Talk:Scottish Women's Football League

Herald archive and the league in the 1990s
Excited to post some pages from the 1990s, which shed light on the Scottish women's divisions and support the idea that the '99/00 SWFL was in many ways a continuation of what went before. This SFA announcement is already cited in the SWFL Cup article:

Scottish FA: "Thursday, 11 December 1997 - Sports Connection, UK retailer of fashion sportswear, is to become the first ever sponsor of the Scottish Women’s Football League including the Scottish League Cup, providing essential support for the continued development of women’s football."

But the top league was already named months earlier as the "Sports Connection Premier" in the Daily Record (Nov 1997) and the Herald (Sep 1997).

The Herald website has helpfully published its 1990s "Sport digest" pages, including many scores from the SWFA leagues, listed under "football" or "women's football". It's only a sliver of info, but it suggests there was already a tiered league in 1995–96. Then evidently the Premier Division played above different regional leagues from 1996 until 1999, before the four-tier system was adopted in 1999–2000 for four or five seasons.

11 Dec 1995 - First Division (Cove Rangers), Third Division

9 Dec 1996 - West Region (Hamilton Accies, Queen of the South)

17 Feb 1997 - Premier Division, East of Scotland League, North of Scotland League

24 Feb 1997 - Scottish Cup Third Round

7 Apr 1997 - PREMIER

14 Apr 1997 - Premier Division, East of Scotland League, Inter-Region Cup

29 Sep 1997 - Sports Connection Scottish League Cup 2nd round, Premier Division, East League

6 Oct 1997 - Sports Connection Premier League, East League, West League

13 Oct 1997 - Sports Connection League Cup, West League, East League

20 Oct 1997 - Sports Connection Premier Division, East League, West League, Scottish League Cup

26 Jan 1998 - Women's FA Cup, 'Sports Connection League., Premier Division', West Division

9 Feb 1998 - Sports Connection League: Premier Division, North-East Division, West Division, Scottish Cup: First round

23 Mar 1998 - SCOTTISH Cup quarter finals, Sports Connection League Premier Division, North East Division, West Division

26 Apr 1999 - Greggs Scottish cup [semi-finals ]

22 July 1999 - Third Lanark, "The team will start along with seven other new sides in the inaugural Women's Football League Third Division at the end of August."

21 Feb 2000 - Premier League, Div II

13 Mar 2000 - Scottish Women's League Cup: final, 'Women's Football Results'

10 Apr 2000 - Women's Scottish Cup: quarter-final, SCOTTISH Women's League: Division One, Two, Three

15 May 2000 - Scottish Women's League: Premier Division, Division One, Two, Three

[http://web.archive.org/web/20220425064408/https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12240677.sport-digest/ 22 May 2000 - SWFA Scottish League. Premier Division, Division I, Division II, Division III]

Also, some related articles on schools football (Aug 1993), Peter Clarke's national team squad (Oct 1993) and three more:

- "Currently only two Scottish [men's league teams have a girls' set-up, Ayr United and Queen of the South, while Cove Rangers lead the way in the north" (Breaking down the barriers, 13 Oct 1995)] - "more than 3000 women and girls currently participate in playing organised football in Scotland" (A game of two sexes, 8 Feb 1997) - "Scottish Women's Football Association, which reports a seven-fold increase, to 194 teams and 3000 players" (A game of both halves, 2 Mar 1998) - (County sign first female coach [Fiona McWilliams, 19 Aug 1998)] - (For women the love of the game comes with a #6000 price tag [UEFA Cup, 8 Dec 2000)]

- Demokra (talk) 01:28, 3 May 2022 (UTC) / More links added 9 May