[green and white]

How many junior teams have also got teams at youth football? I know a few East of Scotland teams have youth teams up to under19s where they try bring through the best of the young boys for the first team. I would imagine you could make a profit right up to 16s due to teams getting local pitches for free which would be good income for the club. I know the Port Juniors have a couple of decent teams at the grass roots level but it seems to fall apart at around 16s when they have to start paying for pitches.

[sponsorsladdie]

The rose became a community club a few months ago when they joined up with bailiands boys club who have changed their names to Linlithgow rose community club. Hopefully we will start seeing some young local players coming through into the junior team

[Burnie_man]

Blackburn United have teams from U8 all the way through to Juniors and we've already had a couple coming through the ranks.

[green and white]

It's a cracking idea because it gets the local community behind the teams as well. More clubs should take this approach, the community club award is held in high regards and I'm sure that would motivate the best of the young players in the area to join.

[Snowy Malone]

sponsorsladdie, on 08 February 2012 - 22:48, said:

The rose became a community club a few months ago when they joined up with bailiands boys club who have changed their names to Linlithgow rose community club. Hopefully we will start seeing some young local players coming through into the junior team

Didnt know that lithgi had been awarded the Community quality mark,I know what it takes to acheive this,its not easy,and takes years to obtain.The Pace so far have only obtained the stantard award,but with an amalgamation with Falkirk ladies and Central Rio BC,we hope to win community club status by the summer.What ladies team is affiliated to the Rose?.

[green and white]

Snowy Malone, on 08 February 2012 - 23:34, said:

Didnt know that lithgi had been awarded the Community quality mark,I know what it takes to acheive this,its not easy,and takes years to obtain.The Pace so far have only obtained the stantard award,but with an amalgamation with Falkirk ladies and Central Rio BC,we hope to win community club status by the summer.What ladies team is affiliated to the Rose?.

I don't think you need a ladies club to get the award because Leith Athletic have it and as far as I'm aware they don't have any Female teams.

[aidan-bufc]

sponsorsladdie, on 08 February 2012 - 22:48, said:

The rose became a community club a few months ago when they joined up with bailiands boys club who have changed their names to Linlithgow rose community club. Hopefully we will start seeing some young local players coming through into the junior team

Yeah i know Linlithgow Rose have a few youth teams going about, and must admit to playing with them

[sponsorsladdie]

Aidan you must have loved the colour change from blue to maroon then.

[sponsorsladdie]

They don't have the community quality mark but are working towards it. The clubs joining was the 1 st big step. The do have girls teams for 3 different age groups. Criteria states girls/women's teams.

This post has been edited by sponsorsladdie: 09 February 2012 - 09:43

[Larky55]

Most of them are lucky if they can invest in the present.

[drs]

aidan-bufc, on 09 February 2012 - 00:37, said:

Yeah i know Linlithgow Rose have a few youth teams going about, and must admit to playing with them

JUDAS!

[Auld Heid]

Snowy Malone, on 08 February 2012 - 23:34, said:

Didnt know that lithgi had been awarded the Community quality mark,I know what it takes to acheive this,its not easy,and takes years to obtain.The Pace so far have only obtained the stantard award,but with an amalgamation with Falkirk ladies and Central Rio BC,we hope to win community club status by the summer.What ladies team is affiliated to the Rose?.

I was tempted to say the Ladies Team have been playing on a few Saturdays!!!

Their are girls teams included within the kids set up as well - this is still relatively knew to Linlithgow Rose as the parent organisation. But Baillieslands as they were have been a long established and well run organisation within the town for a number of years. With their own specialist goalkeeping academy and referee's school as well.

The coming together of the two made perfect sense as both play major parts in the Linlithgow community

[The Old Northerner]

green and white, on 08 February 2012 - 23:50, said:

I don't think you need a ladies club to get the award because Leith Athletic have it and as far as I'm aware they don't have any Female teams.

According to their site they do have girls in the club.

Haddington Athletic are another club catering for all ages from rug-rats to grizzled veterans and have had the Community Award since Nov 2010. There's a couple of gaps in the progression (this year we have no U14s or U16s for example) but work is in hand to fix this. The benefits to the club as a whole are obvious to anyone who remembers the Whittingehame Drive plot from 3 years ago: what was a undulating lumpy set of 7 a side pitches serviced by two unheated (unplumbed?) containers has been replaced by a FIFA 2*/IRB 22 artificial surface and an excellent pavilion.

