New clubs in the East of Scotland

[Burnie_man]

2 minutes ago, superbigal said:

I dont dispute that glenrothes should be able to support 2 teams in the eos. What I dont think it can support is 2 competing community structures with multiple age groups, women etc.

Depends how far their reach is and if there are other clubs doing the same in the area.

Livingston have Murieston United, there's Broxburn United Community Sports Club and Blackburn United Community Sports Club, Bathgate Thistle Community Club, Whitburn FCA all in an 8 mile radius of each other with a large spread of youth teams, Murieston and Blackburn also have a Ladies and girls set-up. There's also smaller youth clubs in the same area.  They all appear to be fairly successful at what they do and co-exist quite happily.

Glenrothes Strollers appear to be very well established and therefore would have a sound base I'd imagine, Glenrothes Juniors are the ones who are new to the community side of things and that will be interesting to see how they handle it, they might not need such a deep spread of youth teams.

[FairWeatherFan]

8 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

Depends how far their reach is and if there are other clubs doing the same in the area.

Livingston have Murieston United, there's Broxburn United Community Sports Club and Blackburn United Community Sports Club, Bathgate Thistle Community Club, Whitburn FCA all in an 8 mile radius of each other with a large spread of youth teams, Murieston and Blackburn also have a Ladies and girls set-up. There's also smaller youth clubs in the same area.  They all appear to be fairly successful at what they do and co-exist quite happily.

Glenrothes Strollers appear to be very well established and therefore would have a sound base I'd imagine, Glenrothes Juniors are the ones who are new to the community side of things and that will be interesting to see how they handle it, they might not need such a deep spread of youth teams.

Glenrothes Strollers have the Legacy (Tier 1) award from the SFA Quality Mark programme. Glenrothes FC are Standard (Tier 4) and there's a Glenrothes Athletic at Development (Tier 3). So you've already got 3 groups looking for players in the area. If anyone gets squeezed out it might be Glenrothes Athletic since they don't have a senior side.

[FairWeatherFan]

5 minutes ago, gogsy said:

Seem to remember that it was reported last year on here that Dundonald Bluebell were going to or have a tie in with Glenrothes Athletic?

You'd be right having had a quick check. Happened last summer.

[Robert James]

1 hour ago, Burnie_man said:

I'm asking a reasonable question I think.  Glenrothes is a very large town, it's bigger than Falkirk.  Regardless of reasoning behind their moves, I think there's room enough to support two senior non-league teams.

Bo'ness and Linlithgow are considerably smaller, and with a very well established and successful club in each.  I'd say there's more chance of the new Bo'ness and Linlithgow clubs failing in the short term than either of the Glenrothes sides.

Spot on regarding the town of Glenrothes. Each of the 2 clubs may well energise each other in the seniors, and a healthy local derby situation may well emerge.

Have both of the fledgling juniors formally applied, and been accepted by the ERJFA ? 

[Robert James]

On 13/04/2019 at 18:14, Kemlin Dan said:

Next years Conferences will bring yet another full season of something to play for past Christmas for many many teams, this year has undoubtedly been very good considering right until the last games of the season there is all to play for, the 5 teams promotion has been good for Club,players and fans right to the last leg of the leagues. This years set-up has kept things interesting and in my opinion promoted non-league football for all.

Hopefully the way forward in season 2020/2021 will be Tier 7 and Tier 8 set up with healthy promotion/relegation in place. 

Agree with your views about the success of this season. It has been exciting throughout, and the interest levels of fans have been maintained.

I'm not so sure about the EoS clubs' views about the  Tiered v Geographical alternative structures.  Tiered/hierarchical divisions are the  more the traditional approach which group clubs together who are of similar strength , whilst  geographical/parallel divisions reduce costs/give more local derbies.

Presumably this will be for the clubs themselves to decide on for 2020/21 ? 

[Burnie_man]

Agree with your views about the success of this season. It has been exciting throughout, and the interest levels of fans have been maintained.

I'm not so sure about the EoS clubs' views about the  Tiered v Geographical alternative structures.  Tiered/hierarchical divisions are the  more the traditional approach which group clubs together who are of similar strength , whilst  geographical/parallel divisions reduce costs/give more local derbies.

Presumably this will be for the clubs themselves to decide on for 2020/21 ? 

Football thrives on promotion and relegation, that's what fans want to see, therefore the divisional approach is the sensible way forward imo.

 

Conferences have been good this season for many clubs, but very hard on others. Repeating next season is sensible and fair in the circumstances but it needs to be with an end goal of creating a First Division/Championship and subsequent lower divisions so clubs of broadly the same ability are playing each other.

