Milne Adamson		Joyner	Attendance: 8,000

Hamilton Academical v St Mirren

9 March 1940	Hamilton Academical	0–2	St Mirren
			Deakin Brady	Attendance: 8,000

Heart of Midlothian v Raith Rovers

9 March 1940	Heart of Midlothian	2–1	Raith Rovers
	Phillips Walker		Kinnear	Attendance: 9,951

Kilmarnock v Albion Rovers

9 March 1940	Kilmarnock	2–1	Albion Rovers
	Collins McGrogan		McKinlay	Attendance: 7,586

Morton v Motherwell

9 March 1940	Morton	1–1	Motherwell
	Milne		Bremner	Attendance: 8,688

Replays

Motherwell v Morton

11 March 1940	Motherwell	5–2	Morton
	McCulloch Ogilvie Bremner		McPhie Keys	Attendance: 8,600

Rangers v Falkirk

11 March 1940	Rangers	3–2	Falkirk
	Thornton Venters		Calder Fyfe	Attendance: 46,000

Quarter-finals

23 March 1940

Dundee United	3–0	Kilmarnock
Milne Fraser Gardiner

Attendance: 14,000

23 March 1940

Motherwell	3–0	Clyde
Bremner McCulloch

Attendance: 12,673

23 March 1940

Rangers	3–1	St Mirren
Thornton McNee Smith		Brady

Attendance: 60,000

Replay

The match was abandoned after 117 minutes due to poor light.

1 April 1940

Heart of Midlothian	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Airdrieonians
Carruth Baxter		Reid Mooney

Attendance: 19,949

Second replay

1 April 1940

Heart of Midlothian	3–4	Airdrieonians
Walker (pen.) Phillips		Mooney Flavell Reid Farr

Attendance: 20,000

Semi-finals

13 April 1940

Rangers	4–1	Motherwell
Thornton Smith Venters		McCulloch

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 50,000

Replay

17 April 1940

Dundee United	3–1	Airdrieonians
Glen Adamson Dunsmore		Reid

Easter Road, Edinburgh

Attendance: 22,000

Final

4 May 1940

Rangers	1–0	Dundee United
Smith	[2]

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 75,000

Referee: W Webb

Teams

Dundee United:[3] GK Charlie Thomson RB Alex Miller LB Tommy Dunsmore RH Arthur Baxter CH Jimmy Littlejohn LH Jimmy Robertson RW Alex Glen IR Bobby Gardiner CF Arthur Milne IL Tommy Adamson LW Norman Fraser Manager: Jimmy Allan

Rangers: GK Jerry Dawson RB Dougie Gray LB Jock Shaw RH Bobby Bolt CH Willie Woodburn LH Tom McKillop RW Willie Waddell IR Willie Thornton CF Jimmy Smith IL Alex Venters LW Adam Little Manager: Bill Struth

References