The Scottish Football League 1890 - 1891
Two years after the Football League was established in England, the Scottish League was formed. The competition was strictly amateur (professionalism was not recognised in Scotland until 1893). Renton were expelled from the competition after four matches after they played a match against a thinly disguised St Bernard's team when that club was under suspension for infringing the rules on payments to players. All the members except Hearts came from the West of Scotland. Queen's Park, the leading Scottish team at the time declined to join on the grounds that a league would lead to professionalism and the decline of the small clubs. Of the eleven original members only five are still in existence.
