Junior football, what is the future?

[Haywain2002]

28 minutes ago, Dev said:

Hoping that     theesel1994      will continue giving us up-dates on new applicants for the WoS but, for now, the latest on who has stated that they've applied and a list of the remainder of the West Juniors: 

Clubs which have Applied so far:
Premiership (4)	Championship (1)	League One (1)	League Two (0)	Others (1)
Clydebank	Neilston Juniors	Bellshill Athletic		Drumchapel Utd PYM
Kilwinning Rangers
Kirkintilloch Rob Roy
Rutherglen Glencairn
Not applied so far:
Auchinleck Talbot	Arthurlie	Ardrossan Winton Rovers	Annbank United
Beith Juniors	Blantyre Victoria	Carluke Rovers	Ardeer Thistle
Benburb	Cambuslang Rangers	East Kilbride Thistle	Ashfield
Cumnock Juniors	Craigmark Burntonians	Girvan	Forth Wanderers
Glenafton Athletic	Cumbernauld United	Glasgow Perthshire	Johnstone Burgh
Hurlford United	Dalry Thistle	Greenock Juniors	Lugar Boswell Thistle
Irvine Meadow XI	Darvel	Kello Rovers	Maybole Juniors
Kilbirnie Ladeside	Gartcairn Juniors	Lanark United	Muirkirk Juniors
Largs Thistle	Irvine Victoria	Larkhall Thistle	Newmains United
Pollok	Kilsyth Rangers	Lesmahagow Juniors	Saltcoats Victoria
Rossvale	Petershill	Maryhill	St Anthony's
Troon	Renfrew	Port Glasgow Juniors	Thorniewood United
	Shotts Bon Accord	Royal Albert	Vale of Clyde
	St Roch's	Shettleston	Vale of Leven
	Whitletts Victoria	Wishaw Juniors	Yoker Athletic

At risk of being picky, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy said they are joining, but not that they had applied. And Drumchapel seemed to say that the :new first team' will be Drumchapel United (without the PYM).

[gaz5]

Nothing wrong with having ties to the past. One of the best things about Scottish football is a storied tradition and history. Lots of people associate Junior football with non-SPFL football in Scotland. I think retaining that link while evolving and accepting new entries as part of a pyramid structure would be a great way to tie things together.

If those ties to the past come with an entry fee payable to the SJFA for the rights to run the competition and use the trophy it will never be an all in cup.

There are, remember, a number of teams out there who went through a lot of abuse, threats etc after their move out of the juniors and more still who have never been junior and have been belittled almost constantly for a decade from that direction. Would, for example, Kelty or Clydebank want to pay money into the SJFA coffers just to play in the Junior Cup? Would Cumbernauld Colts, EK or BSC, the "boys clubs" want to?

Only way you get an all in trophy for non league, which you're 100% right is the way to go, is for all sides to give up their "biggest" cup and start a new one. Use the trophy if you want, sure, but it can't be run by one association alone and that certainly can't be the one who has done their best over the last 10 years to alienate a fair percentage of the club's you'd want to enter it.

Just my view.

[amigan]

SFA Vase anyone?

[craigkillie]

I think Rob Roy will be the first ever team from East Dunbartonshire to play in a senior league. I think that would leave Argyll & Bute, Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles), Shetland and Orkney as the only ones who have still never had a team in a senior league.

[Terry Singh]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/spfl-pyramid-masterplan-agreed-juniors-21753119

An SJFA insider said: “We are very confident that all our clubs in the west will move together - that was always our intention to make sure nobody was left behind.

“Everybody wanted pyramid and that’s what everyone is getting.

“This very much saves the Junior grade. The SJFA is just a body but the 120-odd clubs around the country are the association.

“We needed to make sure the Junior Cup was still prevalent and available. It lost its attraction when those east teams left the grade to move to the pyramid but we couldn’t have afforded the west teams also gave up their membership.

“That to me has saved the Junior Cup.”

