PEACE broke out among football's hierarchy yesterday, which is historic enough in itself, but this was also the day when a new professional league was given the all-clear to start for the first time in 108 years.

The new company, entitled the Scottish Premier League, was given unanimous approval at the SFA's annual meeting in Glasgow at the same time as the measures recommended by the so-called Ernie Walker Think-tank to rejuvenate the game were accepted, also in unison. Both SFA chief executive Jim Farry and breakaway league spokesman Chris Robinson harmonised in their views that the moment was historic and that the new beginning had to produce higher standards, particularly in Europe.

Robinson said: ''There is a great deal of satisfaction among those of us who set out 14 months ago to see if there was a new way forward, but I think also that the relationships between the top clubs and the others is stronger at the end of the process than it was at the beginning.

''We have established a strong rapport with the smaller clubs, which perhaps wasn't there before and I think that augurs well for the future.''

Now Robinson and his cohorts in the top 10 will officially resign from the Scottish League on May 28, except for Hibernian, whose former chairman, Lex Gold - he resigned at the weekend - was the front-man for the breakaway, will remain where they are, having been relegated, and will be replaced by Dundee.

Farry said: ''We are making history today. As secretary of the association who reads through its history on a regular basis, I am very privileged that my signature will be on the minutes of that particular meeting. I don't have any misgivings about the formation of a new league. It will be recognised in precisely the same way as the former Scottish Football League.''

Farry emphasised that, in all the discussions that have taken place, the SFA have made it clear that there will be a promotion and relegation format, with the criteria already outlined in place.

The clearance given to the Ernie Walker review, which had failed first time around due to a couple of minor objections, will mean a reduction by the end of ext season of the council from 46 to 26 members and a huge concentration on the development of youth football under the auspices of a new body, the Scottish Football Youth Association. ''The formation of the new league and the endorsement of the review body's recommendations are clearly point the way ahead, with the emphasis in both cases in youth development in this country,'' said Farry.

''As you know, Craig Brown and the international team have been fighting a lone battle in recent years trying to put Scotland on to the international stage because our clubs have failed to do so in the European arena. Let us hope that this is not just the reawakening of the domestic product, but something that finally will make our name more widely known abroad at club level.

''We have a great deal to do in that context as we may lose a UEFA Cup place this year, or next, or the one after that, depending on results.''

Robinson agreed. ''We have to see the problems that exist with our rankings in European and world football to see we have some way to catch up the status we enjoyed a decade or so ago,'' he said. ''The acceptance by some of the larger clubs that football to get better has to be a collective thing, rather than individual. We all want our own clubs to be successful, but we can only achieve that if the level of competition is good for football as a whole.''

Hail the new dawn? Well, maybe.