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Highland League restructuring


Cyclizine

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That may well be true. As I say we're about 2/3 the way through this season though (average of 22 out of 34 games played) - but only about 1/2 of the thrashings have involved Brora dishing them out, or Fort William or Rothes receiving them, or both.

I'm clashing a thrashing as one team winning by 5+ goals (i.e. 5-0, 6-1, 6-0 etc.). There have been 38 such... As I say there have been another 15 with 5+ goals scored but lower margins (i.e. 5-1, 5-2, 6-2, etc.).

I believe Fort William have a backlog of 9 postponed fixtures so far, so the stats could change. Anyway, at least we're getting a lot of goals!

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Most of the gubbings in the last few years have involved 3 teams, Rothes (this season), Fort William and Brora. There are usually lots of competitive, entertaining games on a Saturday. One factor that makes for wildly different performances from week to week is the number of players working offshore or in jobs where they can't always get time off. Makes for fun betting. Believe it or not the second half(missed the 1st) of Clach's thrashing by Brora was good to watch, Clach were still fighting away and got a cracking goal.

P.S. I was unlucky enough to see Falkirk lose 7-1 to Ross County a couple of months ago, not too long after being close to winning the Scottish Cup. That was much more cringeworthy to watch.

You're being kind to Falkirk by giving them the goal.
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  • 5 months later...

So Banks O'Dee are again champions of the Junior North  Region League, with no promotion in sight. Surely the SFA must provide a feeder system in the north of Scotland soon. With the North Caledonian League electing 2 more clubs to its league for 2016/17, and a rumour that Banks is not the only northern  junior club with aspirations to join the 'seniors', it is surely time that this hole in the "pyramid" was addressed.

 

Given the problems of travel and climate in the north and north east of Scotland, the solution is surely to accept the NCL (from Inverness to Orkney) as one half of a pyramid feeder league, whilst inviting teams east & south of Inverness, to join a new NCL (East) feeder, open to junior and amateur clubs. At the end of each season, the top team in each NCL regional division, would have a play-off with promotion to the Highland League,providing they meet the licensing and floodlights criteria. The bottom HFL club would be relegated to the North or East NCL division, as dictated by geography.

 

A phased reduction from 18 to16 Highland League clubs, would also be helpful.

 

The above would avoid the need to split the Highland League into 2 divisions.

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Cost of bus hire is disproportionaty higher than back in the"good old days" I would say. Plus with jobs harder to find it does'nt seem so easy to get time off.

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What - if anything - happened in the end with the Stables Plan, the "Gangs of 8 / 9 / 10", the threats of a breakaway, and all that stuff? In the end Cove didn't go up plus East Stirlingshire went down; but there were official statements saying the regulations for splitting (or not) at 19 or 21 should be put in place in advance of next season...

 

There was also talk of pro-split clubs trying to force 10-9 or 10-10 through for next season regardless, and obviously that didn't happen. Has anything resolved or is battle likely to recommence sometime next season?

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At the time of HL expansion in 2009 they were twice-running champions of the North Juniors and had finished their stadium including floodlights, stand and so on; don't think they had 3G at that time. They'd beaten Fort William 10-0 in the Scottish Cup and reached the Final of the Aberdeenshire Shield (they'd been Aberdeenshire FA members since 2006) beating Buckie 3-1 and Huntly 6-1. I'll copy their competitive results v HL clubs below.

 

They were also members of the Aberdeenshire U20 League.

 

That same season Turriff ended 12th - avoiding relegation on GD; Formartine finished 2nd in the 2nd tier; plus Strathspey finished 3rd in the 2nd tier. Most / all of those still had groundworks pending.

 

Three of the four were elected - and BoD missed out.

 

 

As I recall the only 'explanation' offered - other than that they were too good and/or would have attracted players from other Aberdeenshire clubs - was that they fully expected to be elected and hadn't lobbied hard enough.

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Banks o'Dee senior competition results:

 

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2006-07

Banks o'Dee 1-2 Keith

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2006-07

Keith 3-1 Banks o'Dee

 

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2007-08

Deveronvale 5-3 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2007-08

Banks o'Dee 4-1 Aberdeen University

Banks o'Dee 3-5 Fraserburgh

 

 

Scottish Cup 2008-09

Banks o'Dee 10-0 Fort William

Inverurie Loco Works 5-1 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2008-09

Keith 5-0 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2008-09

Banks o'Dee 3-1 Buckie Thistle (aet)

Banks o'Dee 6-1 Huntly

(Final) Banks o'Dee 0-2 Cove Rangers

 

 

Scottish Cup 2009-10

Rothes 1-5 Banks o'Dee

Banks o'Dee 0-3 Montrose

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2009-10

did not enter

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2009-10

Banks o'Dee 2-3 Fraserburgh

 

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2010-11

Formartine Utd 2-1 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2010-11

Banks o'Dee 1-5 Cove Rangers

 

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2011-12

Huntly 1-2 Banks o'Dee

Deveronvale 5-0 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2011-12

Banks o'Dee 3-1 Aberdeen

Turriff Utd 0-0 Banks o'Dee (aet, 0-3p)

