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New clubs in the East of Scotland


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3 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

Well your track record in the Pyramid debate over the last few years hardly stands upto scrutinty. You're quite good at twitter stalking and rummaging around for old posts though. Most other things are a swing and a miss.

What I know of John Reilly having been at plenty of ERJFA meetings in the past, he's not the type of person to put out emails containing misleading information. He was one of the decent guys from the Junior days.  I'll take what he says at face value.

With most of the email controversies it's because there was a known other side that conflicted. When things like Maxwell's email came out, it was known what was being told to EoSFL members differed.

This email so far doesn't have that. Everyone knows that the Highland League have talked with league reps about starting a pyramid, they've been quite positive about it in the press. It was the North Juniors that dampened the talk last year. So for the ERSJFA to basically say we're talking with everyone is hardly surprising because at this early stage there's no issue to be had there.

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A lot can be said about what happened in the past few years. Who is to blame for Tayside not being in the pyramid yet, who got things going now and so on. Different people will have different opinions.

Quite frankly, at this point I couldn't care less. What happened, happened. All I care about now is that the situation finally gets resolved and we move on. Because of that, I'm glad with this news. It seems positive and I just hope that it will indeed happen now.

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18 minutes ago, Marten said:

A lot can be said about what happened in the past few years. Who is to blame for Tayside not being in the pyramid yet, who got things going now and so on. Different people will have different opinions.

Quite frankly, at this point I couldn't care less. What happened, happened. All I care about now is that the situation finally gets resolved and we move on. Because of that, I'm glad with this news. It seems positive and I just hope that it will indeed happen now.

Agree Marten. Let's get this done (sensibly), and 2021-2022 season can really be a fresh start where we can all argue about what happens on the pitch and not what is going on off it, well mostly.....

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If only everyone knew that BU never wanted to, or indeed signed the MoU offered by BUJFC. Barriers put up every step of the way. Perhaps that’s the mistake of BUFC.
Linlithgow Thistle could’ve and perhaps should’ve came in as Bo’ness Thistle at that stage.
The proposed new club only requires acceptance by Newtown Park Association, as landlords of the park, exactly the same as BUFC, to have priority on the use of the stadium on particular days. If that’s the case, then rejection and objection by East of Scotland teams will need to be two fold on both the new club and BUFC.
There are plenty teams in the pyramid who have grown for their own Benefits and not always the wider good.

There have been plenty arguments suggesting that this is a good thing. As such teams allow players opportunity.

Personally for me it's about clubs traditionally only thinking on number one. Clubs run on shoestrings by a few volunteers. Who had enough problems running one team never mind kids teams etc.

This resulted in the rise of community clubs. As these clubs grew so did their ambitions.

I have always said the real danger is the smaller teams ambition taking over the established team.

Or has the pyramid created a monster and such situations as lower level football disappears.

Afterall you only need to hire a park and of you go..!!


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I don't have an issues with Tayport playing in the North, personally, I think they could be a "reverse Luncarty", as they've always been much closer to Dundee clubs than anyone else.

But good to finally see some common sense on this front, the only thing for the Tayside clubs is that their late entry to the pyramid won't be punished in the same manner as their WL neighbours, so fair play to them for seeing how it panned out.

Edited by ArabAuslander
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15 minutes ago, ArabAuslander said:

I don't have an issues with Tayport playing in the North, personally, I think they could be a "reverse Luncarty", as they've always been much closer to Dundee clubs than anyone else.

But good to finally see some common sense on this front, the only thing for the Tayside clubs is that their late entry to the pyramid won't be punished in the same manner as their WL neighbours, so fair play to them for seeing how it panned out.

Starting at the bottom of a league set up isn't exactly a "punishment". Thanks to COVID it's not looking like there would be much difference since it's entirely possible new EoSFL members will be starting at Tier 7.

Certainly considering the travel complaints coming from the WL teams, they'd happily be where they end up compared to the first team promoted to the Highland League.

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4 hours ago, San Starko Rover said:

Wasn’t the “Done Deal” that Larry from Lochee had copies of more a misunderstanding of the rules and the Veto the EOSFL had than misinformation or a lie? Maxwell and Johnstone had basically agreed the deal but didn’t understand they couldn’t force it through without all parties agreeing.

Sums it up more or less. Key thing to remember with the HL is that the blazers might be friendly enough over zoom but any pyramid deal ultimately still needs to be voted through by the HL's member clubs. The last masterplan from the blazers that involved the possibility of relegation and an HL controlled tier 6 that could subsequently have been further opened up in pyramid sort of terms was rejected when it went to a vote.

https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/sport/stables-highland-league-plan-falters-100975/

Turkeys don't vote etc...

