[5] The next meeting between the cup winners was in April 1878 between Wanderers and Vale of Leven (both of whom had just retained the respective trophies), again taking place in London, won by the Scottish side and with no great fanfare over its significance.

[9][10] In May 1880, Queen's Park beat Clapham Rovers in Glasgow[11][12] (with proceeds from the match going to a memorial fund for SFA secretary William Dick who had recently died)[13][14] then repeated this in London the following February.

[15][16][17] The Spiders then routed Old Carthusians 8–0 in January 1882 at Hampden[18] (again in very bad weather, and something of a freak result as the Charterhouse School alumni restricted Vale of Leven to a 2–1 defeat a day later).

Over the next season Rovers never met Renton, but did challenge Queen's Park twice in that period (the matches noteworthy for the rule laid down by staunchly amateur Scottish Football Association that any professionals employed by Blackburn could not take part, with the makeshift teams well beaten home and away as a consequence).

[1] A match was played in April 1887 at Perry Barr, Birmingham between the teams who had just won the respective cups, Hibernian and Aston Villa, with the home side winning 3–0.

a small pewter trophy – the only known physical prize from any of these matches – was commissioned (today displayed at the Scottish Football Museum)[39][40] and a "Champions of the World" sign was erected at their Tontine Park ground (which did not survive its demolition in the 1920s).

Renton's reign was ended at the semi-final stage of the 1888–89 Scottish Cup by 3rd Lanark R.V., who went on to lift the trophy and faced off against 'The Invincibles' of Preston North End, who had won both the FA Cup and the inaugural 1888–89 title of the Football League without losing a match; a 3–3 draw was the outcome, although local press reports made little of the status of the fixture[41][42] despite the grandiose label attached to the previous year's match and the fame of Preston's (mostly Scottish) side and their achievement of that season.

With no formal name, date or other consistent factor to denote the 'British/World Championship' matches, discerning what may be considered the latest instalment of such an event was made more complicated by the introduction of the English national league competition, although Preston's 1888–89 double triumph meant there would be one more year where it was not a consideration.

The Scottish Football League began in the 1890–91 season, which introduced a fourth possible participant into the mix – and uniquely a fifth after its first edition, when Rangers and Dumbarton shared the title after a play-off.

[46][47] By the time of the delayed second match, both clubs had lost their champion status, Dumbarton claiming the Scottish title outright and Sunderland displacing Everton; West Bromwich Albion and Celtic were the cup winners.

[51][52] Queen's Park then took on the new FA Cup winners Wolverhampton Wanderers in Glasgow a fortnight later and won comprehensively 5–0,[53][54][55] As soon as new 1893–94 league champions were declared – Aston Villa and Celtic respectively – they met in Birmingham on 9 April 1894, headlined by the Scottish Referee as "The Championship of the World".

[59][60][61][62] Those teams met again almost a year later (Notts County won 1–0),[63][64] at which point they were technically still holders with both 1895 domestic cup finals having been moved to later dates, though it is not clear if the matches were to be seen as home-and-away legs, a rematch or two unconnected encounters.

"[79] Despite this apparent enthusiasm for the fixture in some quarters, there was no match known to have taken place between double winners Aston Villa opposing either Rangers (Scottish Cup) or Hearts (SFL) in the 1896–97 period, but conversely in March 1898 Sheffield United and Celtic met at Bramall Lane, before the Yorkshire men (who won 1–0 on the day) were even confirmed as champions of England.