(Final) Fraserburgh 5-0 Banks o'Dee

 

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2012-13

Buckie Thistle 1-0 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2012-13

Buckie Thistle 3-1 Banks o'Dee

 

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2013-14

Inverurie Loco Works 5-1 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2013-14

Cove Rangers 4-2 Banks o'Dee

 

 

Scottish Cup 2014-15

Rothes 0-4 Banks o'Dee

Brora Rangers 5-0 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2014-15

Huntly 0-1 Banks o'Dee

Fraserburgh 5-0 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2014-15

Banks o'Dee 1-2 Peterhead (aet, 1-1)

 

 

Scottish Cup 2015-16

Banks o'Dee 2-3 Cove Rangers

 

Aberdeenshire Cup 2015-16

Huntly 1-4 Banks o'Dee

Inverurie Loco Works 4-1 Banks o'Dee

 

Aberdeenshire Shield 2015-16

Turriff Utd 4-0 Banks o'Dee

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The excuses given up about BOD at the time was indeed that their expectation of being elected counted against them, and their previous successes, venue, etc., counted for less than Formartine heid bummer Atholl Cadger making the effort to drive to places like Brora and get the drams in pre-match in a bid to try and impress folk.

 

The real reason, as everyone knows, is that too many clubs were shit-scared of BOD coming in and motoring up the league, getting decent Shire players in and competing deep into cup competitions. So for reasons no-one really understands, they let a far richer Formartine United in in their place. Who have since motored up the league, got decent Shire players in, and gone deep into cup competitions. Perhaps the clubs were of the impression that Formartine and Turriff would lose interest and the money might run out, rendering both stuck in mid-table forever more, but there's been no sign of that happening.

 

Turriff and Formartine have both achieved top two finishes and lifted trophies, and the former now have one of the better grounds in the league, so in all their election doesn't look as ridiculous now as it did then. Both have achieved more than several clubs in the league have in many a year, my own included. The election of Strathspey Thistle over BOD, or at all, is the one you should really be questioning.

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I was completely against a two team league when Stables first presented it, but it looks like it might be required to stop this league from going completely down the pan. We've a champion with no ground, a club who less than a year ago were days from liquidation, another that's had all their money removed in the past fortnight, and a procession of works teams spending fortunes to try and buy a title that comes with four figure prize money. And because the rest of the clubs know there's no point trying, they're mostly going backwards. AAAAAND because we let in three teams to give us 18 again, and quickly signed up to the play-offs, despite almost every club wanting nothing to do with it, we're left cramming in 34 games into cold midweeks all through winter. The whole operation is a shambles.

 

Damned if I'm going to support a plan for two ten team leagues tho. Gimme 14's as a minimum and I'm on board.

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I was completely against a two team league when Stables first presented it, but it looks like it might be required to stop this league from going completely down the pan. We've a champion with no ground, a club who less than a year ago were days from liquidation, another that's had all their money removed in the past fortnight, and a procession of works teams spending fortunes to try and buy a title that comes with four figure prize money. And because the rest of the clubs know there's no point trying, they're mostly going backwards. AAAAAND because we let in three teams to give us 18 again, and quickly signed up to the play-offs, despite almost every club wanting nothing to do with it, we're left cramming in 34 games into cold midweeks all through winter. The whole operation is a shambles.

 

Damned if I'm going to support a plan for two ten team leagues tho. Gimme 14's as a minimum and I'm on board.

30 Games will be the minimum that the SPFL will agree to, losing 5 home gates for a relegated club will be a big hit for them

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If they would change it to a 16 - 14 league setup, how would clubs and fans react to that.

 

Would reduce the amount of games to 30 / 26 for clubs involved and would free up much needed space to include the cup games also. Over the course of the seeason the League and Cup fixtures seem awfully cramped at times.

 

Would also allow clubs a buffer between senior and juniour football, give the likes of BOD, etc a chance to step up and for clubs to drop down to a level more suited to them.

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If they would change it to a 16 - 14 league setup, how would clubs and fans react to that.

 

Would reduce the amount of games to 30 / 26 for clubs involved and would free up much needed space to include the cup games also. Over the course of the seeason the League and Cup fixtures seem awfully cramped at times.

 

Would also allow clubs a buffer between senior and juniour football, give the likes of BOD, etc a chance to step up and for clubs to drop down to a level more suited to them.

 

That could work in principle but it would mean no promotion for the East and West division champions the first year. Maybe better to go for 16/16. I wouldn't want the HL to go below 16.

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I know we are all beating the same drum here but my favored (for what it is worth) is a 16 team HFL1 and a 12-16 (depends on teams we can muster) HFL2 (or HFL east and west) allowing the ones who want to progress the chance to do so and teh ones who have their level to stay where they are. Get interested Junior teams and NCL teams in and then we have a proper pyramid.

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The trouble is that then, if the juniors are all eventually brought into the pyramid, you'd basically have the top Northern juniors sitting a level higher than the other juniors who would, presumably, feed into the EOS/SOS Leagues.

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