New clubs in the East of Scotland

[Burnie_man]

I'm hoping, hoping, that's there is going to be a certain level of leeway with this since any Lowland League playoff doesn't occur until May.
LTHV last year as a possible example of this. Its not really known if they had their licence officially signed off by March 31st. Which is why people were asking if they were good to go during the Kelty games in April. Think the first public confirmation was being excluded from the Alex Jack Cup draw during the EoS AGM.
Its also just good to know its being worked on ahead of the vacancy created by Selkirk. An overall EoS Champion that doesn't become licensed until say April/May should be the prime candidate. 

I hope the main contenders are licenced but the EoS and SFA themselves indicated this was the last opportunity.

The next Licence committee meeting isnt until June I believe, good enough for Scottish entry but obviously not for play-offs.

I dont think LTHV were eligible for the play-offs last season and scraped in by the skin of their teeth for Scottish Cup (hence not in Alex Jack draw)

[FairWeatherFan]

4 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

I hope the main contenders are licenced but the EoS and SFA themselves indicated this was the last opportunity.

The next Licence committee meeting isnt until June I believe, good enough for Scottish entry but obviously not for play-offs.

I dont think LTHV were eligible for the play-offs last season and scraped in by the skin of their teeth for Scottish Cup (hence not in Alex Jack draw)

We'll just have to see how it goes as most of this won't play out in the public domain.

[FairWeatherFan]

10 minutes ago, stanley said:

How many EoS clubs have floodlights?  

I put this together back in May or June. People were wondering if there was a balance between the Conferences in case of fixture backlogs. It was based on what was on the nonleaguescotland site at the time and people making some additions based on future plans. So not sure how accurate it is now.

[Burnie_man]

Tweedmouth dont have them (maybe based on Berwick Rangers groundshare which fell through), neither do St.Andrews or Bo'ness.

[FairWeatherFan]

24 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

Tweedmouth dont have them (maybe based on Berwick Rangers groundshare which fell through), neither do St.Andrews or Bo'ness.

Found the old thread

Tweedmouth were expected to groundshare with Berwick. Bo'ness were planning to get them installed as part of their renovations, but obviously hasn't happened. And apparently St Andrews do have floodlights, but they don't work so I was asked to add them.

EDIT:

A quick update based on the points from above regarding Tweedmouth, Bo'ness and St Andrews. Also because I wanted to use the current standings, as the listing was based on the original Conference seedings.

Edited January 27, 2019 by FairWeatherFan

[patriot1]

1 hour ago, FairWeatherFan said:

Found the old thread

Tweedmouth were expected to groundshare with Berwick. Bo'ness were planning to get them installed as part of their renovations, but obviously hasn't happened. And apparently St Andrews do have floodlights, but they don't work so I was asked to add them.

EDIT:

A quick update based on the points from above regarding Tweedmouth, Bo'ness and St Andrews. Also because I wanted to use the current standings, as the listing was based on the original Conference seedings.

St Andrews floodlights don't work and I believe even when they did they were only used for training. 

Saints licence application will also come before the SFA next month. Indications from our audit were positive. Like others it could all depend on the floodlight situation.

[Burnie_man]

1 minute ago, patriot1 said:

Saints licence application will also come before the SFA next month. Indications from our audit were positive. Like others it could all depend on the floodlight situation.

Good to hear.

[FairWeatherFan]

7 minutes ago, patriot1 said:

St Andrews floodlights don't work and I believe even when they did they were only used for training. 

Saints licence application will also come before the SFA next month. Indications from our audit were positive. Like others it could all depend on the floodlight situation.

Cheers for that and good luck with the SFA.

There were quite a few inspections that seemed to take place around December. Hopefully they've gone well and there will be a decent number waiting to be accepted.

[FairWeatherFan]

11 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

Bo'ness's lights will go up when 3G goes down.

I saw that when looking into what was happening. Something to do with a mine shaft being discovered when trying to lay the pitch, so everything's been delayed until May.

https://www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk/sport/football/bo-ness-united-s-3g-pitch-plan-is-ruined-by-mine-shaft-discovery-1-4764580

[Ginaro]

Hopefully these applications are all successful and get announced by the clubs, would be good publicity for the EOS before the 31st March deadline...

Arniston Rangers are planning to move so presumably they'd get floodlights as well. Would leave Whitehill and Bonnyrigg as the only Midlothian clubs without them.

Presumably Burntisland and Coldstream will need to get floodlights to keep their licence, maybe with a couple of years grace to get them?

