Graham3179

As was agreed at the Leagues Formations Meeting, the decision on cups will be made at the February Council meeting when we’ll know more about how the season is going.

I’ve been accused of many things in the past, but that’s a new one!!

House is in good order thanks, maybe get your facts straight before slinging mud. I await your apology.

Lot of nonsense, get your facts straight. Player’s girlfriend tested positive on Friday, player had trained on Thursday so we decided to be cautious and call the game off. Player got tested on Saturday and result came back yesterday as negative. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Two guys get sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity and get a one match ban each, one of them was a nothing foul but the other one broke a guy’s leg. Same punishment but which one is more trivial and who decides? Or a guy that punches another player and gets a 6 match ban should just be ignored? Or a guy that breaks another guy’s leg in a bad tackle gets a 3 match ban that should be ignored?

But is it fair that a guy who had a 3 game suspension would not be punished at all, so misses the same amount of football as someone who has not had any suspension? Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Yes, we could do it by Zoom. We could also wait and see what the government are going to announce tomorrow and discuss at an Exec Committee meeting, before making a suggestion to the clubs for dates and venues for the AGM. We want it to be safe and within government guidelines, but we have also looked into other options.

We have let the clubs know what’s happening for the season ahead, but they were all perfectly entitled to put forward other proposals to be voted for at the AGM. It’s the clubs that decide what the league structure will be and we can only do that at an AGM, and will only have that meeting when it’s safe to do so.

Like I said, the Return to Football Hub has all the information on it, and updates have been issued by the SAFA and the Leagues. The Scottish Government haven’t announced dates of when we’ll move between phases so any dates past that are just rumour and best guesses. https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/return-to-football-hub/

I’m afraid that yes, you’re totalling missing something. The July 13th date refers to youth football, not amateurs. https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/coronavirus-joint-response-group-update-24-june/ “We are pleased that plans are under way to introduce live outdoor events with physical distancing and restricted numbers, potentially as early as July 23. While we appreciate this area is subject to further public health advice, we will nevertheless work with the government to seek clarity on this advice in relation to the August 1 start to the Scottish Premiership season. We also note the Phase 3 guidance that organised outdoor contact sport can resume for children and young people, potentially from July 13. Again, we will consult with ministers, government advisers and sportscotland to fully understand what this means for the gradual return of grassroots football.” “live outdoor events with physical distancing and restricted numbers, potentially as early as July 23” does not mean 11 v 11 friendlies, this will probably be a relaxation of the CURRENT guidelines of football with 2 other households, up to a maximum of 8 people with physical distancing. The Return to Football Hub from the Scottish FA gives you all the info you need. https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/return-to-football-hub/

I didn’t think you were having a go, no need to worry about that. I’m more than happy for people to have a different opinion to me and share it, as I’m more than happy to give my opinion! The decisions on league structure are made by the clubs, the executive would obviously put forward what they thought was the best option but it’s up to the clubs to decide. My personal opinion is that the second divisions haven’t worked as well as we would have liked, but I also don’t think it’s as bad as some are suggesting. We proposed another, more radical structure at the time which was rejected. But I don’t think the numbers are right for a premier league and first division of 14 clubs, there’s simply not enough weeks in the season to complete the leagues, the numbers just don’t add up. And as I’ve said, I don’t think the time is right to change given the huge amount of uncertainty, it would be far better to have a structure in mind for a year or two and work towards it in a logical manner, so teams know exactly what they are aiming for.

The rules are decided by the clubs at the AGM, same as every year. The SSMAFL have increased their league to 16 for one season based on the current situation, but they might end up only playing each other once, or scrapping a cup or two. So we could put the leagues up to 18 (for example) for one season, and then have 8 clubs relegated at the end of the season to get back to 12, when you include 2 being promoted?? We could increase the number of teams in a league and scrap a cup (as the Caledonian league have done), again that’s up to the clubs to decide. Or we could have one big league of 43 and play each other once, with no cups. You’re perfectly entitled to your opinion about the decision of the committee, but as you would expect I disagree completely. You say it’s right not to award titles but clubs should be promoted, where’s the logic in that? Do you think that it’s right to look at reconstruction during the current period of massive uncertainty, would it not be better to wait until the numbers are known and everyone knows what they’re playing for?

It’s in the Constitution and Rules so it’s the same every season. It’s up to the individual leagues to ask for an extension.

A couple of points on this I can respond to. The SAFA didn’t tell teams they couldn’t train, the Scottish Government did. And they continue to do so. The SSMAFL only have 16 in their Premier League for this year coming, they don’t know what their season will look like yet. I think they finished season 2018/19 with 13 teams in their Premier League. All matches must be played before the SAFA AGM which is in June, as per the Constitution & Rules. You need to request an extension to play after this, but ideally games should be completed before it. The reason teams don’t play for 2-3 weeks while waiting to play their last 2-3 fixtures is because they’re waiting their turn to play the team having a successful season, so this would get worse if that team plays well into June. The price to pay for having a good cup run also affects the other teams you still have to play. Ayrshire can’t produce a league fixture more than a week in advance for a number of reasons; clubs can apply for free weeks during the season with 2 weeks notice (this also means if they didn’t fancy one of the fixtures they were given they could get a free week and avoid it), Scottish and West cup fixtures take precedence and can change due to postponements or replays, several clubs play at the same venue so changing one fixture could mean having to change several fixtures, changing one fixture will mean changing several depending on who you’ve already played, cup draws are done during the season rather than all at once so we don’t know what the cup ties are until the draw is made. This would all mean the Match Secretary would be re-doing work and re-issuing fixtures every week. It’s already a big job and this would make it 4 or 5 times harder / worse. The benefit of getting a fixture 3 or 4 weeks in advance is only a benefit if that fixture doesn’t change 3 times, which it could. Issuing weeks of fixtures is only really possible at the start of the season before the cups start, which we have done for the past few years.

Zero rule changes are required, SAFA rules already allow for summer football and there are summer leagues already, so people will need to find someone else to blame than the dinosaurs. There’s no need to move every league from winter to summer, SAFA already have a mixture of summer and winter leagues. All it takes is for a league or association to start a summer division, or a new summer league to be created. IF there really is demand for it then I’m sure a division or league will be created, but if everyone sits back and blames everyone else for not doing it, then it won’t happen. Everyone coming up with excuses for it not happening, but there’s absolutely no reason why it can’t be done in the current SAFA set up.