Junior football, what is the future?

[Ginaro]

27 minutes ago, locheeboy said:

Promotion ? Happy being a Junior club ! By the way our application is in

When are your floodlights being switched on?

20 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

and a wee graphic made-up by someone ripping the pish or playing hard and fast with the facts.

It's on the ERSJFA website (now an improved version).  Though obviously they felt the first one which didn't mention tier 6 wasn't enough to entice teams. Wonder when the last time they advertised for teams was?

Edited December 14, 2018 by Ginaro

[locheeboy]

11 minutes ago, AlanCamelonfan said:

What game. We still made the right decision 

Alan, good luck to you and Camelon. I look forward to following your progress through the leagues

[locheeboy]

Just now, Ginaro said:

When are your floodlights being switched on?

When we save up enough money to purchase a set...then we might have a switch on.

[AlanCamelonfan]

3 minutes ago, locheeboy said:

Alan, good luck to you and Camelon. I look forward to following your progress through the leagues

We will go as far as we can. Hopefully lowland league and more Scottish cup journeys. Unless we get promoted we won't need a licence until following season anyway

[Cyclizine]

18 minutes ago, locheeboy said:

Burnie, I have said it before and I'll say it again. ERJFA & WRJFA will be part of the pryamid from season 2019/20 ................. If I am wrong I will come on here and openly admit I am thick....now will you do the same ?

I don't doubt that WRJFA and ERJFA will be part of the pyramid next year - however there's been no official announcement about what level they'd slot in at. No-one's mentioned what's happening with the NRJFA and the Tay boundary doesn't appear to have changed. It's all up in the air.

[glensmad]

...an internal draft email from weeks ago which was discredited and never saw the light of day...

Except being distributed to every junior club in Scotland by the president of the SJFA...

[LongTimeLurker]

19 minutes ago, Cyclizine said:

...No-one's mentioned what's happening with the NRJFA and the Tay boundary doesn't appear to have changed. It's all up in the air.

Something that might be worth exploring is how and when that boundary can be shifted. If as seems likely it's at the next SFA AGM any tier 6 entry for the ERSFA as a feeder only to the LL by next season cannot be gauranteed at this point.

[Cyclizine]

1 minute ago, glensmad said:

Except being distributed to every junior club in Scotland by the president of the SJFA...

 

...and has been called inaccurate by the EoSFA, a misinterpretation by others at the meeting and its content apparently denied by the SFA rep during a club meeting. Who knows what the truth is? It's all speculation at the moment.

[Fife Journeyman]

Why are the ERSJFA canvassing for clubs when the product is dead.
From the Tay down junior football will be non existent soon.
Tayside clubs are fighting tooth and nail to hang on so they don't have to join the Highland League set up.

[AlanCamelonfan]

7 minutes ago, Fife Journeyman said:

Why are the ERSJFA canvassing for clubs when the product is dead.
From the Tay down junior football will be non existent soon.
Tayside clubs are fighting tooth and nail to hang on so they don't have to join the Highland League set up.

Obviously not for the whitburn etc

[Burnie_man]

Except being distributed to every junior club in Scotland by the president of the SJFA...

That was a bit silly, Chamberlain moment.

[Burnie_man]

Something that might be worth exploring is how and when that boundary can be shifted. If as seems likely it's at the next SFA AGM any tier 6 entry for the ERSFA as a feeder only to the LL by next season cannot be gauranteed at this point.

The boundary should not be shifted if we're to have anything approaching a balanced Pyramid. Lochee and co need to go north.

 

[Burnie_man]

Why are the ERSJFA canvassing for clubs when the product is dead.
From the Tay down junior football will be non existent soon.
Tayside clubs are fighting tooth and nail to hang on so they don't have to join the Highland League set up.

Tayside run the ERJFA and know the consequences of more clubs leaving, its probably not a matter of if, but how many. It's in their interests to play fast and loose with the facts.

EoS should go for the jugular and start speaking to West Lothian and Fife clubs, then it wont matter what level the ERJFA enter at.

[Robert James]

21 hours ago, Ginaro said:

It would be interesting to know the entry criteria for the East Juniors (as the EOS have published theirs online), and also who they hope would join them. If you're an amateur club outside of West Lothian, central Fife or Tayside then surely the EOS makes more sense.

