Football has a long history in Scotland, dating back to the start of the Scottish Football League (SFL) in 1890 and through the SFL’s merger with the Scottish Professional Football League in 2013, which still runs to this day. Throughout all of this, many people across the UK enjoyed betting on the sport at online casinos and their sister sites, and dozens of football clubs have risen and fallen. Here, we’re going to take a look at the stories of four famous defunct Scottish clubs.
Edinburgh City F.C.
Edinburgh F.C. was founded back in 1928, joined the Scottish Football League as an amateur club in 1931 and played in the SFL throughout the 1930s and 40s. Unfortunately, the club struggled in the League against the other clubs, excluding their famous first-round victory in the 1937-38 Scottish Cup where player Arthur Mine of Hibernian missed a penalty kick. Sadly, that magical win wasn’t enough for the team as they pulled out of the SFL in the 1950s, switched to junior status, and eventually stopped playing football altogether.
Fortunately, the Postal United football club was founded in the late 1960s and in the late 1980s, was approved to take on the Edinburgh City name. It has experienced tremendous success since and was promoted to the Scottish Professional Football League in 2016. Although it hasn’t won yet, there’s still plenty of time for the new club to do so and make up for what the original club lost out on.
Bathgate F.C.
Bathgate F.C. was founded in 1893 and was one of the many football clubs to compete in the Scottish Football League, making it to the Second Division in the early 1920s, where it reportedly performed well. The club landed into trouble when junior club Larkhall Thistle accused them of stealing their players.
Over the following years, the club began to struggle financially, particularly after the 1926 miners strike and the decline of the local oil and coal industries, which impacted most West Lothian clubs. In 1929, Bathgate pulled out of the Scottish Football League and was officially dissolved by October 1938.
Cambuslang F.C.
Cambuslang F.C. was founded in 1874 as Excelsior. Shortly after its establishment, the club was challenged by a rival football team from Halfway to play for the name Cambuslang. The club won and changed its name to Cambuslang Football and Athletic Club.
In 1879, Cambuslang FC helped found the Lanarkshire County Football Association, winning the Lanarkshire Cup twice and finishing runners-up on four occasions. However, the club had a fallout with the Association and joined the Glasgow Football Association for the 1887-88 season.
They experienced success the same year, winning the inaugural Glasgow Cup in 1888, and was also one of the founding members of the Scottish Football League in 1890. The club’s luck ran out there, however, as they only lasted two seasons before pulling out of the League. The club shut down shortly after in 1897.
Armadale F.C.
Armadale F.C. is another West Lothian-based football club that is now defunct. The club was founded back in 1910 and experienced tremendous success in the Eastern Football Alliance and the Central Football Alliance, becoming one of the strongest teams in both competitions.
The club was admitted into the second division of the Scottish Football League in 1921 after the absorption of the Central Football Alliance. Although the club performed well in its first season, it began to struggle in the subsequent years, finishing in the bottom three positions consistently.
The club’s losses in the League along with high unemployment rates at the time saw it undergo heavy financial issues. Although it was discouraged, Armadale FC began to use its Volunteer Park grounds for greyhound racing and managed to generate a reliable source of income. The Scottish Football League management committee later ordered the club to cease greyhound racing, but Armadale failed to comply and was expelled from the Scottish Football League in the 1932-33 season and shut down in 1935.
Numerous other Scottish football clubs are now defunct. Thankfully, Scottish football is still going strong today, so we shouldn’t see any more clubs disappearing across the country.
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