 

Geographical divisions will come eventually but it shouldn't be at tier 7 imo (unless there is a merger of ERJFA and EoS inc Tayside)

 

[GNU_Linux]

Do we know when the EOS & ERJFA are meeting exactly? All thats been said is a meeting will take place post-April's PWG.

[Auld Heid]

So I'll ask again, are the new endevours in Bo'ness and Linlithgow also doomed to fail? these are much smaller towns.

Big difference is the above two are well established junior towns - Glenrothes isn't.

[Burnie_man]

Just now, Auld Heid said:

Big difference is the above two are well established junior towns - Glenrothes isn't.
 

Glenrothes, former Scottish Junior Cup winners and runners-up, 10 times Fife League winners, winners of the South Premier not so long ago and in existence for 55 years, isn't established? right oh

They might have been struggling a bit recently, but they have the potential to do well and get the crowds back.

[Burnie_man]

5 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

Do we know when the EOS & ERJFA are meeting exactly? All thats been said is a meeting will take place post-April's PWG.

All we know is that another meeting is planned after the next PWG meeting, which was yesterday.

[Jambo'ness]

I'm sure this would have been discussed way back in the thread, so excuse my laziness on not checking.  Are Syngenta planning on using the company name  going forward.  I distinctly remember Ferranti Thistle being forced to change their name back in 1974 when they joined the 2nd division.  Does the SFA have a policy on that, or do the 'Red Bull' clubs kind of negate any such argument now?

[Auld Heid]

Glenrothes, former Scottish Junior Cup winners and runners-up, 10 times Fife League winners, winners of the South Premier not so long ago and in existence for 55 years, isn't established? right oh:huh:
They might have been struggling a bit recently, but they have the potential to do well and get the crowds back.

Recent times would suggest otherwise.

But hopefully that changes and they buck the trend.

[Robert James]

2 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

All we know is that another meeting is planned after the next PWG meeting, which was yesterday.

What's gone wrong ?   No leaks or fake news from the PWG meeting.

Things could be getting serious.

 

Edited April 16, 2019 by Robert James
post sent in error before completed

[craigkillie]

I'm sure this would have been discussed way back in the thread, so excuse my laziness on not checking.  Are Syngenta planning on using the company name  going forward.  I distinctly remember Ferranti Thistle being forced to change their name back in 1974 when they joined the 2nd division.  Does the SFA have a policy on that, or do the 'Red Bull' clubs kind of negate any such argument now?

I don't have an answer per se, but Ferranti were allowed to have that name when they played in the East of Scotland League, and were still SFA members at that stage.

They had to changed the name when they joined the SFL, presumably at their request.

[superbigal]

What's gone wrong ?   No leaks or fake news from the PWG meeting.
Things could be getting serious.
 

Well I'm in tenerife and only news reaching me is some church and not a pyramid is on fire

[Jambo'ness]

19 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

I don't have an answer per se, but Ferranti were allowed to have that name when they played in the East of Scotland League, and were still SFA members at that stage.

They had to changed the name when they joined the SFL, presumably at their request.

IIRC I'm sure the pools people weren't happy about advertising another firm.  Don't think it was Ferranti's choice.

[craigkillie]

Sorry if I was unclear, I meant at the SFL's request.

[Robert James]

On 15/04/2019 at 17:49, superbigal said:

I was certainly not on the wind up.
It cannot be coincidence that the only junior team to apply this year happens to be in direct competition with another applicant. The juniors as far as I can tell are struggling to get 11 signed bodies on the park at the moment. Hardly strikes me as prospective community club. Imo they are both fighting for the same outcome and only one can eventually win. If I'm wrong I will happily eat humble pie.

On their website Glenrothes (juniors) say they also intend applying to join the EoSL development league. It will be interesting to see how the rivalries between the 2 clubs develop within the pyramid. Glenrothes Strollers have also confirmed their EoSL application.

Has anyone seen an official announcement from Syngenta that they have applied to join the EoS, as I haven't as yet ?

[Burnie_man]

3 minutes ago, Robert James said:

Has anyone seen an official announcement from Syngenta that they have applied to join the EoS, as I haven't as yet ?

They have applied, and are using Grangemouth Stadium.

[Pyramidic]

 A nice write up on Glenrothes Juniors:

 

Glenrothes was supposed to be the future. Concieved in the minds of city planners in 1948 as one of the first projects under the New Towns Act; Glenrothes was unique in that, unlike East Kilbride or Cumberland, it wasn’t built to house population overspill from Glasgow. People came to Fife’s new town from diminishing local coal mining communities and found a very different settlement from the ones they had left behind. This brand new town was full of brand new ideas one of which was to become the first community in the United Kingdom to appoint an official Town Artist, resulting in an abundance of public art and sculpture. This has left a lasting legacy of giant daffodils on roundabouts or massive hands reaching out of grass verges and that’s just on the road in. It was also decreed that a third of Glenrothes would be given over to open spaces and as a result residents are spoilt for choice when it comes time for a stroll in a public park.

