St Mirren Local Competitions

THE INTER-CITY LEAGUE

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Formed in the same season as the West of Scotland League in 1899 that Saints also participated in, this “mini-league” was initially made up of clubs from Glasgow and Edinburgh.

In an attempt to boost it’s stature and longevity, St Mirren, Airdrie, Aberdeen and Dundee were invited into the league in 1902, raising the number of participating clubs to 9, just three short of that actual top division! Each club played each other just once, but the experiment did not work, and with the exception of the 1902/03 season. the competition did not finish in the following three campaigns, before it was abandoned.

A similar tournament called the “Inter-City Midweek Football League” was launched in 1912, with Saints not invited, but it also did not finish and was scrapped after only 4 round of fixtures, ending the brief fascination with Inter City competition.

Inter-City League CategoryRecordAdditional Info
Number of Seasons Entered41902-06
Best PerformanceRunners Up1902/03 (From 9 clubs)
Worst Performancen/aOnly finished 1 season
Most Victories 3Dundee
Most Defeats2Hearts and Dundee
Most Goals Scored Against 9Partick Thistle
Most Goals Conceded Against9Dundee
Highest Home Attendance3,00014/03/1903 v Third Lanark
Lowest Home Attendance2,00021/03/1903 v Rangers
Highest Away Attendance 4,00001/01/1906 v Aberdeen
Lowest Away Attendance 1,00026/03/1904 v Hibenian
Most Appearances19Robert Robertson
Most Goals11George Reid
Highest Scoring Match66-0 v Partick (1904) & 1-5 v Dundee (1906)
Record Win (Home)6-019/03/1904 v Partick Thistle
Record Win (Away)3-013/04/1903 v Partick Thistle
Record Defeat (Home)1-222/04/1905 v Airdrie
Record Defeat (Away)1-502/01/1906 v Dundee
Most Individual Goals in a Match24 times
Most Individual Goals in a season5George Reid, 1904/05
Most Club Goals Scored in a Season121903/04 (from 5 matches, unfinished league)
Most Club Goals Conceded in a Season91904/05 (from 6 matches, unfinished league)
Total Shut Outs12From 22 matches
Most Shut Outs in a Season61902/03 (From 8 matches)
DATEOPPOSITIONATTVSCOREOSCORERSSEASON
28/02/1903Hibernian A0-0D 1902/03
07/03/1903QUEENS PARK H3-2WWILSON1902/03
14/03/1903THIRD LANARK3,000H0-0D 1902/03
21/03/1903RANGERS2,000H4-0WANDERSON, MURRAY, ROBERTSON, SWAN1902/03
28/03/1903Hearts A0-2L 1902/03
04/04/1903CELTIC H0-0D 1902/03
11/04/1903Dundee A1-0WSWAN1902/03
13/04/1903Partick This2,000A3-0WREID (2), WILSON1902/03
19/03/1904PARTICK THIS H6-0WJOHNSTONE, J WILSON, SMITH, ROSS (2), REID1903/04
26/03/1904Hibernian1,000A1-2LSMITH1903/04
04/04/1904Rangers A2-1WREID, SWAN1903/04
23/04/1904Hearts A1-2LREID1903/04
14/05/1904DUNDEE H2-1WREID, CURRIE1903/04
03/01/1905Dundee A0-3L 1904/05
21/01/1905Hearts A3-3DBRUCE, REID (2)1904/05
04/02/1905DUNDEE H3-0WHALL, REID (2)1904/05
15/04/1905Airdrie A1-0WHALL1904/05
22/04/1905AIRDRIE H1-2LWRIGHT1904/05
24/04/1905HIBERNIAN H2-0WREID, MORGAN1904/05
01/01/1906Aberdeen4,000A1-0WCUNNINGHAM1905/06
02/01/1906Dundee1,500A1-5LRIDDELL1905/06
09/04/1906AIRDRIE H2-0WLYNCH, FERGUSON1905/06
Left, Robert Robertson, most appearances (19) in the Inter-City League for the club and right, George Reid, top Saints scorer with 11 goals.

POSINTER CITY APPEARANCESTOTAL
1ROBERTSON, Robert19
=2GREENLEES, Donald17
=2JACKSON, Tom17
4McAVOY, Mick16
5RAE, Livingston14
6REID, George13
7SWAN, Andy10
=8CUNNINGHAM, James9
=8CRAWFORD, David9
=8LINDSAY, David9
=11WILSON, Jimmy8
=11ANDERSON, ?8
=11BRUCE, Walter8
=11CAMERON, Jock8
=15HALL, Matthew6
=15WYLIE, David6
=17SMITH, Jimmy5
=17WRIGHT, John5
=17HAMILTON, David5
20ANDERSON, Andrew4

