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Junior football, what is the future?


Burnie_man

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6 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

If you expand this to assume that 5 or 6  SPFL clubs want to field Colt teams in the Pyramid from the start, which as I understand it is U21 with provision for three overage players, then that’s going to have a major impact.

How this impacts on Junior football who knows, it may bring the LL West idea into play in order to accommodate these clubs without demoting current LL members, in which case they will need Junior clubs to pad the leagues out.

This of course depends on whether SPFL clubs vote for it.

Interesting times, and even more important that the SJFA heirachy start getting real about what the future holds.

Me, me me! I said it 1st. Tell them the deal is a West Region feeder or no deal. Let them win it for a couple of years and then they're somebody elses problem. Everybody's happy.

Edited by Sergeant Wilson
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I see there are three candidates up for election for SJFA VP at Saturdays AGM;

M Bamford - Clydebank  (West Region VP)

D.Hynd - Oakley (East Region President)

I.Sherlock - Whitburn

None of them mention how they would help take the game forward.

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9 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

I see there are three candidates up for election for SJFA VP at Saturdays AGM;

M Bamford - Clydebank  (West Region VP)

D.Hynd - Oakley (East Region President)

I.Sherlock - Whitburn

None of them mention how they would help take the game forward.

Surely the Clydebank candidate is up for a bit pyramid integration?

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Its got to be summer football,you have to think that attendances will increase if other fixtures not competing,the standard of football should be better regarding weather and playing surface.I dont understand how we watch players struggle in freezing rain and 30mph winds and expect them to play good football when they cant even feel their toes.How good is the feeling going to watch your team in midweek on a nice sunny evening,the pitch lush green grass,the battle with the midges and players actually enjoying playing instead of trying to keep warm.Lets give it a shot and if it doesn't work just revert back,nothing ventured nothing gained.

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The problem with summer football (and I'm a supporter of summer football) is that if the juniors are to move towards a pyramid structure at some point in the near future then you really need to run to the same season calendar as the SPFL. And that never seems to get off the ideas page with the SFA.

I think all football should be played in the summer. Sitting at East End Park in February is shite when it's a cold day - even worse if you're at an exposed junior ground. You'd almost certainly get more punters but i wouldn't support it until the seniors move that way too.

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For all the chat on here I have heard how the sjfa AGM generally goes.

Absolutely nothing will be proposed or discussed.

Cue another year of moaning.

Unfortunately even the less apathetic club committee's just seem unwilling to take on the dinosaurs when it comes to the crunch.

Presumably for fear of being labelled the wolf in the sheep Penn

 

 

 

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The problem with summer football (and I'm a supporter of summer football) is that if the juniors are to move towards a pyramid structure at some point in the near future then you really need to run to the same season calendar as the SPFL. And that never seems to get off the ideas page with the SFA.
I think all football should be played in the summer. Sitting at East End Park in February is shite when it's a cold day - even worse if you're at an exposed junior ground. You'd almost certainly get more punters but i wouldn't support it until the seniors move that way too.

If the season is currently Aug-June, then your equivalent "Summer" season is something like Feb-Nov or Mar-Dec. It's still Winter football, with the disadvantage that your tail-end of season catch-up matches are being played in Nov or Dec. Countries playing summer seasons generally play fewer league games and usually only one cup.
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1 hour ago, Cyclizine said:


If the season is currently Aug-June, then your equivalent "Summer" season is something like Feb-Nov or Mar-Dec. It's still Winter football, with the disadvantage that your tail-end of season catch-up matches are being played in Nov or Dec. Countries playing summer seasons generally play fewer league games and usually only one cup.

Good point which would partly be solved by proper fixture lists. And there is frankly no need for an 11 month season in the juniors. Never been able to understand why amateurs get fewer weekends off every year than those in the top leagues earning a proper living from the game.

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I wonder what would happen if Junior football changed to a summer season and therefore completely out of step with the rest of the Scottish game. IMO more clubs would jump ship to maintain the traditional season and the link with the rest of Scottish football.  Too many issues, such as finishing the season in winter without floodlights, contract periods etc.   It could isolate the Junior game even further.

