Founded in 1886, the SJFA is responsible for disciplinary matters within the grade, certain player registration procedures and organising the annual Scottish Junior Cup.

[6] Junior football had existed since the early 1880s, initially as separate local associations across Scotland for clubs not in membership of the SFA.

[7] Gradually, a number of junior leagues grew in strength — particularly in Glasgow, where leading clubs drew large crowds.

These six regions — Ayrshire, Central, East, Fife, Tayside and North — still exist, to a certain extent, as divisions in the national league structure and as operators of certain cup competitions.

In 2011, the Scottish Football Association created two new operational boards, Professional and Non-Professional, to provide more focused governance in these differing areas of the game.

Over time, as various local football associations and leagues — both junior and senior — have risen in strength, or in some cases disappeared completely.

Scottish football developed its current pattern with either junior or senior non-leagues taking precedence in various parts of the country with some occasional overlap.

Crowds were far bigger in the past (76,000 for the Junior Cup Final in 1951, with nearly 90,000 watching the semi-finals (including a replay) compared to the level of support attracted now.

The cup's sponsor for 18 years, until the start of the 2006–07 season, was OVD Demerara Rum, replaced at the semi-final stage of the 2006–07 competition by Scottish coach operator Citylink.

Further to this move, allowing registered member clubs to qualify for the Scottish Cup for the first time, it was announced that the winners of the Scottish Junior Cup, North Superleague, East Superleague and West of Scotland Super League Premier Division would qualify for the first round.

In 2014, they were joined as annual entrants to the competition by Banks O' Dee and Linlithgow Rose who achieved the SFA National Club Licensing criteria.

Rose performed the best of all three Junior qualifiers in this inaugural season, reaching the fourth round before losing to eventual finalists, Queen of the South.

Of the other early entrants, Pollok defeated St Cuthbert Wanderers before taking Montrose to a replay in Glasgow, watched by 1,873 spectators.

In the 2008–09 competition, Banks O' Dee achieved the first double figure scoreline by a Junior club, with a 10–0 defeat of Highland League Fort William.

[25] This was bettered in the 2016–17 cup by Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic, whose 14–0 defeat of Burntisland Shipyard remains the largest margin of victory by a Junior side in the competition.

[33][34] After the formation of the Scottish Junior Football Association in 1886, officials began to explore opportunities for representative international matches.

This fixture did become an annual event, and on 14 February 1891 the team travelled to Belfast for their first away match, a 1–1 draw at Ulsterville, the home of Linfield.

[42] In September 1975, the team travelled to Osnabrück, West Germany, to play three matches against a BAOR Select side, winning two of the games.

Currently, games against England and Wales are in abeyance, and the team contest the biannual Quadrangular Tournament with friendly and testimonial matches arranged intermittently in the intervening seasons.

In April 1896, Hugh Morgan, Willie Muir, Tommy Low and Bobby Walker, helped Scotland defeat England 4–0 at Aston Villa's Wellington Road ground.

[50] Two players also received full caps for other nations after playing for Scotland Juniors: Archie Blue for Australia and Tommy O'Hara for the United States.