POSINTER CITY GOALSCORERSTOTAL
1REID, George11
=2SWAN, Andy3
=2WILSON, Jimmy3
=4HALL, Matthew2
=4SMITH, Jimmy2
=4ROSS, ?2
=7ROBERTSON, Robert1
=7CUNNINGHAM, James1
=7ANDERSON, ?1
=7BRUCE, Walter1
=7WRIGHT, John1
=7JOHNSTONE, ?1
=7LYNCH, Robert1
=7MORGAN, Hugh1
=7MURRAY, Charlie1
=7CURRIE, ?1
=7FERGUSON, Bob1
=7RIDDELL, Eddie1

THE RENFREWSHIRE LEAGUE

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In 1894, the various regional FA’s introduced small local leagues to increase the number of competitive matches being played, as at the time only 18 league matches were scheduled from the 10 team top tier, with each team playing each other home and away.

The Renfrewshire FA invited Abercorn, Morton, Port Glasgow Athletic and Saints to form this division, however the Abbies were never one to please others locally, and rejected the invite, leaving the other 3 to play it out.

With Saints using mainly reserve players in the first two fixtures, the matches were poorly attended and barely covered by the written press making even record collecting near impossible. Despite the mini-league being designed to be played to completion in a fortnight, it dragged out 5 months and bridged 2 seasons. The experiment had failed, and was never tried again.

Various records are listed below:

DATEOPPOSITIONVSCOREOSCORERS
02/03/1895MortonA0-2L 
18/05/1895Port Glasgow AthA0-5L 
03/08/1895MORTONH2-2DWYLIE, MULLEN
07/08/1895PORT GLASGOW ATHH6-3W 
POSRENFREWSHIRE LEAGUEPWDLFAPTS
1Morton4211975
2Port Glasgow Ath420213114
3St. Mirren41128123

Sandy Wylie, one of only 2 known goalscorers in the competition for Saints.

PLAYERAPPEARANCESGOALS
CONNELL, John2–
COOK, George2–
McBAIN, Eddie2–
McBLANE, James2–
McGATHEN, James2–
PATRICK, John2–
WYLIE, Sandy21
CALDWELL, ?1–
HAIG, Robert1–
HURRY, Charlie1–
McKIM, ?1–
MULLEN, Johnny11
RICHARDSON, Archie1–
RUSSELL, John1–
TAYLOR, John1–

THE PAISLEY CHARITY CUP

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Saints appeared in 52 seasons of the Paisley Charity Cup, winning it 31 times, with the first time being in 1883, however it took the club 4 attempts to win it before finally displaying the fine trophy as champions in 1887.

It was founded in the early days of football in the town, following great demand to hold an annual tournament where the gate receipts were given to local charities, usually a combination of health and social related organaisations that required donations before the formation of the NHS after WWII.

The early tournaments were keenly contested between Saints and their great early rivals Abercorn, however professionalism ensured the clubs went in opposite directions when Saints embraced it and the Abbies remained amateur, with the East Lane club eventually folding in the early 1920’s.

Saints found opposition from outside of Paisley in the decades after, and for a period in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s attracted opposition such as Chelsea and Manchester City to Love Street.

During this period, some famous English based players appeared against Saints, for example; Bert Trautmann, Gordon Banks, Frank McLintock, Denis Law, Franny Lee, Mick Mills and Terry Venables all played in the competition, however it was a final hurrah, and in 1967 it was held for the final time, against Preston NE, where Archie Gemmill had moved from Saints. The trophy now sits in Saints boardroom.

Various records are listed below:

League Cup CategoryRecordAdditional Info
Number of Seasons Entered521883-1967
Winners33
Most Played Opponent18Abercorn
Most Victories 11Abercorn
Most Defeats6Abercorn
Most Goals Scored Against 50Abercorn
Most Goals Conceded Against27Abercorn
Highest Home Attendance16,00001/08/1959 v Man City
Lowest Home Attendance1,20007/05/1932 v East Stirlingshire
Highest Away Attendance 9,00008/09/1926 v Queen’s Park
Lowest Away Attendance 4,00025/04/1885 v Abercorn
Most Appearances15Andy Brown
Most Goals13Andy Brown
Record Win (Home)12-005/04/1884 v West End Athletic
Record Win (Away)10-009/06/1894 v Abercorn
Record Defeat (Home)2-502/08/1963 v Chelsea
Record Defeat (Away)0-623/06/1883 v Paisley Athletic
Most Individual Goals in a Match8Andy Brown v West End Athletic, 05/04/1884
Most Individual Goals in a season9Andy Brown 1883/84
Most Club Goals Scored in a Season151893/1894
Most Club Goals Conceded in a Season101882/83
Total Shut Outs14From 71 matches
Left to Right: Andy Brown, the top scorer (13) and appearance maker (15) in the history of the Paisley Charity Cup. Davie McCrae, second top scorer with 8 goals, and Willie Telfer, 2nd most appearances with 9.

