Association football league in Scotland
Football league
The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League.
Founded in 1923, it is currently composed of 59 member clubs competing in four divisions. Traditionally clubs were located in Edinburgh, Lothians and the Scottish Borders however the league has now expanded and also includes clubs from Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Fife, Stirling, and Perth.
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 South of Scotland Football League and West of Scotland Football League champions, subject to clubs meeting the required licensing criteria.
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.
Eastern League, 1921-22
The forerunner of the EOSL was the amateur Eastern League, one of two such leagues this season that had the name, the other being professional and based in the North-East of Scotland.
The membership would include subsequent EOSL members; Gala Fairydean, Peebles Rovers, Vale of Leithen, Edinburgh Civil Service, Selkirk and Civil Service Strollers.
Gala were league champions with 17 points from their 10 matches.
21st century
The EoSFL was traditionally one of Scotland's three "senior" non-leagues which sat outside the Scottish Football League (SFL), the other two being the Highland Football League and the South of Scotland Football League (SoSFL). It was generally viewed as being weaker than the Highland League (with fewer of their club sides defeating SFL sides in the Scottish Cup competition as opposed to the HFL), 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 (2000, successfully in 2008), Edinburgh City (2002, 2008), Gala Fairydean (1994, 2000, 2002), Preston Athletic (2000, 2002, 2008) and The Spartans (2008).
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 up to that point.
Lowland League and decline
In 2013, the Lowland Football League was formed to act as a direct feeder to the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), 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.[1] 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, back to the 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.[2] 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.[3] The remaining East Region junior clubs south of Tayport (most from West Lothian) joined the league for 2021–22, giving the league a total of 59 members.
Scotland (59 teams)
England (1 team)