[Robert James]

4 hours ago, Pyramidic said:

The Licensing  process is not so straight forward as one would first expect

More details at;

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/4676/scottish-fa-club-licensing-manual-2019.pdf

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/4735/club-licensing-current-update-january-2019.pdf

 

 

Informative and fascinating.  Thank you.

[Deanburn Dave]

I saw that when looking into what was happening. Something to do with a mine shaft being discovered when trying to lay the pitch, so everything's been delayed until May.
https://www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk/sport/football/bo-ness-united-s-3g-pitch-plan-is-ruined-by-mine-shaft-discovery-1-4764580

BU's will play their last game at Newtown Park at end March. Work to start first week in April on new 3G pitch + floodlights.

[Robert James]

4 hours ago, GordonS said:

Just to be clear, only the winner of the EoSL needs to be licensed to participate in the play-off for the LL (which seems unlikely to happen anyway as no eligible club is likely to win the SOSL), not the three conference winners. The EoSL play-offs will include whoever tops the three conferences whether they are licensed or not.

Correct, but how is the  EoSL champion club to be determined from 3 separate conferences ? Will this be by :

(1) the club with the highest number of points across the 3 conferences

OR

(2) by EoSL 'internal' play-offs between the 3 clubs which are winners of each of  Conferences A B & C ?

And don't forget, depending on the outcome of SPFL club 42 (Albion Rovs or Berwick ?)  -v-  the winner of the Lowland & Highland play-off,  there could be a situation where 2 EoSL clubs are promoted to the Lowland, given the earlier demise of Selkirk.  

NB : The above scenario assumes that all 3 conference winners will be licensed by 31/3/19, with at least a 1 year derogation applying regarding floodlights not yet installed/operational. 

 

Edited January 27, 2019 by Robert James

[Burnie_man]

12 minutes ago, Robert James said:

Correct, but how is the  EoSL champion club to be determined from 3 separate conferences ? Will this be by :

(1) the club with the highest number of points across the 3 conferences

OR

(2) by EoSL 'internal' play-offs between the 3 clubs which are winners of each of  Conferences A B & C ?

And don't forget, depending on the outcome of SPFL club 42 (Albion Rovs or Berwick ?)  -v-  the winner of the Lowland & Highland play-off,  there could be a situation where 2 EoSL clubs are promoted to the Lowland, given the earlier demise of Selkirk.  

NB : The above scenario assumes that all 3 conference winners will be licensed by 31/3/19, with at least a 1 year derogation applying regarding floodlights not yet installed/operational. 

 

3 way round-robin play-off, regardless of Licence status.

[GordonS]

Correct, but how is the  EoSL champion club to be determined from 3 separate conferences ? Will this be by :
(1) the club with the highest number of points across the 3 conferences
OR
(2) by EoSL 'internal' play-offs between the 3 clubs which are winners of each of  Conferences A B & C ?
And don't forget, depending on the outcome of SPFL club 42 (Albion Rovs or Berwick ?)  -v-  the winner of the Lowland & Highland play-off,  there could be a situation where 2 EoSL clubs are promoted to the Lowland, given the earlier demise of Selkirk.  
NB : The above scenario assumes that all 3 conference winners will be licensed by 31/3/19, with at least a 1 year derogation applying regarding floodlights not yet installed/operational. 
 

It's (2), the winners of the three conferences play each other once, with one game at home and one away. The winner is the champion of the EoSL.

If they're licensed they'll go into the LL play-off against the SoSL champion, provided they too are eligible. But it's unlikely that will happen.

Only the winner of that route is guaranteed going up (if licensed). Any other spaces in the LL (such as Selkirk's spot) will be filled by application.

If neither the winners of the EoSL or the SoSL are licensed, nobody goes up and the LL's bottom club doesn't come down.

[Robert James]

7 minutes ago, GordonS said:

It's (2), the winners of the three conferences play each other once, with one game at home and one away. The winner is the champion of the EoSL.

If they're licensed they'll go into the LL play-off against the SoSL champion, provided they too are eligible. But it's unlikely that will happen.

Only the winner of that route is guaranteed going up (if licensed). Any other spaces in the LL (such as Selkirk's spot) will be filled by application.

If neither the winners of the EoSL or the SoSL are licensed, nobody goes up and the LL's bottom club doesn't come down.

"No body goes up" ?

Surely the vacancy created by Selkirk's demise, has to be filled in the Lowland for 2019/20, by application from licensed clubs, although I am not sure what the process will be if Albion Rovers or Berwick Rangers  lose the SPFL/Pyramid play-off, and are replaced in the SPFL by Cove Rangers, or A N Other Highland League club.