POSPAISLEY CHARITY CUP APPEARANCESTOTAL
1BROWN, Andy15
2TELFER, Willie9
=3McCRAE, Davie8
=3FAIRLIE, Robert8
=3HARPER, John8
=3LAPSLEY, David8
=7GEBBIE, Alan7
=7McBAIN, Eddie7
=7WATT, Geordie7
=7HUTCHISON, J7
=8WYLIE, Sandy4

POSPAISLEY CHARITY CUP GOALSCORERSTOTAL
1BROWN, Andy13
2McCRAE, Davie8
3MARSHALL, Jock7
4MORRISON, John5
=5FAIRLIE, Robert4
=5BRYCELAND, Tommy4
=5GEMMELL, Tommy4
=5GILLIES, Archie4
=5REID, Willie4
=5WYLIE, Sandy4
=5McBAIN, William4

THE RENFREWSHIRE CUP

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Saints appeared in 87 seasons of the Renfrewshire Cup, winning it 55 times, with the first time being in 1880 and the first success 3 years later.

It was one of the oldest continuous competitions in the world until it was wound down in 2014 due to the Renfrewshire FA’s forced closure, as not enough clubs were members and the association absorbed by the South West of Scotland equivalent.

Various records are listed below:

League Cup CategoryRecordAdditional Info
Number of Seasons Entered871880-2014
Finalists69
Winners55
Worst Performance2nd Round3 times
Most Played Opponent90Morton
Most Victories 39Morton
Most Defeats36Morton
Most Goals Scored Against 164Morton
Most Goals Conceded Against133Morton
Highest Home Attendance12,00009/05/1959 v Morton
Lowest Home Attendance25017/07/2013 v Paisley Grammar Old Boys Union
Highest Away Attendance 8,00024/08/1949 v Morton
Lowest Away Attendance 1,00018/03/1905 v Johnstone
Most Appearances43Andy Brown
Most Goals30Andy Brown
Record Win (Home)16-017/07/2013 v Paisley Grammar Old Boys Union
Record Win (Away)14-101/12/1888 v Clippens
Record Defeat (Home)0-403/05/1902 v Morton
Record Defeat (Away)1-625/01/1890 v Abercorn
Most Individual Goals in a Match6Gerry Baker v India of Inchinnan, 01/04/1959
Most Individual Goals in a season9Robert Fairlie 1884/85
Most Club Goals Scored in a Season391883/84
Most Club Goals Conceded in a Season101883/84
Most Matches in a Season101883/84
Total Shut Outs79From 238 matches
Most Shut Outs in a Season35 times
Left to Right: Andy Brown, top appearance maker (43) and scorer (30) in the competition, Bob Fairlie, most goals in a season (9 in 1884/85) and Gerry Baker, most goals in one match (6 in 1959)

POSRENFREWSHIRE CUP APPEARANCESTOTAL
1BROWN, Andy43
2PATERSON, John36
3McBAIN, Eddie33
4JOHNSTONE, Tom32
5FAIRLIE, Robert28
6WYLIE, Sandy27
=McAVOY, Mick27
=PATRICK, John27
9CAMERON, James26
10WATT, Geordie24
11GREENLEES, Donald22
12JACKSON, Tom21
13IMRIE, J19
=14HUTCHISON, J18
=14McBAIN, Alex18
=14BRUCE, Walter18
=14DRINNAN, George18
18McDONALD, William17
=19MULLEN, Johnny15
=19MURRAY, Cammy15
=21McCRAE, Davie14
=21THOMSON, Jamie14
=21MARSHALL, D14
=24GEBBIE, Alan13
=24DOUGLAS, John13
=24LINDSAY, David13
-24BRANDON, Tom13

POSRENFREWSHIRE CUP GOALSTOTAL
1BROWN, Andy30
2McCRAE, Davie18
3FAIRLIE, Robert16
4WATT, Geordie15
=5PATERSON, John9
=5BAKER, Gerry9
=5McDONALD, Jimmy9
=8WYLIE, Sandy7
=8IMRIE, J7
=8CAMERON, Ian7
=8GILMOUR, Robert7
=8MORTON, Jimmy7
=8LINWOOD, Alex7
=14JOHNSTONE, Tom6
=14GEBBIE, Alan6
=14GILLIES, Archie6
=14BRYCELAND, Tommy6
=14BURRELL, Gerry6
=14McLAUGHLIN, Hugh6
=20MULLEN, Johnny5
=20RANKIN, Robert5
=20SMITH, Jimmy5
=20GEMMILL, Archie5
=20REILLY, Thomas5
=20GALLAGHER, Kieran5
=20KNOX, Jimmy5