As for the AGM, having been to a few of these sadly nothing of substance is ever discussed. It rarely lasts longer than an hour and there is rarely any dissent.  As I said elsewhere, clubs who are of a mind to progress their Licencing/Pyramid ambitions need to start speaking to each other out with the constraints of these meetings. Change definitely never starts at AGM’s.

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How no play march-nov thats 44 saturdays 2 play 22-26 (in the west) league games get rid of the evening times and the sectional that leaves u with svottish west and league cup. Put out a full fixture list and if scottish replays r involved then all they do is switch there league game 2 midweek. Just out of interest how many ganes did glenafton play this season?

 

 

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2 o`clock kick offs

So it defeats the purpose of changing to 3pm kick- offs because as was quoted people are not going to junior games because they would rather stay in the pub and watch EPL games so just leave it as it is,I would also state if you want to go and watch junior football you will regardless of what football is on the telly
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6 hours ago, Cyclizine said:


If the season is currently Aug-June, then your equivalent "Summer" season is something like Feb-Nov or Mar-Dec. It's still Winter football, with the disadvantage that your tail-end of season catch-up matches are being played in Nov or Dec. Countries playing summer seasons generally play fewer league games and usually only one cup.

From end of april to august the option is there to play midweek due to lighter evenings,most fixtures could be played in this time without games being called off due to weather conditions.October ,November fixtures would remain saturday afternoons,this should help the man challenged to create a fixture list well in advance as most games would be played sat,wed,in summer months.And lets face it,with talbot playing last game on 14th june you could say were already playing summer football.

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9 hours ago, superbigal said:

For all the chat on here I have heard how the sjfa AGM generally goes.

Absolutely nothing will be proposed or discussed.

Cue another year of moaning.

Unfortunately even the less apathetic club committee's just seem unwilling to take on the dinosaurs when it comes to the crunch.

Presumably for fear of being labelled the wolf in the sheep Penn

 

6 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

As for the AGM, having been to a few of these sadly nothing of substance is ever discussed. It rarely lasts longer than an hour and there is rarely any dissent.  As I said elsewhere, clubs who are of a mind to progress their Licencing/Pyramid ambitions need to start speaking to each other out with the constraints of these meetings. Change definitely never starts at AGM’s.

For any issues of significance to be discussed at a national AGM other than what the office bearers put on the agenda, it requires clubs to submit motions in advance as has happened for this year's West Region AGM.

The authorities aren't seemingly interested in facilitating any sort of think-tank so it's up to the clubs to get together and set up discussion groups to formulate proposals on abolishing reinstatement, engaging with the rest of non-league etc etc

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1 hour ago, archieb said:

The authorities aren't seemingly interested in facilitating any sort of think-tank so it's up to the clubs to get together and set up discussion groups to formulate proposals on abolishing reinstatement, engaging with the rest of non-league etc etc

Correct.

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On 09 June 2017 at 15:14, Burnie_man said:

Just throwing this out there for discussion.

As expected we've seen Kelty jump ship, maybe one or two will follow in the next couple of seasons but I can’t see a trickle becoming a flood for various reasons, particularly in the West.

However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a significant percentage of clubs out there who would like to see a proper pyramid structure in place which wholly involves Junior clubs, and for these clubs to work towards gaining an SFA Licence and work their way up that structure, participating in the Scottish Cup.

Currently, the SJFA don’t appear willing to engage in serious discussions with the SFA, or even open a debate internally with members on this issue.

So what do Junior clubs do next? what is the long-term future of Junior football?  Do nothing and hope that we only lose a handful of clubs and carry on unchanged, or begin an honest and open discussion between member clubs about how to integrate with the pyramid.

These are serious questions that now need asked but I doubt we’ll hear much about it at the upcoming AGM, it’ll be more head in the sand stuff and no leadership.

Just answering on the opening post, not had time to read rest.

For me, it is the collective 'we' of junior football that is a problem.  'We' are not junior clubs, 'we' are football clubs and that should be all that matters.  However the shake-up comes along either by pyramid, or strict regions, it should be remembered it is still one game, be you Berwick, Buckie or Bellshill.

The SJFA are self-interested.  They have held a power for so long that they don't want to see lost.

Everybody should be allowed to find their own level but getting rid of the moniker 'juniors' would be a fine start.

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