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Junior football, what is the future?


Burnie_man

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If the rumours Burnie posted are true about ERJFA restructuring it seems like the move of a league not joining the pyramid. If they go forward with the idea it'll be shot down by the PWG even more than the current 12 team Superleague.

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3 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

If the rumours Burnie posted are true about ERJFA restructuring it seems like the move of a league not joining the pyramid. If they go forward with the idea it'll be shot down by the PWG even more than the current 12 team Superleague.

If they don't want to join the pyramid then in fairness it's the way to go 

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46 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

If the rumours Burnie posted are true about ERJFA restructuring it seems like the move of a league not joining the pyramid. If they go forward with the idea it'll be shot down by the PWG even more than the current 12 team Superleague.

Agreed. Also doesn't look like a league entering the Pyramid at tier 6, or any other for that matter.

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3 hours ago, GNU_Linux said:

If the rumours Burnie posted are true about ERJFA restructuring it seems like the move of a league not joining the pyramid. If they go forward with the idea it'll be shot down by the PWG even more than the current 12 team Superleague.

Not sure if this will work or not (not too techy), but I've pulled together an idea of how a future EoS could look with Tayside clubs involved, and without.  I've added in names but don't get too hung up on where they have been placed, for illustrative purposes only as they say!

Without Tayside, you'd have a strong 16 team Premier and Championship, with two regional leagues split Lothians, Storlingshire and Fife, then Edinburgh and Borders. 

With Tayside, Still a 16 team Premier, but two strong regional Championships with Fife joining in with Tayside, and further divisions below that.

Probably other ways of doing it as well, but something to chew over.

NON TAYSIDE.docx

TAYSIDE.docx

Edited by Burnie_man
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Not sure if this will work or not (not too techy), but I've pulled together an idea of how a future EoS could look with Tayside clubs involved, and without.  I've added in names but don't get too hung up on where they have been placed, for illustrative purposes only as they say!

Without Tayside, you'd have a strong 16 team Premier and Championship, with two regional leagues split Lothians, Storlingshire and Fife, then Edinburgh and Borders. 

With Tayside, Still a 16 team Premier, but two strong regional Championships with Fife joining in with Tayside, and further divisions below that.

Probably other ways of doing it as well, but something to chew over.

NON TAYSIDE.docx

TAYSIDE.docx

Both setups look very much workable to me. Both also have spaces in their bottom tiers which is ideal for any prospective amateur clubs that fancy making the jump over rather than having to set up new divisions at tier 9 (I don't forsee a tier 9 for a good while anyway as I'd expect slow movement from SAFA clubs to the EOS).

 

How would you go about promotion in these setups? Two up and two down seems the most likely. You could also do a two down plus a playoff between 14th and the next best non-promoted in the lower tier.

 

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, GNU_Linux said:

Both setups look very much workable to me. Both also have spaces in their bottom tiers which is ideal for any prospective amateur clubs that fancy making the jump over rather than having to set up new divisions at tier 9 (I don't forsee a tier 9 for a good while anyway as I'd expect slow movement from SAFA clubs to the EOS).

How would you go about promotion in these setups? Two up and two down seems the most likely. You could also do a two down plus a playoff between 14th and 3rd place teams.

 

I'd go for as many relegations and promotions as is reasonable. I know 4 is a lot to relegate from a 16 team league, but it keeps things fresh with new clubs and plenty of movement, and guarantees 2 promotion spots from each regional division.

It's only a couple of ideas, but it puts a bit of meat on the bone to a lot of the suggestions being chucked around.

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2 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

Not sure if this will work or not (not too techy), but I've pulled together an idea of how a future EoS could look with Tayside clubs involved, and without.  I've added in names but don't get too hung up on where they have been placed, for illustrative purposes only as they say!

Without Tayside, you'd have a strong 16 team Premier and Championship, with two regional leagues split Lothians, Storlingshire and Fife, then Edinburgh and Borders. 

With Tayside, Still a 16 team Premier, but two strong regional Championships with Fife joining in with Tayside, and further divisions below that.

Probably other ways of doing it as well, but something to chew over.

NON TAYSIDE.docx

TAYSIDE.docx

Looks good, and workable.

Although you might need to run 2 mixed conferences again for the south section to avoid new teams coming across automatically above existing EoS ones.

 

Edited by Che Dail
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I suppose there also the issue of whether Selkirk will be reformed for next season.  Any news on that one?

Both options look very good Burnie_man.