Could you post the EoSL advert on here please ?  Its content will be interesting.

[Burnie_man]

1 hour ago, Robert James said:

Could you post the EoSL advert on here please ?  Its content will be interesting.

Just look on their website  https://www.eosfl.com/

[Vollyman]

Tayside run the ERJFA and know the consequences of more clubs leaving, its probably not a matter of if, but how many. It's in their interests to play fast and loose with the facts.

EoS should go for the jugular and start speaking to West Lothian and Fife clubs, then it wont matter what level the ERJFA enter at.

Who knows with ERJFA joining tier 6 clubs might return to that region (Fife and Perthshire clubs) and West Lothian clubs may apply to the EOS.I understand that 2 clubs have applied to the ERJFA in recent weeks I do not know their present status.

[Burnie_man]

1 minute ago, Vollyman said:

2 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

Tayside run the ERJFA and know the consequences of more clubs leaving, its probably not a matter of if, but how many. It's in their interests to play fast and loose with the facts.

EoS should go for the jugular and start speaking to West Lothian and Fife clubs, then it wont matter what level the ERJFA enter at.

Who knows with ERJFA joining tier 6 clubs might return to that region (Fife and Perthshire clubs) and West Lothian clubs may apply to the EOS.I understand that 2 clubs have applied to the ERJFA in recent weeks I do not know their present status.

I had heard that one ERJFA applicant was effectively a pub team.

There's no long term future in the ERJFA as it currently stands.  Tayside will continue to have the lions share of clubs in the Superleague, that in itself will put pressure on remaining West Lothian clubs. Whitburn and Fauldhouse must be feeling the pain financially going to Tayside six times, add in Tayport and the three eastern Fife clubs and it's a strain with either buses and/or travel expenses.  North End will probably go up next season to replace one of the two that will drop, will Pumpherston want to follow them with only two Lothians sides in the league?

The ERJFA must know this, so they go on the offensive with the tier 6 claim.

So we return back to where we began, with the EoS's understanding that a West and Tayside league had been agreed and would enter the Pyramid next season, with the West Lothian and Fife clubs encouraged to join the EoS.  That is the sort of thinking that should be going on, the ERJFA should be talking to the EoS, an orderly merger is entirely sensible and I'm sure the EoS would be open to it, but with Tayside clubs involved in the show, they probably wont.

It's therefore sadly left as a war of attrition, and I can only see it going one way. I suspect more than one WL ERJFA club will jump to EoS next season, and the EoS should just go out and sell it to the others.

[LongTimeLurker]

10 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

...EoS should go for the jugular and start speaking to West Lothian and Fife clubs, then it wont matter what level the ERJFA enter at.

The membership applications notice on the website can be interpreted in that sort of manner and was always likely to prompt a response from the ERSJFA. As long as Tom Johnston is doing the negotiating at the PWG meetings there is likely to be an emphasis on the juniors remaining national in scope as he has no ongoing role otherwise. 

Edited December 15, 2018 by LongTimeLurker

[locheeboy]

11 hours ago, Fife Journeyman said:

Why are the ERSJFA canvassing for clubs when the product is dead.
From the Tay down junior football will be non existent soon.
Tayside clubs are fighting tooth and nail to hang on so they don't have to join the Highland League set up.

The product is not dead and why not canvas ? EoS have advertised what is the difference ? The Highland league don't want the North Juniors let aloneTayside clubs. By the way I think the region should be split. There should be a Lothian region and a Tayside/Fife region. 

[Cyclizine]

40 minutes ago, locheeboy said:

The product is not dead and why not canvas ? EoS have advertised what is the difference ? The Highland league don't want the North Juniors let aloneTayside clubs. By the way I think the region should be split. There should be a Lothian region and a Tayside/Fife region. 

If it comes to pass that the Juniors join the pyramid next season, then any licenced North of Tay team winning whatever level 6 league is covering that area will be promoted to the Highland League - similarly in the North Region. It's perhaps more likely to happen here given one of the probable contenders is already licenced. The Highland League signed up to the pyramid: promotion and relegation.