Scottish Football

The Scottish Premier League (also known as the Bank of Scotland Premierleague for sponsorship reasons or the SPL for short) is the top division within the current structure of Scottish football.

Previously the Scottish Football League had a two divisional structure (Divisions One and Two) between which clubs were promoted and relegated at the end of each season. However, by the mid 1970s this organisation had become a bit stagnant and it was decided to split into a three divisional structure (Premier Division, First Division and Second Division).

This set up continued till the mid 1990s when it was decided to split into a four divisional structure with the addition of a Third Division.

In 1998 the football clubs in the Premier Division decided to split from the Scottish Football League and form the Scottish Premier League. This decision was fuelled by a desire by the top clubs in Scotland to retain more of the revenue generated by the game. Originally league sponsorship money were divided between clubs in every league, after the SPL was formed this was no longer the case.

Since 2000, the SPL has operated a "split league format". Under this system, after 33 games (i.e. when every club has played every other club 3 times, either twice away and once at home, or vice versa), the division is split into 2 halves, and clubs play a further 5 matches, against the teams in their half of the division, taking their total to 38 games. This can (and often does) result in the team placed 7th having a higher points total than the team placed 6th, because their final 5 games are considerably easier.

Providing they meet certain criteria to do with their stadium it is still possible for clubs to be promoted from the Scottish Football League, First Division to the SPL.

Originally the SPL contained 10 clubs, but it subsequently decided to enlarge itself to a membership of 12.

In 2003, the league's promotion criteria caused controversy as the chairmen of the member clubs voted against Falkirk's proposed ground share with Airdrie United and stopped the club from having the 10,000 fan stadium capacity it required, thus saving Motherwell from relegation.

The same situation nearly materialised in 2004, but after several votes and discussion, including threats of court cases from Partick Thistle, the team then threatened with prospect of relegation, Inverness Caledonian Thistle were finally allowed promotion provided that they groundshared with north rivals Aberdeen at Pittodrie, a ground over 160 km (100 miles) away. In 2005 the stadia criteria for entry to the SPL was reduced to 6,000 thereby allowing Inverness Caledonian Thistle to return to their home stadium during the season.