As for the LL side of things the reason why the northern boundary of the EoS has not been fixed (the question that none of the usual suspects on here ever wanted to ponder even after the recent abrupt bizarre U-turn on twitter) is no doubt so the EoS could say to the SFA that any east region club could apply to get in at the bottom tier so there's no possible need for reconvening PWG meetings now with the SJFA. locheeboy and co were no doubt insistent it had to be at tier 6 in entry terms via a Midlands League as outlined on podcasts. That would create another impasse with no easy resolution in another Tom Johnston and all three regions must enter together vs the EoS veto over playoff rule changes sort of way.

Suspect the only reason we are hearing about the tier 6 side of things in an HL context is that all of a sudden Tayside clubs (Tayport and Forfar WE are the visible tip of the iceberg but others may be actively considering similar moves below the water line) are actually applying for the bottom tier EoS option. That puts east region blazers very much at risk as it wouldn't take too many more to reach the sort of tipping point in numbers terms that the West Lothian division did. It also demonstrates to the SFA that there is an issue that actually does need to be solved ASAP and isn't something that can be placed on the back burner and ignored, so hey presto PWG reconvened.

Edited by LongTimeLurker
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My old man played for Letham back in the 60s and he told me that they lost their goalie one season when he went off to play basketball for Scotland.

Cant be many teams who can say the same.

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Now that all but Stoneyburn Juniors (yet?) appear to be heading from the ERJFA South Division to the EoS and it looks as though the North Division of the East Juniors may be heading to the Highland zone of the pyramid after all, as a Midland League, what is there left for Harthill Royal to fear about also going to the EoS?

Travel across the Tay Bridge seems off the list. Games against other West Lothian clubs seems to be on the list. Why set up to travel beyond Lanarkshire into Ayrshire etc? Aren't the players going to go to EoS clubs now that there is likely to be a good choice of alternative clubs on their door-steps to play for - and get home early after the game?

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Sums it up more or less. Key thing to remember with the HL is that the blazers might be friendly enough over zoom but any pyramid deal ultimately still needs to be voted through by the HL's member clubs. The last masterplan from the blazers that involved the possibility of relegation and an HL controlled tier 6 that could subsequently have been further opened up in pyramid sort of terms was rejected when it went to a vote.
https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/sport/stables-highland-league-plan-falters-100975/
Turkeys don't vote etc...
As for the LL side of things the reason why the northern boundary of the EoS has not been fixed (the question that none of the usual suspects on here ever wanted to ponder even after the recent abrupt bizarre U-turn on twitter) is no doubt so the EoS could say to the SFA that any east region club could apply to get in at the bottom tier so there's no possible need for reconvening PWG meetings now with the SJFA. locheeboy and co were no doubt insistent it had to be at tier 6 in entry terms via a Midlands League as outlined on podcasts. That would create another impasse with no easy resolution in another Tom Johnston and all three regions must enter together vs the EoS veto over playoff rule changes sort of way.
Suspect the only reason we are hearing about the tier 6 side of things in an HL context is that all of a sudden Tayside clubs (Tayport and Forfar WE are the visible tip of the iceberg but others may be actively considering similar moves below the water line) are actually applying for the bottom tier EoS option. That puts east region blazers very much at risk as it wouldn't take too many more to reach the sort of tipping point in numbers terms that the West Lothian division did. It also demonstrates to the SFA that there is an issue that actually does need to be solved ASAP and isn't something that can be placed on the back burner and ignored, so hey presto PWG reconvened.
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55 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

The last masterplan from the blazers that involved the possibility of relegation and an HL controlled tier 6 that could subsequently have been further opened up in pyramid sort of terms was rejected when it went to a vote.

https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/sport/stables-highland-league-plan-falters-100975/

Turkeys don't vote etc...

Bit of a misrepresentation as the Highland League split dragged out over 2 years and didn't fail because of the fear of being relegated from "Tier 5". It was proposal to split into two divisions of 10 playing only 18 League games. Creating a new cup and turning existing cups into group competitions to make up the numbers. With the potential to expand from there.

The motivation for change was due to having to complete a 34 game league season in the Highlands by mid-April due to the need to finish in time for the SPFL Play-off. Especially with the prospect of adding clubs through the SPFL Play-off giving even  more leagues games to be played in what for them was a condensed season.

The two division plan was only to be implemented if the league exceeded 18 members, it was supported roughly 50/50 which lead to the counter proposal of only splitting divisions if they exceeded 20 members. The compromise won out since it risked a breakaway. So they did in the end vote for creating a Tier 6 league, just the catalyst changed from having a membership of 19 to 21.

As you have been keen to point out the Highland League have been actively working on a pyramid with the NCL and North Juniors.

 

Edited by FairWeatherFan
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29 minutes ago, Dev said:

Now that all but Stoneyburn Juniors (yet?) appear to be heading from the ERJFA South Division to the EoS and it looks as though the North Division of the East Juniors may be heading to the Highland zone of the pyramid after all, as a Midland League, what is there left for Harthill Royal to fear about also going to the EoS?