 

https://www.bordertelegraph.com/sport/17296135.only-way-back-for-selkirk-is-as-a-grassroots-community-club/?ref=fbshr

 

 

 

No chance Selkirk Victoria will apply for EoS. Not enough interest in the town for a senior side.

Focus will be looking to keep the pitches and hopefully getting access to the changing rooms again for them and Selkirk Juniors. 

 

 

 

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27 minutes ago, 11TH MAY 1991 said:

And where would Clydebank FC play next season in this scenario?

Tier 6 in a WoS Premier also feeding into the LL? 

Basically exactly as they are but in the pyramid, if the league assoc can get their house in order...

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3 minutes ago, Pyramidic said:

Very diasappointed to hear this. Thanks GNU_Linux.

The main issue for teams in the borders is that rugby is a much bigger deal in that part of the world (akin to how shinty beats out football in some parts of the Highlands + Argyll & Bute). That & players would seemingly rather player in the Border Amateur League with their mates vs commting to the travel that an EOS/LL team would entail despite it meaning playing at a higher level.

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16 hours ago, GNU_Linux said:

The main issue for teams in the borders is that rugby is a much bigger deal in that part of the world (akin to how shinty beats out football in some parts of the Highlands + Argyll & Bute). That & players would seemingly rather player in the Border Amateur League with their mates vs commting to the travel that an EOS/LL team would entail despite it meaning playing at a higher level.

I don't always think it's a case of rather playing with their mates it's more a case of the training being local and opportunities for local guys.

A lot of the senior teams train in Edinburgh and are almost exclusively populated by players from outwith the area. 

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16 hours ago, GNU_Linux said:

The main issue for teams in the borders is that rugby is a much bigger deal in that part of the world (akin to how shinty beats out football in some parts of the Highlands + Argyll & Bute). That & players would seemingly rather player in the Border Amateur League with their mates vs commting to the travel that an EOS/LL team would entail despite it meaning playing at a higher level.

For some reason a lot of the rugby grounds are right next door to the football grounds - Hawick, Selkirk, Gala and Peebles all have that kind of setup, and it's always immediately apparent how much more popular rugby is in that corner of the country when both sides are at home . I can remember seeing Selkirk at home to Preston a few years ago with maybe 40 people there - across the fence there were comfortably ten times that watching the rugby team.

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18 hours ago, GNU_Linux said:

The main issue for teams in the borders is that rugby is a much bigger deal in that part of the world (akin to how shinty beats out football in some parts of the Highlands + Argyll & Bute). That & players would seemingly rather player in the Border Amateur League with their mates vs commting to the travel that an EOS/LL team would entail despite it meaning playing at a higher level.

Perhaps the position will change in a couple of years time when Ormiston, Hawick RA, Tweedmouth Rangers, Eyemouth Utd, Coldstream and Peebles Rovers may all be playing together in a regionalised Tier 8.  A Selkirk based football club might find such a competition more attractive than the Border Amateur League. However once a club has disbanded or dropped out of senior football it appears far from easy to reform/reconstitute and move back to senior (or junior for that matter) football - the Duns and Kelso clubs provide good examples.

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On 25/01/2019 at 14:48, Pyramidic said:

Perhaps the position will change in a couple of years time when Ormiston, Hawick RA, Tweedmouth Rangers, Eyemouth Utd, Coldstream and Peebles Rovers may all be playing together in a regionalised Tier 8.  A Selkirk based football club might find such a competition more attractive than the Border Amateur League. However once a club has disbanded or dropped out of senior football it appears far from easy to reform/reconstitute and move back to senior (or junior for that matter) football - the Duns and Kelso clubs provide good examples.

The other factor is that the Border League provides a reasonably good standard of amateur football, with 33 clubs playing in 3 divisions.  Lower travelling distances for amateur players are an attraction, without necessitating trips to Edinburgh and the Lothians. Towns like Kelso,  Duns, Jedburgh,  etc, have had senior clubs in the past, but their current amateur teams don't  dominate the Border League, and would struggle if they were promoted to the EoSL.   Also, it seems that Selkirk Victoria are unlikely to 'step up'  to the seniors in the foreseeable future, if at all.

The borders have not been renowned for having Junior clubs, and whilst it would be interesting to bolt on all the main amateur leagues to the bottom end of the pyramid (as another poster has suggested), it is unlikely to be a viable proposition for Scottish football at the present time. It is however possible that if/when the Juniors join the pyramid, some of the SJFA's smaller clubs may choose to join the amateur ranks instead. 

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