Cicero Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 I find it interesting that junior clubs find the prospect of increasing travelling costs daunting. Most of our away matches involve a 200 mile round trip. We are not by any means the best supported non-league but still manage to sustain the travelling costs. We cut our cloth accordingly and pay the players within the budget that we can afford. Probably less than all the Superleague clubs. What I can sympathise with is the travelling time. An away match means that a Saturday is all be written off for doing anything else unless you want to go to the expense of driving and paying the petrol costs. One of the attractions of junior football is more local matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lithgierose Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 I find it interesting that junior clubs find the prospect of increasing travelling costs daunting. Most of our away matches involve a 200 mile round trip. We are not by any means the best supported non-league but still manage to sustain the travelling costs. We cut our cloth accordingly and pay the players within the budget that we can afford. Probably less than all the Superleague clubs. What I can sympathise with is the travelling time. An away match means that a Saturday is all be written off for doing anything else unless you want to go to the expense of driving and paying the petrol costs. One of the attractions of junior football is more local matches. take it that's the club your talking about?.what about the fans,cant see the older generation wanting to travel to ayrshire every second week. if the older ones were to stay away then i wouldn' t like to try and pay for supporters buses that would more than likely be half full most away games.. think there would need to be a big influx of supporters willing to use buses in the future who dont normally take advantage of supporters clubs run buses.(myself included most weeks) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Playing devil's advocate here for a moment, however: what proportion of the home support of (taking the usual suspects) Bo'ness, Linlithgow, Auchinleck and Pollok go to away matches? And how many clubs bring what can be described as "significant" away supports, which they wouldn't for longer-distance games? It may well be that a Scottish/Central Junior League would reduce travelling supports... it may also be that, in the grand scheme of things, no-one particularly cared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Old Northerner Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Looks like there might be some more legs in this. From the latest SJFA management meeting minutes RECONSTRUCTION It was agreed that the Management Committee would recommend to the member clubs of the formation of a Super Premier League from season 2015/16 involving those clubs in the East and West Super Leagues. The formation of the top league would be 8 East and 6 West. A similar structure for the league below (based on league position at completion of season 2014/15.) There would be no structural changes to the leagues below the current East and West Super Leagues. All clubs would remain members of their existing Regions and participate in Regional Cups – the newly formed league’s fixtures being administered by the SJFA. Also Scottish Cup 'revamp' A paper had been submitted suggesting for consideration changes to the Scottish Cup format which may alleviate the impact on Regional fixture planning – to be further discussed with Regional Secretaries. Salient points : Equalisation Round Round 3 rather than Round 1. First Round mid September Second Round mid October Third Round mid November (couple of weeks earlier than present.) Draw or Postponement games take place on 2nd Saturday after scheduled game. No replays (subject of further discussion / consultation required.) and of course the Pyramid was the subject of much debate PYRAMID The Secretary advised that Linlithgow Rose had obtained Club Licensing Entry Level status. A discussion took place on the merits etc. of the SJFA participation in the Pyramid System. The Secretary to discuss further with then Scottish FA Chief Executive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nocko Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I like the idea but should be a 50/50 East West split imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnie_man Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Madness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Interesting. So it will be East and West only. And depending on the answer they reach on "the merits of the SJFA participation in the Pyramid System", we could see a Junior Superduperleague encompassiing more territory than the Lowland League above it? Certainly not hanging-around as regards timing - presumably the idea would be to approve the Superduperleagues sometime in the next few months, with clubs playing to finish "top 6/7" or "bottom 6/7" next season to qualify? Regarding the Junior Cup, what does "equalisation" in R3 not R1 mean? My guess would be playing 84 ties > 42 ties > 10 ties + 22 byes > 16 ties > 8 ties > 4 ties > Semi-Finals > Final instead of current 40 ties + 108 byes > 64 ties > 32 ties > 16 ties > 8 ties > 4 ties > Semi-Finals > Final but it's not familiar phrasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnie_man Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 It's simply a direct reply from the SJFA to the potential of losing clubs to the LL and pyramid structure and I wonder how much thought they have put into it?. What i have found is that players and officials of clubs I have spoken to are all in favour of a unified super league and/or clubs joining the LL and in essence the pyramid. My thoughts are that there have been very little thought, as is standard with Junior blazerati, it is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to the Lowland League and gets us nowhere. Where does the North Superleague fit into this? will the likes of Lochee United or Carnoustie really want to travel to deepest Ayrshire for a league game? They say no change to the structure below, but how can that be? The East operate a new league 16x4 set-up which will need changing if 8 clubs leave. Ill thought out and ill conceived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 It's simply a direct reply from the SJFA to the potential of losing clubs to the LL and pyramid structure and I wonder how much thought they have put into it? My thoughts are that there have been very little thought, as is standard with Junior blazerati, it is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to the Lowland League and gets us nowhere. Where does the North Superleague fit into this? will the likes of Lochee United or Carnoustie really want to travel to deepest Ayrshire for a league game? Ill thought out and ill conceived. So you think they want a rival/competitor/alternative to the pyramid? Hopefully that won't happen. Any restructuring should embrace and complement it, surely. They say no change to the structure below, but how can that be? The East operate a new league 16x4 set-up which will need changing if 8 clubs leave.. It says "similar structure for the league below" so the plan must still be: Superduperleague 1... 