Travel across the Tay Bridge seems off the list. Games against other West Lothian clubs seems to be on the list. Why set up to travel beyond Lanarkshire into Ayrshire etc? Aren't the players going to go to EoS clubs now that there is likely to be a good choice of alternative clubs on their door-steps to play for - and get home early after the game?

I think that Harthill are using the opportunity of the move into the pyramid as an opportunity to re-invent themselves. They are a Lanarkshire town, albeit at the border, and the travel distances are probably just a toss up between East & West, particularly given their location on the M8.
The W Lothian clubs were a quite diferent issue.
I stay in Fauldhouse. We are in West Lothian council, we are in Lothian Health board for all Covid restictions, we are in Lothians for MSPs, Livingston for Westminster and Almond Valley for Holyrood (it might be the other way round 🙂 ) , First Scotland East buses for transport, the West Lothian Courier for local news and sport. If I put my postcode into online delivery it invariably comes back with Bathgate even leaving out Fauldhouse altogether sometimes!.Everything I can think of in civil society in Fauldhouse points Lothians. Fauldhouse going into WoSL was for all the wrong reasons and would have been a mess to unravel a couple of years down the line.
Not so for Harthill. Let it go, I hope it works out well for them. 👍

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   17 hours ago,  Junior_Arab said: 

Saw this in a group chat today. It’s attributed to John Reilly, but I’ve no idea where it was originally posted. I can’t see it on the ERSJFA site: 

Representatives of the the SJFA and ERSJFA met with members of the Highland league to discuss our Tayside Clubs (Midlands League) entering the SFA pyramid at tier 6. The meeting was constructive and extremely positive. 

Our next stage is to engage with all parties (Highland league, North Caledonian and NRSJFA) to discuss this further.

We have also requested a meeting with the Lowland League Board to also discuss the same proposal. We await a date from them.

The PWG has been reconvened by the SFA and a meeting will be arranged for either 29 March. or 2 April 2021

Once we have all the information a meeting will be arranged with Tayside Clubs to discuss all proposals.

As always we will keep you updated.

John Reilly
ERSJFA


This is excellent news. Just wondering what would be an effective timeline for setting up the operational league.

Are there any difficult hurdles that need to be navigated?

Anything that we can learn from the procedures followed in setting up the WoSFL?

Edited by Pyramidic
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1 hour ago, PastyMan said:

I think that Harthill are using the opportunity of the move into the pyramid as an opportunity to re-invent themselves. They are a Lanarkshire town, albeit at the border, and the travel distances are probably just a toss up between East & West, particularly given their location on the M8.
The W Lothian clubs were a quite diferent issue.
I stay in Fauldhouse. We are in West Lothian council, we are in Lothian Health board for all Covid restictions, we are in Lothians for MSPs, Livingston for Westminster and Almond Valley for Holyrood (it might be the other way round 🙂 ) , First Scotland East buses for transport, the West Lothian Courier for local news and sport. If I put my postcode into online delivery it invariably comes back with Bathgate even leaving out Fauldhouse altogether sometimes!.Everything I can think of in civil society in Fauldhouse points Lothians. Fauldhouse going into WoSL was for all the wrong reasons and would have been a mess to unravel a couple of years down the line.
Not so for Harthill. Let it go, I hope it works out well for them. 👍

Doesn't everyone (almost) on here support them moving up to the Seniors?

Just asking a simple question! 

 

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2 hours ago, Pyramidic said:

 

   17 hours ago,  Junior_Arab said: 

Saw this in a group chat today. It’s attributed to John Reilly, but I’ve no idea where it was originally posted. I can’t see it on the ERSJFA site: 

Representatives of the the SJFA and ERSJFA met with members of the Highland league to discuss our Tayside Clubs (Midlands League) entering the SFA pyramid at tier 6. The meeting was constructive and extremely positive. 

Our next stage is to engage with all parties (Highland league, North Caledonian and NRSJFA) to discuss this further.

We have also requested a meeting with the Lowland League Board to also discuss the same proposal. We await a date from them.

The PWG has been reconvened by the SFA and a meeting will be arranged for either 29 March. or 2 April 2021

Once we have all the information a meeting will be arranged with Tayside Clubs to discuss all proposals.

As always we will keep you updated.

John Reilly
ERSJFA


This is excellent news. Just wondering what would be an effective timeline for setting up the operational league.

Are there any difficult hurdles that need to be navigated?

Anything that we can learn from the procedures followed in setting up the WoSFL?

It should be considerably easier to set up than the WoSFL. There are only 17 clubs (and that's assuming that south of line Scone & Tayport join). Obviously, there has to be the provision of accepting amateur applicants, but I highly doubt there will be more than say 2 or 3 (if even that). With those numbers you can easily just rebrand the division and put it as a single division underneath the HL. There could be the potential to then split in 2 divisions to not have too big a gulf in standards, but that can be agreed for the second season or later.

HL seem to be positive to accommodate, there are obviously some hurdles to navigate, but I can't imagine they'd be too difficult.

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