mcruic

The large league I think is the main issue - I don't remember there being a 20-team league at this level previously - in fact in Scotland at any level, it's not common. Scottish Division 2 had 20 teams for one season (1966-67). The Midlands League itself only has 1 cup - the League Cup - but there is also the Inter-Regional Cup (with the North Region League) and the Scottish Junior Cup.

Rosehill United folded (Glasgow Colleges Premier). Bardykes Rovers (Airdrie/Coatbridge Sunday) struggling - not played a game since end of October.

Rannoch of the Greater Glasgow Premier (Division 3) seem to have folded as well. They haven't played since September, but are still listed in the league table. Notre Dame possibly the worst team in the SMAFA - their first game since transferring to the bottom division was an 8-1 home defeat.

As far as I am aware, they were only set up this year so that Riverside would still have a presence in the Stirling League after the main team moved to the Caledonian League. Essentially a reserve team - using the same Riverside FC badge.

Blantyre Soccer Academy has folded in the SMAFA - not clear if their colts team, who play in the same FA, will also fold. If so, that's 4 teams from the same association folding in less than a week. EDIT - Their colts team will remain playing in the SMAFA Development Division.

Paisley United appear to have folded after only being formed in 2022 - they played 2022-23 as a member of the Scottish Welfare Association, finishing 15th of 17 in the Greenock & District Welfare League with only 2 wins in 23 games. They joined the Saturday Morning Amateur FA, at Tier 3 (Division 1A), but failed to win a game. Their record this season was played 11, drew 1, lost 10, scored 9, conceded 85 - they lost by double figures on 5 occasions, their last match being a 15-0 hiding by New Farm Loch in the Scottish Amateur Cup on 7th October.

I think Newmains United's Sunday team has also resigned/folded - their remaining Football Central Lanarkshire league matches have all been awarded to their opponents.

Also not sure why the Midlands AFA needs a reserve league? They only have 12 clubs now, 9 of which have reserve teams, which cannot enter any of the national or district cups (there is only one "all-in" Midlands Cup where they can compete against the A teams). The Dundee Saturday Morning League now seems to be more successful, but it has quite a few teams with a "pub team" feel, which I don't think bodes well for longevity.

Tantallon Victoria folded today in the Glasgow Colleges League after their 7-0 defeat at Clydebank Red Star.

WoS, EoS, Lowland League (with a few South of Scotland teams and League 1/2 teams) do U20. SAFA do U21 and U19 (the West of Scotland U21/U19 League joined up with the Caledonian League, but dropped its U19 section, while the SPAFA created a new U19 League - League 2 team Stenhousemuir have both U21 and U19 teams in these leagues, and Dumbarton have an U19 team). The WoS U21 League doesn't seem to have been part of the SAFA until 2022-23, when its teams were allowed to enter the Scottish Amateur Cup. Highland League (with a few North Region Junior and North Caledonian teams) does U20/U21 (Aberdeenshire League and North of Scotland League (not held for last 2 seasons)). SYFA - the Scottish Youth Cup was U20, but it's now U18. SFA also does U18 (Club Academy Scotland leagues - Elite, Performance and "Advanced Youth")

Haddington Town and Corstorphine Dynamo Blues both now gone from the LEAFA Sunday section.

Dunblane Soccer Club have folded in the Caledonian 1st Division.

Lesmahagow's Saturday Morning side have followed in the footsteps of their afternoon side and have now resigned from the SMAFA (players joining Royal Albert in the WoS League). Wonder how Saturday morning players were convinced to play afternoons?

Does/did anyone keep track of Football Central Sunday scores? Looking for results of the 10 teams who have resigned this season so far, as their games have just been deleted from the league website.

I think possibly Calderglen in the U19 division as well.

Yes it depends a lot on the draw - Steins didn't play any Top 10 teams on their way to last season's final - Doune Castle and Wishaw HSFP benig perhaps the best teams they faced.

Drumchapel (Amateurs) But Drumchapel United (Morning) also have a fair chance.

Saint Andrews United have indeed been the biggest climbers since the start of the year, with Livingston United being the worst fallers. Top 20 climbers: 232 Saint Andrews United 187 Harthill Royal 164 Scone Thistle 150 Bellshill Athletic 149 Buchanhaven Hearts 146 Lugar Boswell Thistle 137 Peterhead 134 Arniston Rangers 126 Huntly 125 Dundee North End 124 Rossvale 121 Nithsdale Wanderers 121 East Kilbride 109 Ashfield 109 Girvan 107 Gartcairn 107 Hutchison Vale 107 Dundee Saint James 103 Nairn County 102 Deveronside Worst 20 fallers: -257 Livingston United -208 Cruden Bay -176 Kello Rovers -159 Saint Cuthbert Wanderers -154 Hill of Beath Hawthorn -152 Arbroath Victoria -150 Forfar West End -150 Saint Duthus -147 Cambuslang Rangers -146 Penicuik Athletic -145 Tweedmouth Rangers -137 Edinburgh City -133 Crossgates Primrose -126 Cove Rangers -124 Royal Albert -120 Thurso -119 Saltcoats Victoria -117 Mid Annandale -117 Queen's Park -110 Newtongrange Star

St. Patrick's FP, who are possibly the best amateur team in Scotland, lost 3-2 to Gartcosh United in yesterday's 1st Round. Gartcosh United have a chance of winning the whole thing, Castlemilk Old Boys Club and Drumchapel also have a good chance, and what about Cupar Hearts doing 2 in a row? Bannockburn and Annbank United also possibilities.

Has Lochgilphead Red Star folded/resigned? Also, Notre Dame in the Saturday Morning league hasn't played since 9th September - have they also folded?

New feature added - a leagues ranking so you can see how the leagues rank against each other. https://scotscores.theroonba.com/clubrank/clubrankamleagues.html

Amateur rankings and results are back! https://scotscores.theroonba.com/clubrank/clubrankam.html https://scotscores.theroonba.com/clubrank/clubresultsam.html

And the amateur rankings and results are back, with 655 teams! https://scotscores.theroonba.com/clubrank/clubrankam.html

Ah yes, this second point also... I asked the SMAFA on Facebook, and the response was basically "nah mate, they've been deleted". But surely there is a fixture secretary or someone else who keeps a record - not necessarily on the website? Nowadays all the tools are there to help us keep records, but still it seems record keeping has gotten worse in some cases. Another thing that irks me is the Scottish Amateur FA - they have links to the national and district cups on their website, but for the last few years haven't bothered with the South of Scotland or the Highland Amateur Cup results, so these sections are empty. They also regularly get team names/leagues wrong - for example this year they have St. Mungo (Saturday Morning) playing twice in the 1st round of the West of Scotland Cup, as well as having Southside White Cart playing instead of Southside United (Southside White Cart was a different club and is now part of Weir Recreation and they no longer use this name).

I'll be attempting to bring back the ScotScores amateur football scores and ranking next month - the site imploded on 26th May near end of last season due to complete lack of time/motivation, but I decided I wanted to resurrect it. I had a few issues getting the last few results from a few of the 2022/23 leagues (particularly the Saturday Morning AFA and the West of Scotland U21 League), and so a number of results will be missing for those leagues, unless anybody else has kept a record. In fact, that kind of shows why the site was set up in the first place - some leagues just delete their previous season's record when the new season starts. I've just finished collecting all results for this season up to and including today, and have just to collect the results for 5 summer leagues for 2023 (Orkney, Shetland, North West Sutherland, Uist & Barra, West Highland) - hoping to get that done later tonight, and then I will work on checking all the renamed/folded/new teams for 2023/24 that need to be removed/go into the ranking.