Stranraer

Coordinates: 54°54′07″N 5°01′37″W / 54.902°N 5.027°W / 54.902; -5.027

Stranraer (UK: /stranˈrɑ:/stran-RAR; Scottish Gaelic: An t-Sròn Reamhar, pronounced [ənˠ̪ t̪ʰɾɔːn ɾãũ.əɾ]) is a town in Inch, Wigtownshire, in the west of Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It lies on the shores of Loch Ryan, on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries and Galloway's second-largest town, with a population including the surrounding area of nearly 13,000.

Stranraer is an administrative centre for the West Galloway Wigtownshire area of Dumfries and Galloway. It is best known as having been a ferry port connecting Scotland with Belfast (and previously with Larne) in Northern Ireland; the last service was transferred to Cairnryan in November 2011. The main industries in the area are the ferry port, with associated industries, tourism and, more traditionally, farming.

The name is generally believed to come from the Scottish Gaelic An t-Sròn Reamhar meaning "The Fat Nose", but which more prosaically might be rendered as "the broad headland". Another interpretation would link the second element in the name with Rerigonium, an ancient settlement noted by Ptolemy in this part of Britain. A person from Stranraer is a Stranraerarian; someone from the original, lochside, part of the town, including Sheuchan Street and Agnew Crescent – the Clayhole or, in local dialect, Cl'yhole – is a Clayholer /kleɪˈhoʊlər/.

Scottish Football League

The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland. From its foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League (SPL) was formed in 1998, the SFL represented the top level of football in Scotland. After 1998, the SFL represented levels 2 to 4 of the Scottish football league system. In June 2013, the SFL merged with the SPL to form the Scottish Professional Football League.

The SFL was associated with a title sponsor from the 1985–86 season. As this sponsor has changed over the years the league was known in turn as the Fine Fare League, B&Q League, Bell's Scottish Football League and finally as the Irn-Bru Scottish Football League. The SFL also organised two knock-out cup competitions, the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Challenge Cup.

History

Formation

Organised football in Scotland began in 1873 with the formation of the Scottish Football Association (SFA). During the next 15 years or so, clubs would play friendly matches, Scottish Cup ties and local cup (e.g. Glasgow Cup or East of Scotland Shield) ties.The Football League, initially containing clubs from the North West and Midlands of England, was formed in 1888. This had been done in response to the professionalisation of football in England in 1885, with the regular diet of league fixtures replacing the haphazard arrangement of friendlies. Many Scottish players, known as the Scotch Professors, moved to the English league clubs to receive the relatively high salaries on offer.

League Cup

In association football, a League Cup or Secondary Cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament to be called "League Cup" was held in Scotland in 1946–47 and was entitled the Scottish League Cup. However, in the Republic of Ireland the now defunct League of Ireland Shield was the first national league-only tournament of its kind; this was subsequently replaced by the League of Ireland Cup in 1983.

The creation of a League Cup marked the difference from the Association Cup or Big Cup, which is generally also open to teams from multiple leagues, often as far down as regional amateur leagues, and who are also members of the country's football association.

The creation of a tournament of this kind exclusively for the top national-level league teams, in addition to the two main domestic association football tournaments of the league and association cup, also created a new national footballing achievement called the domestic "treble". The first national league treble of this kind was won by Shamrock Rovers of the Republic of Ireland in 1925.

Scottish League Cup

The Scottish League Cup, known as the Scottish League Cup presented by Utilita for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. In the past it has been sponsored by Coca-Cola, Skol Lager, Bell's whisky, Co-operative Insurance and QTS Group. The competition, like the Scottish Cup, is currently a straight knockout format but will become a group and knockout competition from 2016–17.

Celtic are the current holders, after beating Dundee United 2–0 at Hampden Park on 15 March 2015.

Currently, the domestic television and radio rights are held by BBC Scotland for the 2015–16 season but the TV rights from the 2016–17 season will be held by BT Sport.

Format

Current

The competition is open only to the 42 clubs who compete in the SPFL. There are no replays, so all matches ending in a draw after 90 minutes are decided by extra time and, if necessary, penalty kicks.

The four teams who, based on results of the previous season, have qualified for UEFA competitions are given a bye until the third round of competition, together with the highest placed Premiership finisher not in UEFA competitions. The seven other teams in the Premiership in the previous season receive a bye into the second round.

Castle Douglas

Coordinates: 54°56′28″N 3°55′44″W / 54.941°N 3.929°W / 54.941; -3.929

Castle Douglas (Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal Dhùghlais) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the lieutenancy area of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the eastern part of Galloway, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet.

History

Castle Douglas is built next to Carlingwark Loch in which traces of prehistoric crannogs can be found, evidence of early inhabitation of the area. To the North of the town Glenlochar is the site of two successive Roman forts, the first being erected during the invasion of Agricola and the second during the Antonine period. They appear to have been for cavalry units and evidence has been found that a "vicus" grew up around them. They were abandoned completely about 160.

Nearby Threave Castle was a seat of the powerful "Black" Earls of Douglas. A small collection of cottages developed by the shores of Carlingwark, which was a source of marl. These cottages can still be seen on the Western approach to Castle Douglas and are known as The Buchan. The development of a military road through Galloway, built by General Wade after Jacobite rising of 1745, passed through the Carlingwark area and improved transportation connections in the 18th century.