This post has been edited by The Old Northerner: 09 February 2012 - 09:18

[aidan-bufc]

sponsorsladdie, on 09 February 2012 - 02:46, said:

Aidan you must have loved the colour change from blue to maroon then.

drs, on 09 February 2012 - 07:32, said:

JUDAS!

I am disappointed in myself but did see sense and moved to one of Bo'ness United's youth teams

[glensmad]

Rutherglen Glencairn have u21 and u17 teams, both directly linked to the club, and several players have already made the step-up from the u21s to the 1st team squad. More are likely to follow next season as well.

[King_Leonidas]

We have a youth set up right down to rugrats aswell to help with the 4 adult teams progression eventually! It's not too bad a set up I spose cos we have about 8 or 9 from our under 19s team last season!

[Grant228]

Rosyth have an under 19 team where a few of the players have already played for the 1st team.

[pccabe]

Beith Juniors have a community club with teams from under 8 up to under 15 as do Kilbirnie Ladeside.

Both are doing great jobs in their respective communities.

[cmontheloknow]

The biggest issue, one that faces SFL sides too, is if there are few players coming through good enough to play at the higher levels.

At Pollok for example, we need to have guys good enough to play in the Super Premier, and generally this calibre of player is found at Knightswood or Drumchapel United. When we had a 21s side, it was a problem getting them to come to Lok over the other Juvenile sides.

After reforming at 16s, we have a 19s just now, they're 1993s so will be in the 21s next season. They're loosely affiliated and have no direct funding from the Junior side.

The most well known ex Lok Juveniles I can think of are Greg Miller (the Renfrew one), Stevie Aitchison, Andy Kenna and Mario Pacitti! Fairly sure we nabbed Paul McMenamin and Robert Downs from the Juvs before they even played for them.

edit: how could i forget BARRY COOK!

This post has been edited by cmontheloknow: 09 February 2012 - 22:51

[green and white]

cmontheloknow, on 09 February 2012 - 20:37, said:

The biggest issue, one that faces SFL sides too, is if there are few players coming through good enough to play at the higher levels.

At Pollok for example, we need to have guys good enough to play in the Super Premier, and generally this calibre of player is found at Knightswood or Drumchapel United. When we had a 21s side, it was a problem getting them to come to Lok over the other Juvenile sides.

After reforming at 16s, we have a 19s just now, they're 1993s so will be in the 21s next season. They're loosely affiliated and have no direct funding from the Junior side.

The most well known ex Lok Juveniles I can think of are Greg Miller (the Renfrew one), Stevie Aitchison, Andy Kenna and Mario Pacitti! Fairly sure we nabbed Paul McMenamin and Robert Downs from the Juvs before they even played for them.

edit: how could i forget BARRY COOK!

That's because Drumchappel United have had a good set up and reputation for years. You need good coaches to attract top players, just like at junior level, youth players won't move without knowing there's a chance of winning something. Your best bet to pick up players is exit trials and players being released from pro youth, that's what most of the top under 19s/21s teams are full off. Although before that is a different ball game.

You start off with a decent group of children, after a couple of season you move from 7s to 11s, then before you know it your under 14s/15s and along come your local pro youth side and steal all your best players, you then need to rebuild. A couple of years later 4/5 get released and are looking for clubs, 2/4 don't get any deals from other pro youth sides but you end up with 2 players who have benefited from good coaching at pro though level and are at the age of maybe under 17s. If you can attract these players back to the club then the chances of you getting more better players following them is large and you start to grow a reputation. I've seen good players walk away from pro youth football because they want to play with friends at boys club level where there is little pressure and the fun of winning trophies also.

Over all it's hard at first but it can be very beneficial to your clubs reputation if you have good youth teams.

[Dr V]

aidan-bufc, on 09 February 2012 - 12:08, said:

I am disappointed in myself but did see sense and moved to one of Bo'ness United's youth teams

You mean lower Linlithgow

[Auld Heid]

The saddest thing about these local community teams are the SPL teams who cherry pick the best talent and then lose them to the game of football in their efforts to find ONE player.

I heard a recent example where a team went most of the season undefeated and reached the final of the competition and came up against the Celtic Youth side and lost by a double figure score.

My own cousin played and scored most weekends - picked up by a senior team and was eventually marginalised as he didn't grow as quickly as the other boys in the squad. Spent the ages 14-16 training twice a week then sitting on the bench. Released at 16 joined the local team and scored nearly every game again. But by this time it was to late he was into golf and football was now a lost interest.

