I have records for the Strathclyde Civil Service Football League and then the Strathclyde Saturday Morning Football League from Season 1988-89 but would welcome any information on:

The foundation of the Strathclyde Civil Service Football League.

Trophy Winners pre-1988.

Previous Member Clubs (defunct and playing).

Players who went on to Senior Football.

email: secretaryssmfl@hotmail.co.uk

I hope to produce as informative a League History as possible so all suggestions will be gratefully received. My thanks to Jim Finlayson for his memories of the 1970's which are reproduced below.

William Rutherglen
League Secretary

I was browsing through the various football websites when I decided to have a look to see if the old Civil Service League was still on the go. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was, although it certainly appears to have evolved since my time of involvement back in the period between 1972-78. I saw that you were seeking information on the history of the League before 1988 and I thought that I might be offer some information as well as linked 'memories'.

My first 'awareness' of the league came around 1971 when I worked in the National Savings Bank at Cowglen in Glasgow. At that time it was called the West of Scotland Civil Service League. In that particular season there were four teams with direct links to the National Savings Bank although each of the clubs were entirely independent entities. The clubs concerned were DNS (Department for National Savings), DNS Computer Centre, NSB (National Savings Bank) and Cowglen. Although DNS, DNS CC and NSB may have received some funding from the Sports & Social Club side of the National Savings Bank, Cowglen didn't and had to rely entirely on their own efforts to raise funds at that time. A few of my workmates played for Cowglen and during 1971 I got into the habit of getting up early on a Saturday morning to watch them play. They were a well organised club and I enjoyed it so much that I decided in 1972 that I would start my own team - but I'll come to that later.

In 1971/72 the League comprised of two divisions and were in the main had direct Civil Service links. In the clubs where there were no direct civil service links, there was some history of indirect links to the Civil Service as many of the people who played for those clubs or the people who ran them were either civil servants or worked in the public sector.

The Civil Service teams I remember from the 71/72 season were as follows:

Glasgow Corporation Building Department (GCBD)

When the league expanded to three divisions, the new clubs were:

SU Nationale (a Post Office Telephone engineering club)

Postal Engineering United (almost the same name but independent from the other club called Postal Engineering)

Central Pensions Office (I think CPO were linked to British Steel)

The two clubs which dominated the top division at that time were Parkbridge and Queens Park. Parkbridge drew its players from people who worked in the Post Office Telephone Engineering business. Several other clubs, including - Marland House, Postal Engineering, Scotland West - had that link as well. I don't know which club won the top division in 72 but I'm almost certain that SCWS ('the Co-op') won the second division that season. They had their own private enclosed grass pitch at Shieldhall in Glasgow.

At the start of the 72/73 season, Scotland West dropped out of the league and on behalf of my club, Windsor AFC, a successful application was made to join the league. Again, I can't recall who won the top division that season but the lower division was won by Glasgow Corporation Building Department (GCBD). GCBD were an excellent football team but some of their players were apt to 'lose the plot' at times and during the following season, 73/74, they were ejected from the League after one of their games was abandoned due to fighting.

During that time the League's ties to the Civil Service began to loosen, although very slowly. Up until January of that season, League meetings were held in the Civil Service Club in the west end of Glasgow. There was some bad feeling between the Committee which ran the Civil Service Club and the League's members which culminated in an incident one snowy January evening when some of the Club's Committee members were pelted with snowballs outside the club at the conclusion of a League meeting. The League was subsequently barred from meeting there. We eventually went on to hold our meetings in the Glasgow Trades Council Club in Carlton Place. I saw from your website that you now meet at Hampden. Some advice; don't throw snowballs at Gordon Smith.

In season 73/74 several applications were received from teams wishing to join the League and a restructure from two to three divisions took place. I think that Cowglen won the third division that season.

During that period, the League Secretary was a chap called David Leitch who was linked to Airdrie, which was the Airdrie DHSS team. The League was very well run and much of this was due to the provision of some excellent referees by a gentleman called Tommy Marshall from Baillieston. Tommy was a Grade 1 referee on the FIFA list and through his refereeing connections we had excellent referees who turned out on a Saturday morning for us. Quite a few of the guys ran the line at senior games on Saturday afternoons and I well remember one day having our game at Glenconner park being refereed by Jim Callaghan, who had refereed the 1969 Scottish Cup Final between the Old Firm.

At the end of season 73/74 season David Leitch retired as League Secretary. At the AGM nobody else was prepared to take the job on board and almost by default, I became the League Secretary. I was also the League's representative on the SAFA Council which used to hold its monthly meetings at the AUEW offices in West Regent Street in Glasgow. It was also at the end of 73/74 season that the League decided to alter its name to reflect the change to the local authority structures that took place in Scotland in 74. The new Strathclyde Region was born that year and the decision was made to change the name of the League to the Civil Service League, Strathclyde. Also, if my memory serves me correctly, it was actually me who suggested that name.

Our cup competition became the Strathclyde Cup and it was me who chose the trophy. I don't know if it's still in use. The first winners of the new trophy in 74/75 were Parkbridge who defeated Cowglen in the final. The final was held at Helenvale Park which was owned by Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Authority. The game went to a replay and we trailed the replayed final in the Evening Times. I got a telling off from GGPTA for doing this as they had 'consistently refused Celtic the use of Helenvale' for their reserve matches. It was apparently only used about 6 times a year. I recall the playing surface looking like a bowling green. Earlier in the same season, Parkbridge defeated Marland House (also at Helenvale) in the League Cup Final. Windsor won the Third Division and Cowglen won the second division. I don't recall who won the First division although Parkbridge would probably be a safe bet.

For two seasons (74 & 75) there was an unofficial offshoot 'Summer League' in which some of the clubs from the various divisions of the league played. As it was 'unofficial', the names of the clubs were slightly altered. On both occasions the competition was won by Windsor AFC.

In 75/76 Tommy Marshall took over the reins as League Secretary and I'm sure that if he is still contactable, he would be able to fill in many of the gaps in the history of the League for you. DNS CC won the third division that season and Windsor won the second division. I think either Cowglen or Parkbridge won the top division. By that time there were five teams playing out of the National Savings Bank as Invac were successful in joining.

My own team, Windsor, sadly gained a similar reputation to that of the old GCBD team of previous seasons. We came from the same part of Glasgow as many of the GCBD team (the east end) and although we had many excellent players, a few of them were too prone to lift their fists on the field of play. We didn't suffer the same fate as 'the Builders' but we got into a great deal of trouble in 1976 after an infamous cup tie at Glasgow Green against West Amateurs. It was abandoned at 2-2 with 10 minutes left to play. In 76/77 the First Division was won by SCWS who defeated Parkbridge in a chase that went down to the wire.

My recollections of 77/78 are 'hazy'. I moved home at the end of that season to another part of the country and lost touch with my old team and the league.

It's good to see that the League has survived in some form all those years later. I also noted that the sole survivors from my era are DTI. I don't know what they are like these days but back then they were everybody's 'whipping boys'. They were very nice guys who played the game in the old Corinthian spirit and as a consequence, got well gubbed most weeks. It's ironic that of all the clubs, they are the one which lasted the longest.

I hope that this information is helpful to you in your attempt to obtain the pre 88 history. These are my recollections and I hope you have lots of luck in piecing the rest of it together.