[FairWeatherFan]

7 hours ago, GordonS said:

If neither the winners of the EoSL or the SoSL are licensed, nobody goes up and the LL's bottom club doesn't come down.

Bottom club from the LL would still be relegated they'd have to reapply. It's the same situation as 2015-16 when Threave Rovers finished bottom of a 15 team LL with no club promoted.

6 hours ago, Robert James said:

"No body goes up" ?

Surely the vacancy created by Selkirk's demise, has to be filled in the Lowland for 2019/20, by application from licensed clubs, although I am not sure what the process will be if Albion Rovers or Berwick Rangers  lose the SPFL/Pyramid play-off, and are replaced in the SPFL by Cove Rangers, or A N Other Highland League club.

Nobody goes up through promotion. Any vacancy would be filled by application.

If Cove go up and Albion Rovers/Berwick Rangers go down. Then what happens is both 14th & 15th in the Lowland League will be relegated. Due to the vacancy created by Selkirk there would still be at least one vacancy to apply for even if EoS/SoS Champion is promoted.

[GordonS]

9 hours ago, Robert James said:

"No body goes up" ?

Surely the vacancy created by Selkirk's demise, has to be filled in the Lowland for 2019/20, by application from licensed clubs, although I am not sure what the process will be if Albion Rovers or Berwick Rangers  lose the SPFL/Pyramid play-off, and are replaced in the SPFL by Cove Rangers, or A N Other Highland League club.

Selkirk's spot has to be filled by application - but it doesn't automatically mean someone goes up from the EoSL to fill it. The SLFL could award it to the team that finish bottom of the LL, or someone from outside the pyramid like Pollok.

As FWF says, if a club comes down into the LL but no-one goes up from it, the second-bottom club in the LL is relegated too (so this season it would be 14th place).

2 hours ago, FairWeatherFan said:

Bottom club from the LL would still be relegated they'd have to reapply. It's the same situation as 2015-16 when Threave Rovers finished bottom of a 15 team LL with no club promoted.

That's not what Rule B4 says though, although the wording isn't clear. Has it been re-written since 2016? http://slfl.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Scottish-Lowland-Football-League-Rules-Version-10.pdf 

[Marten]

56 minutes ago, GordonS said:

Selkirk's spot has to be filled by application - but it doesn't automatically mean someone goes up from the EoSL to fill it. The SLFL could award it to the team that finish bottom of the LL, or someone from outside the pyramid like Pollok.

As FWF says, if a club comes down into the LL but no-one goes up from it, the second-bottom club in the LL is relegated too (so this season it would be 14th place).

That's not what Rule B4 says though, although the wording isn't clear. Has it been re-written since 2016? http://slfl.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Scottish-Lowland-Football-League-Rules-Version-10.pdf 

I admit the wording is unclear, but in B4 it says: "The bottom club will be relegated to the League which will have been decided by the Boards of the three leagues prior to the start of each season" and "If neither of the Champion Clubs meets the criteria there will be no promotion". Based on that, I would conclude that the bottom club will be relegated whatever. Neither champion being licensed will mean there is no promotion, but relegation will still go ahead (otherwise that rule will be "there will be no promotion or relegation"). It will just mean there is an extra vacancy to be open for application. That means in theory there can be 3 vacancies up for application: 1 to replace Selkirk, 1 to replace the relegated team if there is no promotion and 1 for a team getting relegated from SPFL2 to HL and promotion from LL to SPFL2. Although the latter is obviously very unlikely.

[Robert James]

1 hour ago, GordonS said:

Selkirk's spot has to be filled by application - but it doesn't automatically mean someone goes up from the EoSL to fill it. The SLFL could award it to the team that finish bottom of the LL, or someone from outside the pyramid like Pollok.

As FWF says, if a club comes down into the LL but no-one goes up from it, the second-bottom club in the LL is relegated too (so this season it would be 14th place).

That's not what Rule B4 says though, although the wording isn't clear. Has it been re-written since 2016? http://slfl.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Scottish-Lowland-Football-League-Rules-Version-10.pdf 

Surely not Pollok, nor any other West Region junior club (except Girvan, who are already licensed) can be promoted by application, as they aren't currently in the pyramid, and don't have an SFA licence - which I thought was essential to play in the Lowland League ?  

However the Licensing Committee meeting on 12 February could award up to a dozen new licences to existing pyramid clubs,  who applied before 1st January 2019.