The Vale of Leven is a peaceful, picturesque area in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The area can claim to be “The Cradle of Scottish Football”, and it lends its name to the local football club, Vale of Leven FC. Representatives from Vale of Leven, along with those of 6 other Scottish clubs, were present at the Temperance Hotel in Glasgow in 1873, for the meeting in which the Scottish FA was formed and football in Scotland started to organise itself more formally. At this meeting, all the clubs chipped in the sum of £1 toward the cost of running the Scottish FA Cup. The Scottish FA’s first job was to get other clubs on board to contribute towards having the actual trophy made, and before long it had managed to raise the princely sum of £42 and 12 shillings. The same trophy is still played for today, and is the oldest trophy in the world still given as a prize.  

 

Back when Scottish football was in its infancy, Vale and their close neighbours Renton were real powers in the land. Vale have three successive Scottish FA Cups to their name, and were founder members of the Scottish Football League when it was founded in 1890. Due to the amateur rule in the sport at the time, a pay dispute arose in regards to one of their players who had received payments for winning foot races, and was therefore banned from playing. This outraged the club, and they did not participate in the first two Scottish FA Cups. But after watching their rivals, Renton, make it to the cup final, Vale fired up and were keen to get their cup campaign off to a good start in 1876. They made it to the semi-final but went down to Queens Park, a team who was undefeated in the competition. But the following season, Vale got their revenge on Park and defeated them 2-1, their first loss to another Scottish club ever. After disposing of Ayr Thistle 9-0, the club faced Rangers in an epic final. It took 3 games to find a winner – the first was a 1-1 draw, the second was abandoned after the crowd invaded the pitch and the third was a muddy battle with the Vale winning 3-2 and claiming the cup on their second attempt.

 

The team returned to Alexandria, touring in an open topped carriage while cannons were fired (although no one knows where the cannons came from).  In 1878, after successfully defending the Scottish FA Cup, the team made their way south to London where they played, and defeated, the English FA Cup champions Wanderers FC thanks to a quick passing game that proved too difficult for the Wanderers and their run and dribble tactics to deal with. Nobody knew how the game against the five time FA Cup champions would go, and no one expected Vale to come out as 3-1 winners.

 

Vales third Scottish FA Cup win was just as controversial as their first. In the final, a Rangers player scored but the ball bounced off a spectator and back into play. To Rangers disgust, the goal didn’t count and the game was a draw, meaning a replay was required. Rangers decided to throw their toys out of the pram and didn’t show up for the replay, so after Vale duly turned up on time, the referee awarded them the game, and their third FA Cup. To this day, under the 1878-79 entry on the Scottish FA Cup itself, is the inscription “Vale of Leven, Rangers did not appear”. Needless to say, Rangers never failed to show up for a cup final again.

Achievements: Scottish FA Cup – Winners x3

Star player: John Ferguson – DoB 1848, Alexandria, Scotland

 

Vale of Leven’s star player during this ea, he was the subject of what became known as “The Ferguson Affair”. Vale withdrew from the first two Scottish Cups due to the protests of their opponents about Ferguson being paid to play. The rules were clear: clubs could not pay players for playing football. The money that eventually poured into the game could only be spent on debts incurred from setting clubs up; buying the grounds, procuring kits, balls and the like. Ferguson wasn’t paid to play for Vale, but there was another rule that only applied to players in the Scottish Cup – No one who had been paid for any sport whatsoever, could play in the cup. Before football, Ferguson was an accomplished runner and had run a number of races for which he was paid, so he excluded from the cup. Yet, he was allowed to play for Scotland which outraged the Vale. So, the club withdrew from the competition and refused to play in its first two iterations without Ferguson.  Eventually, the rule was dropped, and Ferguson played in the three Scottish cup finals that Vale of Leven won.