14 clubs (26 games?) Superduperleague 2... 14 clubs (26 games?) That'll be why its 8 clubs from East Region and only 6 from West Region. Simply breaks-up the top divisions in each region. East clubs get 2 extra slots in each Superduperleague because they currently operate a 16 team top-tier while West currently operate with 12 teams? Not particularly fair in sporting terms but avoids any further rejigging. Superduperleague 1 Superduperleague 2 West SuperFirst ... East Premier West districts ... ... ... East districts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Stuart. Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Might as well just join the LL. The East/West superleague doesn't really appeal to me as it still has a glass ceiling and just as much travelling, if not more. Also the no replays in the jnr cup idea can f**k right off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackD1908 Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Certainly wouldn't mind it because I live in the East, but what time would a Glenafton team bus have to leave for a 1:45 kick off in Lochee? Should be a 50/50 East/West split as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.M Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Might as well just join the LL. The East/West superleague doesn't really appeal to me as it still has a glass ceiling and just as much travelling, if not more. Also the no replays in the jnr cup idea can f**k right off! exactly, why would the Meadow or Talbot want to travel to Camelon as opposed to Cumnock to play in front of a smaller crowd ? just using teams geographically) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Stuart. Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 exactly, why would the Meadow or Talbot want to travel to Camelon as opposed to Cumnock to play in front of a smaller crowd ? just using teams geographically) Would rather Meadow played Talbot in the LL if anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yes, I believe they see their potential new structure as a rival to the pyramid. They are desperate to stay in control of their kingdom and the thought of losing massive junior clubs like Linlithgow etc terrifies them. I see... that's pretty disappointing. Although it always looked a possibility given the Junior secretary floated the Superduperleague idea the week the (negatively received) LL was launched. Nothing against (sensible 'n fair) Junior reorganisation, but it should be within the pyramid system, and geared towards that. No reason why the current East and West Superleagues, or a Lowland Superduperleague, couldn't be the basis of rungs beneath the LL. We don't need a 'pirate' Junior pyramid running in tandem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 No reason why a junior lowland superleague couldn't be accepted as a third feeder to the SPFL, in my opinion, in a similar manner to how the Isthmian and Southern leagues overlapped geographically as feeders to the Conference in England in its early years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanburn Dave Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 What about relegation ? It would be unlikely but let's say that at the end of the season the West sides finish as the top 6 and the East sides finish in the bottom 8 in the SuperDuper League. Either you relegate the bottom 2 which could mean an East side like Carnoustie drop into the West league or the bottom West side who finished 6th go down. No matter what they do it's going to be a nonsense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Think adjustments would probably be made further down the junior pyramid to keep the numbers of the east and west feeder divisions even. Also think they will need to go 8 east and west, to get this through an AGM. It's easy enough to realign things in the west to accommodate that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parsforlife Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Defiantly seems to me this an attempt to keep teams from joining the lowland league. I don't see how all the complaints over lowland league can disappear because people can shout mon eh juniors and Johnstone can keep his job. If teams/SJFA are serious over pyramid participation then overall I don't think having 3 divisions playing lowland wide football is the best plan. The main problem for the Pyramid(how you merge juniors with SoS and EoS)hasn't been addressed by the lowland league forming anyway, it is something that should be worked on. Unfortunately egos need put aside for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patriot1 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Yes, I believe they see their potential new structure as a rival to the pyramid. They are desperate to stay in control of their kingdom and the thought of losing massive junior clubs like Linlithgow etc terrifies them. There is a lack of willingness to embrace change and ambition and this will shortly start to bite the SJFA on the arse. The potential rewards for reaching league football and the removal of barriers to advancement are something the SJFA cannot compete with. They need to accept change is happening and work with the league authorities accordingly. Spot on!! This is about self interest on the part of the SJFA. And there is no need to merge the juniors with the Lowland League. Those junior teams who wish to become part of the pyramid should be looking to join the lowland/highland leagues with the remaining junior sides playing in the existing set up. As i have said before i do not wish to see St Andrews join the pyramid simply because we don't have the crowds to finance or justify SPFL football. As it is we would struggle to finance the extra transport costs associated with playing in an east/west junior league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTG Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 I've a feeling this may end up as Tiers 6 and 7. Licensing requirements of LL not necessary but quality is high and it opens the relegation element of LL. Folk may think there will be many very good sides sitting beneath poorer teams in the LL but that is to some extent a result of the SJFA and its members failing to acknowledge change and suffering a bit of consequence. Or it may be an alternative to LL. If so, it will be a costly one for clubs both in terms of increased travel and exclusion from the Scottish cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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