These senior teams are causing as much damage as good to the development of the game by cherry picking boys at an early age then discarding them if their development isn't what is expected. With the attitude tie up as many boys on deals with your playing with A SENIOR team and hope they get a star. With no thought of the consequences to the game when they cut and dishearten youngsters at 16. Kids develop at different times and some kids are big for their ages earlier than others etc.

Leave kids at their local clubs playing with their friends and enjoying the game - then if their good enough at say 16 then let the seniors take them when their old enough to understand what their getting into. At ages 10 and 11 kids think their Messi when they get picked up and that is the start of the problems in Scottish Football (IMO)

This post has been edited by Auld Heid: 10 February 2012 - 07:57

[boheesian]

Auld Heid, on 10 February 2012 - 07:55, said:

The saddest thing about these local community teams are the SPL teams who cherry pick the best talent and then lose them to the game of football in their efforts to find ONE player.

I heard a recent example where a team went most of the season undefeated and reached the final of the competition and came up against the Celtic Youth side and lost by a double figure score.

My own cousin played and scored most weekends - picked up by a senior team and was eventually marginalised as he didn't grow as quickly as the other boys in the squad. Spent the ages 14-16 training twice a week then sitting on the bench. Released at 16 joined the local team and scored nearly every game again. But by this time it was to late he was into golf and football was now a lost interest.

These senior teams are causing as much damage as good to the development of the game by cherry picking boys at an early age then discarding them if their development isn't what is expected. With the attitude tie up as many boys on deals with your playing with A SENIOR team and hope they get a star. With no thought of the consequences to the game when they cut and dishearten youngsters at 16. Kids develop at different times and some kids are big for their ages earlier than others etc.

Leave kids at their local clubs playing with their friends and enjoying the game - then if their good enough at say 16 then let the seniors take them when their old enough to understand what their getting into. At ages 10 and 11 kids think their Messi when they get picked up and that is the start of the problems in Scottish Football (IMO)

All to common I'm afraid. Three of us resurrected Linlithgow Thistle U/ 21's around 1983 for the purpose of giving players who were to large degree " late developers" a further opportunity. Local Junior teams benefited, as well as some players who eventually moved to lower league seniors. The Rose took John McNee & Roy Lake and eventually Alan Fowler arrived there via Bathagte Thisle. Alan's brother Colin went to Bo'ness & then to Falkirk. Jimmy Ormond another product also made his way to the Rose. Several others were signed by other local Junior and Senior Clubs.
Taking players on trial to top clubs like Hibs and Dundee United was common place on Sundays.

I couldn't agree more. I'm all for getting kids to enjoy the benefits of going on community programmes set up by the likes of Falkirk but when they are older let them develop naturally . Don't shatter their illusion of playing football by dictating their development. ( IMO )

[boheesian]

Dr V, on 10 February 2012 - 07:14, said:

You mean lower Linlithgow

Back under the duvet for you, hibernation is not over yet.

[Jambo'ness]

Auld Heid, on 10 February 2012 - 07:55, said:

The saddest thing about these local community teams are the SPL teams who cherry pick the best talent and then lose them to the game of football in their efforts to find ONE player.

I heard a recent example where a team went most of the season undefeated and reached the final of the competition and came up against the Celtic Youth side and lost by a double figure score.

My own cousin played and scored most weekends - picked up by a senior team and was eventually marginalised as he didn't grow as quickly as the other boys in the squad. Spent the ages 14-16 training twice a week then sitting on the bench. Released at 16 joined the local team and scored nearly every game again. But by this time it was to late he was into golf and football was now a lost interest.

These senior teams are causing as much damage as good to the development of the game by cherry picking boys at an early age then discarding them if their development isn't what is expected. With the attitude tie up as many boys on deals with your playing with A SENIOR team and hope they get a star. With no thought of the consequences to the game when they cut and dishearten youngsters at 16. Kids develop at different times and some kids are big for their ages earlier than others etc.

Leave kids at their local clubs playing with their friends and enjoying the game - then if their good enough at say 16 then let the seniors take them when their old enough to understand what their getting into. At ages 10 and 11 kids think their Messi when they get picked up and that is the start of the problems in Scottish Football (IMO)

This pains me but I agree with you.

I'm sure normal service will resume later.