Fife’s new town is certainly a place of contradictions as Glenrothes has a record of winning awards that both praise and lambast the place. On numerous occasions Glenrothes has won Britain in Bloom awards and in 2012 it was named ‘The cleanest and most beautiful town in Scotland’ by the organisation Keep Scotland Beautiful. Conversely in 2009 Glenrothes had The Plook on the Plinth award bestowed upon them along with the title ‘Scotland’s most dismal town’. There was much outrage but some locals agreed with this decision citing a surplus of neds, lack of good pubs or restaurants and its “depressed investment-starved centre” for ‘winning’ this title. Will I see the glory of Glenrothes today or a massive balls up in modern town planning? Given my previous experiences I can guess there will probably be a bit of both to factor in.

Glenrothes was just sixteen years old when it was decided the town needed a SJFA team of its own; the awesomely named Brigadier R S Doyle chair of the Glenrothes Development Corporation ordering £250 of the group’s funds handed over to start the club up. Just a few months later in August of 1964 Glenrothes Juniors played the very same side they play today; Thornton Hibs losing 3-2 in a wee bit of a thriller at Dovecot Park. After taking a season to settle in The Glens entered a twenty year period of trophy laden triumph. Between 1965 and 1985 Glenrothes won ten Fife League Championships, eight Fife Cups, seven Cowdenbeath Cups and five Drybrough trophies. It wasn’t just in Fife they were making waves however, nationally they were causing a splash too.

The Glens were just shy of their fourth birthday when they reached their first Scottish Junior Cup final. Renfrewshire’s Johnstone Burgh were the opposition and a draw in front of 28,000 at Hampden Park meant it went to a replay many regard as the greatest ever. Glenrothes would end up on the losing side in a 4-3 thriller, at least no one was short changed for goals or action that afternoon.

The dream wasn’t over for Glenrothes, rather it came to fruition just a decade later but not before a move away from Dovecot Park and into the massive and purposely built Warout Stadium in 1971. Huge by Junior standards, it saw its record crowd three years later when a capacity busting 5,700 rocked up for a Scottish Cup quarter-final against Cambuslang Rangers. The next season however was the one where real history was made and Scottish Junior Cup glory was finally achieved.

I’m not saying that The Glens got an easy run to the 1975 Scottish Cup Final, they drew some pretty tough teams, however in every round they were drawn at home and didn’t play away in the tournament until a quarter final replay against Ballieston. Arbroath Vics, Dunipace, St Rochs and Cumbernauld United were all eliminated from the cup at the Warout Stadium. The final was to become known as “The Battle of the Glens” as Glenrothes faced Rutherglen Glencairn in front of seventeen thousand at the national stadium. In a tight game mustachioed Willie Cunningham scored the only goal meaning the Fife Glens took the old trophy home to the new town.

The late eighties saw The Glen’s first barren spell before a number of Fife Cups and Kingdom Keg Cups found their way to the Warout in the two decades after. The last few years haven’t exactly been glorious either and while Glenrothes were promoted to the Superleague this season it wasn’t on merit, rather a result of the mass East Junior exodus to the EoSFL. Rumour has it that The Glens are going senior next season too, meaning today might be one of the last SJFA games played at the Warout. It may also be a final chance for Glenrothes to win Junior silverware; they may be rock bottom of the league but today is the quarter final of the VTech SMT Ltd Fife & Lothians Cup. Victory today would leave them 180 minutes from a glorious exit from the Junior grade.

Pre-match Pints

Since I announced my intention to visit Glenrothes quite a few folk have warned me that the place “doesn’t really do pubs”. Nonsense I thought Fife’s third biggest settlement and Scotland’s eighteenth must have numerous boozer to sate the thirst of local drinkers, however I was wrong as bars seem pretty thin on the ground. Therefore I start today by doing something rare for me, I’m enter a Wetherspoons.

The Golden Acorn, is a typical ‘spoons; mobbed on a Saturday lunchtime with nice families enjoying an affordable meal together in one half and shiftless arseholes skulling cheap pints in the other. The crowds mean it takes a little while to get served, but that’s the price one has to pay for a one ninety nine pint of real ale. The Darling Brew Gipsy Mask was actually pretty good but serving it in an auld fashioned glass tankard seems risky. If a scuffle breaks out these heavy glasses are the ultimate chibbing device.