 

Looks to me that the Juniors in the west aren't really 100% into this, all about saving the grade

[Beenzon-Toste]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/spfl-pyramid-masterplan-agreed-juniors-21753119
An SJFA insider said: “We are very confident that all our clubs in the west will move together - that was always our intention to make sure nobody was left behind.
“Everybody wanted pyramid and that’s what everyone is getting.
“This very much saves the Junior grade. The SJFA is just a body but the 120-odd clubs around the country are the association.
“We needed to make sure the Junior Cup was still prevalent and available. It lost its attraction when those east teams left the grade to move to the pyramid but we couldn’t have afforded the west teams also gave up their membership.
“That to me has saved the Junior Cup.”
 
Looks to me that the Juniors in the west aren't really 100% into this, all about saving the grade

New name, Terry, but still same bitterness.
Embrace the new dawn, Burnie.
Holding grudges only holds you back.

[STRUTHERS]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/336297951955/permalink/10156747128026956/

[Haywain2002]

3 minutes ago, STRUTHERS said:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/336297951955/permalink/10156747128026956/

That's a private group.

[FairWeatherFan]

57 minutes ago, Lowland team said:

Thats very true.but they would then have to forgo playing at tier 6.and then win or finish in the top 5 of whichever conference league they end up in.said before its every clubs choice.

And what exactly does being at tier 6 do for you?

Extra grants, extra sponsorship, extra prize money, better entry point into the Scottish cup? Nope. Only advantage is closer promotion to the Lowland League.

But Bonnyton aren't licenced. So no promotion. So you're in a 15 team league with two reserves. The South Challenge Cup is their only annual tournament where the majority of teams out with the SOSFL. The other half dozen cups they play in are amongst the same 20 clubs.

Maybe they'd see being in a league with 60+ members and closer geographically as a better way to grow the club over the relative meaningless status of Tier 6.

[STRUTHERS]

Application in

[glensmad]

"Everybody wanted pyramid" eh ? Really ?

I think we all know that's just utter nonsense.

[STRUTHERS]

Here

[Terry Singh]

6 minutes ago, Beenzon-Toste said:

New name, Terry, but still same bitterness.
Embrace the new dawn, Burnie.
Holding grudges only holds you back.

FFS naw

Whoever the anonymous source for the Record is they are spouting pish

[glensmad]

Lol, they've copied that wording almost exactly from Glencairn's Facebook update last night. [emoji23]

 

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2588642091378768&id=1484383321804656

 

[STRUTHERS]

Trailblazers [emoji23]

Lol, they've copied that wording almost exactly from Glencairn's Facebook update last night. [emoji23]
 
 
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2588642091378768&id=1484383321804656
 

[San Starko Rover]

Bin both SJC And SCC and stick their trophies in the museum at Hampden. Make a new cup for every team tier 5 down with a new trophy. No Senior no Junior just football teams.

[Cameron Wilson]

6 minutes ago, Terry Singh said:

FFS naw

Whoever the anonymous source for the Record is they are spouting pish

Not to mention the Record itself up to its usual poor standards of accuracy about anything not related to the ugly sisters, describing the WSOL as the "final" piece of the jigsaw. Try telling that to Tayside.

[Terry Singh]

Bin both SJC And SCC and stick their trophies in the museum at Hampden. Make a new cup for every team tier 5 down with a new trophy. No Senior no Junior just football teams.

Melt them both down and make a big f*ck off Champions League style one [emoji3]

[cmontheloknow]

https://pollokfc.com/2020/03/25/west-of-scotland-league-proposal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=west-of-scotland-league-proposal

[Guest]

It's not a fallacy though is it? The Junior Cup is the best tournament in non-SPFL football aside from the senior Scottish Cup. Nothing wrong with retaining a link to the past as we move into the future.
Get every team from tier 5 down into an all-in cup tournament and retain the Junior name and trophy. Retire the South Challenge Cup.

It is a cup that splits opinion. I played junior for pretty much my entire career and didn't get excited about the cup. It is a fallacy that it's the best non league cup for me, all it did was delay my season and meant I played sat, mon, wed, sat in may and june. Which was frankly, pish.

Some think it is great, some (like me) dont see the fuss.

The scottish cup is for licensed clubs only. Not everyone will be licensed in the next few years.

A lowland league cup (tier 5, tier 6 etc) should replace the junior cup and south challenge for me. Makes more sense than 8 different cups to squeeze into a season around a league season (the most important element of any season)

This is typical of junior football though, this is meant to be a two footed leap forward, not a step forward with the other foot still grounded in the past.