Brad Bobley

Hope you manage to get a sponsor sorted that you were looking for on Twitter. Incredible amount of work to be doing for no incentive.

The only difficult I can foresee with that is how the team to be promoted to the WoS would be nominated. Winner of all Premier Leagues in the geographical region play a semi and a final? SPAFA GGP Caley Ayrshire? Runs into some problems if the winner of SPAFA or the Caley is one of the Stirlingshire region teams but solutions could be found.

Definitely one division then. That’s 15 teams, with a few yet to confirm (BSC & Harestanes).

I think it has to be just one division, unfortunately. A lot of games, yes, but having a maximum of 18 teams isn't particularly conducive to allowing two divisions.

Oh, dear. Well done to Garrowhill. A fantastic achievement.

Parkhall resigning at the end of the season. Another gone from SPAFA.

I might be wrong, but did Josh from Rossvale not have involvement with AS Airdrie previously? I could be miles off with that. Bailey Hanlon transitioning Kilsyth to the WoS another one of note.

The Lesmahagow > Lanark & Royal Albert suited perfectly geographically, and came at the right time for all involved. I don't know if there's many top amateur sides now who would find themselves in as convenient a position. As you say, the top amateur teams could and would dismantle a lot of teams in the Third Division and Fourth Division. I've said it lots of times before, but the actual gap in quality isn't that vast.

Sad to see but the gulf in quality from the top two or three to the bottom of SPAFA next year doesn't make for a very productive or meaningful setup, in comparison with the likes of the Caley, where, for example, this season, there's still five teams who can win the league. I'm just glad they'll be able to build for the future with the 19s and 21s teams they've got on board, and hope that this is only a speed bump in a longer road to recovery. 19 confirmed for next season (with the asterisk denoting rumblings of calling it a day, but only rumours): Castlemilk OBC Steins Thistle Greenock HSFP Pather Oban Saints Chryston Arthurlie Harestanes* Port Glasgow Inverclyde Parkhall* Neilston* Baljaffray Kings Park Rangers Glenvale Carlton Eddlewood Cardross Port Glasgow OBU BSC Glasgow* --- Best case scenario is a league of 10 and a league of 9, maybe? Massive risk with such a small league that one or two resigning means you'll end up with an extremely short season.

Semi finals: Sandys vs Garrowhill Thistle 22nd April - 8pm - New Douglas Park & Steins Thistle vs Cupar Hearts 26th April - 7:30pm - Falkirk Stadium A large 'luck of the draw' element, but the only West team left from the GGP. No West Caley teams, no West SPAFA teams, no Ayrshire teams. A big turn up for the books, that is. Another season where the four semi finalists are from four different league associations.

I think it’s probably too early to say. This is the first real season that they’ve been under SAFA jurisdiction. SPAFA seem to be making a lot of progress with the 19s, and have developed a 21s league for next season too. Not sure how the Caley are getting on with theirs, but seems yet another wedge has been driven between the setups. It would make much more sense have 19s and 21s under the same umbrella, but maybe that’s just me. Having 19s and 21s within SAFA is great, but don’t see the benefit of having them under two different sub-associations.

For sure, and I don't have an issue with this. But the clubs need to have a pathway into playing football beyond 18s, which the SAFA now offers. When they apply, and require to have an adult team, and don't get accepted, the SAFA pathway makes sense, no? We always talk about player pathways through WoSDL and there isn't really a focus on club pathways. I think this move is a step in the right direction towards that end. Youth team becomes too old > joins SAFA to build foundations to > join WoS. In instances where youth teams want to go straight from 18s to WoS - I really can't see it happening. Teams going from 19s and 21s straight to amateur get eaten alive, so will only be magnified exponentially going straight into the WoS, albeit they would have more room for recruitment and lack of restrictions with ages. I feel like we're going round in circles, so I'll leave it at that!

I really hate to keep labouring this point, however… Community Youth Clubs NEED to have somewhere to go while they wait on an opportunity to join the WoS. Naturally, they will join the SAFA which makes perfect sense. Flippantly, clubs that don’t exist do need to go somewhere. They need to be registered to something (if above 19s, then it needs to be an SAFA affiliation), or else is there any point in existing? Again, I agree with your final point, but to gain the necessary accreditation, amateur affiliation, regardless of anyone’s opinion of the setup, makes perfectly logical sense, in the interim at least.

One of the best Saturday morning teams, both historically and also this season. A shame. But, unfortunately, no team folding is surprising nowadays. Hope all their players manage to find new clubs.

I understand your point with being 'obligated', but they really don't have any other choice if they want to continue playing. The only circumstance, I can think of, where SAFA obligation might become a problem is when an 18s team wants to go straight to the WoS, which is never, ever going to happen, for a plethora of reasons.