Not lingering long I head to a first for me, a bar located in a shopping centre. The Phoenix doesn’t look very inviting from the exterior, reminding me of Alloa’s long gone and rather infamous Back o’ Dykes, yet inside it is a real wee gem of a boozer. Compact, comfy and absolutely immaculate. The walls are adorned with a signed Scotland shirt and a few other fitba mementos along with framed golden records and scripts from iconic comedy sketches.

Beautiful place but premium prices as a Guinness is £3.80 a pint (50p more than my local), yet I don’t care the place is nice enough to warrant it. Behind the bar the woman running the show, who is as immaculate in her attire as the pub around her, tells me something I didn’t know. As conversation came round to tomorrow’s Old Firm game, she asks “Do you know what Ibrox means?” upon responding in the negative she informs me “It means Hill of the Badger”. Every day is a school day I suppose.

Leaving reluctantly I exit the town centre and pass through a more ‘rustic’ housing estate to get to my final bar; Pinkerton’s. A large building with an entrance on the side, I enter to find a place more restaurant than bar where folk are enjoying what seems to be lovely pub grub. There is a pool table and some Raith Rovers related stuff on the walls but punters just having a drink at the bar are few and far between. Unperturbed I order a hauf and hauf of Guinness and Maker’s Mark for four quid and take in my surroundings. There is a constant stream of meals exiting the kitchen and empty plates coming back in, golf is on the telly and kids are running around daft. Great for what it is but a pub it ain’t.

The Ground

It’s a short walk over a massive park to the Warout Stadium who’s greatest feature is a huge concrete stand that’s not unlike Gala Fairydean‘s famous one designed by Peter Womersley at Netherdale. I believe an expert would describe it as a prime example of late sixties, early seventies brutalistic architecture. Inside and upstairs is a massive social club still in the style of the decade it was created in, where even the curtains are a purple version of the Overlook Hotel’s carpets. The windows on one side look out over the park I’ve just crossed while on the other you get a fine look over the Warout Stadium as a whole.

The vast grey stand seats seven hundred on benches and is marginally higher than the pitch so an excellent view is guaranteed. A red ash track circumnavigates a pristine and lush pitch with just a simple grass embankment for spectators round the other three sides. Overall it is gorgeous and seems massive compared to other Fife grounds I’ve trekked to, Dundonald’s Moorside Park could fit in here twice. When The Glens were in their heyday this must have seemed like an imposing fortress of a place.

A good crowd is in attendance this afternoon, over a hundred at least. There are a lot of attractive young women with their wee kids bounding about; the WAGs of the Warout I presume. Regardless it is good to see the side so well supported.

The Match

The teams came out for a half two kick-off with Thornton attired in a rather lovely all white Joma shirt. I sat back with a portion of chips and cheese ready for the action which started pretty evenly for the first fifteen minutes at least before Hibs started to show their class. The first goal seemed inevitable and it came on twenty seven minutes when Stuart Drummond nodded in a header from a corner for the visitors. Twelve minutes later, another corner and two nil; this time Andrew Adam’s ball snuck in all the way from the flag without touching another player.

The first half showed me that while Thornton were classy Glenrothes were a little clumsy. They worked hard but were guilty of wild shots, headers coming off faces and playing a little too deep. With no lessons learned they came out for a second half that saw Hibs finish the game at the fiftieth minute with a penalty. After that though Glenrothes started to shine a little, perhaps because the pressure was off they relaxed a bit and started to play smoother football. It garnered a result too as Lee Celentano stopped the visitors getting a clean sheet by battering home the rebound from a superb free kick by Lea Schiavone.

Three one it finished, a fair result as the best team won on the day. As mentioned Thornton Hibs were The Glens first ever opponents, with them staying in the Juniors this may be the last time the two clubs ever meet in this local derby.

The Aftermath

Don’t let anyone tell you Glenrothes is a shite hole, it really ain’t. Sixties and seventies concrete buildings might not be to everyone’s taste but they help make the town different and look good surrounded by spring bulbs and various statues. Sure some areas of the town are bowfing but that’s the case for anywhere and everywhere. The town’s problem isn’t what it looks like, rather it is the lack of pubs. I really was only in one proper boozer this afternoon and was very luck that it happened to be an excellent one.

There is talk of demolishing the Warout and starting again, according to the local press. In this writer’s opinion that would be a sin; it is beautiful, imposing and easily renovated or even expanded, if the glory days return to Glenrothes then this ground could be bouncing again.

Alas on the pitch the team is light years behind the ones that played here during the sixties, seventies and eighties. Having been to places like Crossgates and Oakley this season however I have observed how going senior has breathed new life into teams. A new era is coming for Glenrothes Juniors, I hope it results in a return to glory.

Source: https://thefitbanomad.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/walkabout-the-warout/